Halcyon Compliance
We offer practical support and advice to professional services firms, underpinned by a pragmatic approach to effective risk management.
Our Services
Are you looking for assurance around whether your current Financial Crime framework is adequate, effective, efficient and proportionate? We offer a range of review services which can help.
Our review services include Independent Reviews in line with the AML regulations or scoped to meet your needs, File Reviews, Gap Analysis, Compliance Audits and Target Operating Model reviews.
We can give your policies, controls and procedures a health-check, ensuring that they are compliant, not unnecessarily burdensome, and are effective at recognising and reducing the financial crime risk exposure of your business.
Whether you are trying to evaluate the effectiveness of your current processes, or need help establishing new ones, we can work with you to tailor our services to your own objectives and budget, to ensure that you are getting the most out of any insights and recommendations we make.
Do you need some general guidance, support on a particular project, or more ad hoc guidance as complex issues arise? We are ready to offer practical, easy to digest advice.
Our services include support with developing and establishing policies, procedures and controls, risk appetite and assessment (including client risk methodologies), target operating model or strategy advice, and technical queries, including PEP, sanctions, complex client acceptance, suspicious activity reporting.
We can offer advice either for specific matters where you feel you need some input, or on a retainer basis to be on the other end of the phone throughout the year when you need some help.
Need more ‘hands on deck’ for a short period of time? We can provide cover at most levels, with pricing reflecting the seniority level of the position.
Has a key member of your team left without a suitable replacement in place? Are there particular skills gaps you are looking to address with some temporary resource? We are able to offer hands-on support at any level for fixed projects, short-term ‘business as usual’ work, remediation exercises or other resource challenges you may have.
Do you need help educating your practitioners or developing your experts? We can help your message land.
We provide bespoke training for MLROs, Financial Crime professionals, directors / senior partners, and wider staff. Whether it is to meet a regulatory requirement, or for the broader development of staff within the Financial Crime function, we can work with you to ensure the content is engaging, practical and relevant to your firm. Financial Crime training should never be boring!
As well as delivering training, either in-house, remotely, or with an eLearning partner, we are able to run workshops, focus groups, or help you with the design of firm-wide Financial Crime training.
About Us
With a background firmly cemented in the complexities of managing Financial Crime compliance at large professional services firms, we also have various experience working with smaller/mid-size firms and in the wider regulated sector. We recognise that not all firms have Big 4 or magic circle budgets and systems and, as an ICAEW member firm ourselves, understand the practicalities of developing policies, controls and procedures for smaller firms.
We take a pragmatic approach to compliance and wider risk management. We want to help firms go beyond checklists and jargon-filled guidance to really understand – how does this work in practice, and how can it be of benefit to business, and wider society, without becoming a burden?
We are not theory-driven consultants, but Financial Crime risk professionals who have deep subject matter expertise and experience in applying it. We won’t sell you services we don’t think you need and will always aim to be honest, realistic and transparent in all of our dealings. We want to build real relationships, become trusted advisors, and join you on your journey to better compliance.
Who We Are
Founder
About Chris
With over twenty years’ experience in the professional services sector, Chris is an experienced Auditor and Financial Crime professional. Having spent over a decade in the field of Financial Crime, Chris’ recent focus has been supporting firms in the accounting and legal sector, including Target Operating Model input, hands-on support, training newly appointed MLROs and Financial Crime teams, and offering ad hoc help as complex issues arise.
Chris has deep knowledge and experience working in key areas of financial crime compliance, including anti-money laundering, anti-bribery, and sanctions compliance. Chris has first-hand experience as an MLRO and Head of Financial Crime. He spent almost 20 years working at a Big 4 accountancy firm, qualifying as a Chartered Accountant and later becoming Partner and the firm’s MLRO, Head of the internal Financial Crime team, and responsible for all aspects of financial crime compliance.
In performing the core functions of an MLRO, Chris has experience of the challenges presented by balancing legal responsibilities and reputation management with the need for pragmatism, cost efficiency, and ensuring that you do what is right, without gold-plating and becoming a barrier to business.
Chris’ previous role saw him registered as the MLRO (and approved as required) with the ICAEW, FCA and SRA maintaining regular dialogue with regulators as necessary. Chris has been a member of the accounting sector AML guidance drafting committee, the ICAEW anti-money laundering subcommittee, the Accountancy sector National Crime Agency engagement group and supported various government-led initiatives in the wider AML community.
Founder
About Jo
Joanna is an experienced Financial Crime professional, Deputy Money Laundering Reporting Officer and risk manager with over fifteen years’ experience in the Professional Services sector. Joanna has capability across the spectrum of Anti-Money Laundering and Financial Crime compliance, including Customer Due Diligence (CDD), High Risk Client Acceptance, Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), Risk Based Approach, Sanctions and Suspicious Activity Reporting.
Specialising in complex, high-risk client acceptance and the development of effective policies, procedures and controls, Joanna has a proven track record making significant decisions and leading the response to changing legislative and professional landscapes. As a Financial Crime Team Leader for a Big 4 firm, Joanna led a busy team in delivery of strategic goals, spearheading resolution of policy and delivery issues. Joanna has worked with multiple regulators and law enforcement agencies as well as with various offshore operations, aligning and consolidating financial crime procedures across differing jurisdictions.
More recently, Joanna has undertaken a number of independent consulting roles including provision of file reviews, Target Operating Model advice and extensive advisory support.
Alongside her work with Halcyon Compliance, Joanna is a serving member of Thames Valley Police’s Professional and Ethical Standards Panel.
Contact Us
Contact Information
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