For some time Banks and financial institutions have had to comply with an increasing level of government lead regulation & control. In the past few years many such business have been taking advantage of the services offered by outsource partners to provide technology and other key services.

The dilemma that some of them now face is that organizations such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in the US, are making the financial institution responsible for the actions of their suppliers e.g. the CFPB announced that it expects supervised banks and non-banks to oversee their business relationships with service providers in a manner that ensures compliance with Federal consumer financial law.

A large part of this requirement can be satisfied if the supplier obtains an SSAE16 accreditation. Such an accreditation is conducted by an independent third party audit firm who ensures that suitable control policies are in place and audits the supplier to ensure that they are being followed. The resulting report is a good way for such finance companies to get comfortable that they are dealing with a professional business who understands and implements a strong control and compliance mechanism. Jonathan Dodds – CEO White Clarke Americas comments “White Clarke is pleased to have received a clean bill of health from our recent assessment. We have always focused on maintaining strong processes and controls, SSAE16 allows us to obtain third party validation that we are working to industry best practices”.

Finance companies cannot afford to be complacent when it comes to compliance, Dodds adds that “when looking to outsource services, financial institutions should pay close attention to the control mechanisms that their potential partners have in place, SSAE16 is a great mechanism for getting an unbiased opinion on this”.