Bonuses and bias: the risks of variable pay for compliance professionals

When a compliance professional perceives their pay package may be reduced as a result of their actions, there is a risk of biased decisions.

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For many organisations, recent developments mean an accountable person responsible for compliance needs to be a board director. For some firms this might be the CEO, a legal director or a dedicated compliance director.
The individual accountable for compliance needs to feel safe to speak their mind and always be trusted to do this. The board must take on the recommendations presented by the head of compliance but also be in a position to make up their own minds in order to navigate a correct course of action.
There is however a balance: most organisations exist to meet strategic commercial objectives and not solely to be compliant. It i
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