Financial services organizations continue to be challenged by cost pressures, regulatory scrutiny, and an overall talent management shortage. As a result, many organizations (including internal audit departments) are beginning to consider how they can better operationalize and simplify their business processes by realizing and leveraging the benefits of automation.  Business units within financial services are making formal investments to thoughtfully establish their strategy for entertaining the incorporation of automation and the creation of their virtual workforce.  However, it is vital to consider the risk and control implications of automation implementations to prepare for this cultural, transformational change.

In the world of evolving digital disruption, Internal Audit functions need to embrace Continuous Monitoring and Continuous Auditing. A move toward Continuous Auditing (CA) can be complex, but the benefits provided by the increased transparency are undeniable and far outweigh the cost and effort involved.  CA is valuable because it provides Internal Audit (IA) the ability to increase the scope and effectiveness of coverage, without increasing cost.  This leads to an overall reduction in risk.  Implementing CA does come with challenges, but savvy IA functions approach CA thoughtfully, starting small by selecting a proof of concept which provides maximum benefit with minimal effort.

This panel will discuss updates pertaining to asset management and its interaction with various forms of financial services industry that include but not limited to Insurance and Banking.  Topics will include asset management regulation, industry trends and best practices.

The panel will discuss current developments and challenges with AML and BSA requirements. The panel topics will cover AML, BSA, updated CDD, AML Risk Management, AML Investigations of Financial Service Organizations, NYS-DFS requirements, data integrity … and lastly, the important audit considerations we need to know about within financial services.

A financial services subject matter professional will share experiences on how they have evolved corporate risk culture assessment and reporting practices within their client organizations. The discussion will range from a focus on nature and form of corporate risk culture assessments and data/metric deployment techniques to evidence based testing, reporting conclusions and annual risk culture opinions.

This presentation will address emerging and viable cybersecurity and privacy threats within financial services and what is needed in addressing such threats.  The session will cover emerging cyber threats impacting financial services, recent publicized events, related control defects and lessons learned.  Additional elements will include legal aspects, regulatory trends, disclosure requirements and key internal interactions.  Lastly, audit and risk management practices will also be included as part of the dialog.

Digital Testing Approach (DTA) - In today’s digital environment, automation and emerging technologies can greatly improve the effectiveness and efficiency of Internal Audit (IA) departments.   However the integration of automation to support and compliment management’s testing programs can present challenges.  This session will dive into the practical approach of automating testing and how to overcome potential barriers. We will discuss leading practices on how Internal Audit (IA) departments can approach this challenge in a meaningful and practical way. We will discuss the following:

• What are the concerns and challenges IA/management are facing to automate their testing environment?
• What is the most effective way that IA can drive the transformation of their testing programs from a manual “check the box” exercise to an automated, value-driven program?
• How can IA demonstrate enhanced value to their organization by implementing an effective automated testing strategy?