Overview When a Chicago-based investment firm faced growing uncertainty within its compliance department, they turned to TillieStar for clarity and direction. Their newly appointed Deputy CCO was concerned about gaps in oversight and effectiveness within the investment compliance monitoring team. To gain a clear understanding of where the breakdowns were occurring — and whether the …
Category Archives: Compliance Management
The CCO’s Year-End Compliance Checklist: 5 Critical Areas to Review Before 2026
As the year draws to a close, Chief Compliance Officers face a familiar challenge: balancing daily oversight with strategic year-end reviews. A structured year-end compliance checklist helps firms stay audit-ready, reduce risk exposure, and strengthen operational integrity going into 2026. With the SEC’s continued focus on governance, automation, and data oversight, this is the time …
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Case Study: How TillieStar Helped a New York Firm Overcome a Compliance Staffing Challenge
Summary When a New York–based financial firm found itself stuck in a hiring loop, struggling to fill a key investment compliance role, operations stalled and critical initiatives were delayed. That’s where TillieStar stepped in. By combining interim compliance support, targeted hiring assistance, and hands-on training, TillieStar provided a seamless bridge between short-term stability and long-term …
Why Investment Compliance Is a Data Problem Disguised as a Legal One
At first glance, investment compliance looks like a purely legal challenge: contracts, regulations, disclosures, and audits. But beneath the surface, compliance is fundamentally a compliance data problem. Every restriction, mandate, and reporting requirement depends on data accuracy, consistency, and accessibility. Without reliable data, even the best-drafted legal framework becomes unenforceable. In today’s environment of increasingly …
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The Compliance-IT Relationship: How To Get Buy-In for Better Rule Management Tools
In today’s highly regulated investment environment, a strong compliance-IT relationship is no longer optional—it’s essential. As compliance rules grow more complex and technology platforms become more sophisticated, investment firms need tighter alignment between compliance officers and IT stakeholders to manage risk effectively and efficiently. But in reality, these two functions often speak different languages. While …
A Compliance Health Check: How to Assess Your Investment Firm’s Investment Monitoring Risk Readiness
Investment compliance plays a pivotal role in protecting firm reputation, managing risk, and meeting client and investor expectations. For Chief Compliance Officers and Chief Operating Officers, assessing the effectiveness of monitoring systems, controls, and supervision processes is critical—not just to avoid missteps, but to ensure the firm is operating with transparency, consistency, and integrity. A …
The Importance of Ethical Compliance Practices in Asset Management
With the financial industry facing increasing scrutiny and evolving regulatory frameworks, maintaining ethical compliance in asset management has become a fundamental necessity. As regulatory scrutiny intensifies and investor expectations shift towards greater transparency and accountability, Chief Compliance Officers (CCOs) and Chief Operating Officers (COOs) play a crucial role in ensuring that their firms uphold the …
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Investment Compliance with Joy Langdon: Balancing Front Office and Back Office Duties
In my 22+ years working in investment compliance, a question I get frequently is whether investment compliance (or portfolio compliance) is considered front office or back office. My answer is always, “it depends.” While it’s tempting to say that compliance in general is a review of “after-the-fact” activities (think of other industries like Healthcare Compliance …
The Power of Investing in People: Why CCOs Need to Invest in Training for Their Investment Compliance Personnel
In the swiftly evolving investment landscape, the importance of specialized knowledge and continuous education for investment compliance personnel cannot be overstated. As Chief Compliance Officers (CCOs) face mounting complexities from factors such as crypto assets, share class structures, derivatives, ESG considerations, and AI innovations, their teams must be equipped to effectively monitor and manage these …
Violation or Trade Error? How to Avoid Costly Rule Coding Mistakes
It’s every compliance department’s nightmare: the discovery of an inadvertent trade error or investment violation on an account. The potential loss from such errors is limitless and can be catastrophic. During a recent training session at a client’s site, we used one of their rules to illustrate improvement techniques. This session revealed a coding error …
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