We reduced compliance overwhelm for a large institutional client by driving simplification in their approach, and supporting them to embed the work with a robust and thoughtful change management approach.

The challenge

Our client was overwhelmed, and so were their advisers. They had over 85 licensee and advice policies that were over 30 pages long– many were out of date, and no one could find them on the intranet. Their suite of policies also contradicted themselves in places. Because of this, the policies weren’t aligned to audit, and advisers were unclear on what was expected of them.

What we did

We completed a detailed review of the client’s policy framework and the individual policies and recommended a simplified approach with only 25 policies. We designed a simplified template focussing on legal requirements and how to prove compliance with those requirements. Our aim was to create a streamlined approach that offered clarity to advisers, as well as the licensee team.

We worked with our client to agree appropriate policy positions with buy-in from internal stakeholders and frontline advisers - balancing the interests of all parties. We supported this work by rolling out a full change management approach including 1-page summaries and videos to make life easier for advisers.

The outcome

We released the refreshed policies with outstanding feedback. This included a number of policies that the client had placed in the “too hard basket” for 2-3 years. The approach to agreeing positions, the template and the change approach we implemented live on in the licensee to this day.