CIO Bulletin

An innovator delivering excellent compliance software solutions that simplify and streamline: ComplySci

Founded in 2003 by early pioneers in the development of automated compliance management solutions, ComplySci is now trusted around the globe by over 1,400 customers, including some of the world’s largest financial institutions. Compliance Officers rely on ComplySci’s automated and scalable platform to manage, mitigate and forecast risk, efficiently navigate changing regulations, and unlock the strategic potential of their data. Not only does the SEC require that hedge fund managers and advisory personnel comply with several regulations which address conflicts that arise from personal trading by supervised persons under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, but recent trends indicate that investors prefer to allocate funds towards firms with robust Compliance Programs. However, many compliance teams still manually monitor employee trades to comply with the mandated code of ethics requirements. This often leaves teams spending more time cross-referencing data rather than focusing on building a strong compliance program, ultimately impacting investor confidence.

ComplySci facilitates the digital transformation of Compliance Programs by enabling compliance teams to build customized workflows around their Code of Ethics policies, providing deep insights into employee risk. The integrated platform supervises/monitors conflicts of interest related to personal trading, gifts and entertainment, political contributions, outside business activities, marketing materials, IPOs, and private placements transactions. With ComplySci, investment advisors can avoid potential risks associated with employee activities and ensure that no conflicts of interest go unnoticed.

Compliance Technology Solutions

Despite the negative impacts a market abuse scandal can have on a firm’s reputation and an individual’s career, people continue to participate in non-compliant behavior. Firms need the right tools to proactively identify employee misconduct and evidence case management, prior to an examination. By leveraging technology that automates compliance workflows and analyzes underlying data, ComplySci protects firms from reputational damage. In recent years, ILPA has elevated the importance of firm-wide ethics, as demonstrated by an increase in Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC) topics in their DDQ template. In today’s competitive fundraising environment, hedge funds can leverage compliance technology like ComplySci to demonstrate a commitment to ethical behavior and distinguish themselves from competing funds. When manually monitoring employee activities for conflicts of interest, compliance officers can get bogged down managing the flow of data, ultimately inhibiting their ability to add strategic value to the firm. By streamlining and automating compliance processes – that would otherwise live in spreadsheets – ComplySci allows compliance officers to analyze data and derive insights to strengthen the impact of their compliance program.

Private Equity and Venture Capital

Private equity, venture capital, fund of funds, and real estate fund managers, are not only subject to several regulations around employee ethics under the SEC’s Investment Advisers Act of 1940, but they often face increased pressure from limited partners to build and maintain credible compliance programs. When compliance departments administer code of Ethic’s attestations and manually approve preclearance requests, compliance teams are burdened with managing paperwork rather than optimizing the impact of compliance. ComplySci compliance software digitally transforms compliance supervision by building customized workflows around Code of Ethics policies, empowering compliance officers to focus on data insights rather than data management. With tools designed to track and monitor compliance related to employee trading, gifts and entertainment, political contributions, outside business activities and marketing materials, ComplySci safeguards against potential risks and conflicts of interest.

Limited partners are increasingly asking for more information about a fund manager’s compliance program during fundraising and quarterly reporting. For example, ILPA has gradually added new questions about firm compliance programs into their DDQ template. Incorporating compliance software like ComplySci demonstrates a commitment to ethical behavior and can help your firm stand out during fundraising. Compliance officers can wear many hats, but when the majority of their workday is spent manually managing and monitoring employee’s or supervised person’s activity, it can be difficult to prioritize value-add projects. ComplySci takes the manual work out of compliance monitoring, freeing up more time to focus on strategic projects.

Meet the leader behind the success of ComplySci

Amy Kadomatsu joined ComplySci as Chief Operating Officer in 2018 and was named President in December 2019 and Chief Executive Officer in October of 2020. She is responsible for the overall strategic direction of the company and execution of its mission. A serial entrepreneur, Amy was the co-founder of Instabot, an enterprise chatbot platform that allows marketers to engage and convert their users through conversational bots. Amy was also the President of ROKO Labs, a product strategy and technology consultancy that works with global companies and VC-backed startups to accelerate their businesses and deliver award-winning experiences. She remains on ROKO Labs’ board. Amy also has substantial FinTech experience. Previously Amy was a Managing Director at S&P Global, a Fortune 500 company. Prior to that, Amy was Chief Product Officer at the TheMarkets.com, a consortium of the largest financial services firms including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citi, which was acquired by S&P Capital IQ for $300M.

Passionate about innovation, entrepreneurship and diversity, Amy is an angel investor with HBS NY Angels, an advisor to start-ups, and serves as Co-Board Chair for MOUSE, a national nonprofit bringing coding curriculum and STEM programs to underserved youth. Since 2006, Amy has sponsored a scholarship for a deserving rising college student who excels in a Japanese cultural activity in honor of her dance teacher (yes, her sensei).