PALOS VERDES ESTATES, Calif. (PRWEB) April 03, 2020
Financial services industry provider of outsourced compliance services, ComplianceWorks Inc. has made an unprecedented move to voluntarily reduce its fees to existing and new clients by an average of 19% in response to the COVID-19 health crisis and the economic damage being caused by preventative restrictions on businesses.
In most cases, the revenues of clients of ComplianceWorks Inc. are directly tied to changes in the market because they typically collect a percentage fee of the market value of thier clients’ accounts. Thus with the broad market decline, investment advisory firms can be looking at 20% - 30% lower revenues for the 2nd quarter of 2020. Depending on the ripples in the economy of the COVD-19 restrictions, further unfavorable market reactions are possible.
When asked about the decision to temporarily reduce fees, Jeff Groves, President of ComplianceWorks Inc. responded, “The decision to provide relief to our clients is two-fold: 1) A central part of our service is the relationship with our clients that is more of a partnership due to the central role compliance has within these firms. While it’s easy to talk about being a partner when marketing or when all is well, the true test is will you be a partner when things do not go well? By reducing our fees we are in the same boat as our clients as all of us work towards recovery; 2) Understanding that your client partner is looking at an immediate heavy hit to revenues that will push the cost of compliance to a higher percentage of their cost structure. With some vendors you could just terminate the contract. But the compliance obligations of these firms do not go away with a contract termination. Many of our clients do not have the knowledge and/or resources in-house to affect their compliance program. Thus, terminating compliance assistance will also have the effect of increasing regulatory risk exponentially. As such we consider this our responsibility to continue to aid our clients in working through this difficult period rather than being insensitive their situation.”
Client reactions in addition to being effusively thankful have also had an element of disbelief. They understand ComplianceWorks commitment to being a good partner, but in the words of one client, “I’m almost, but not quite, speechless! This is very thoughtful and extremely appreciated. If only our other industry related vendors did the same life would be so much easier but I’m not holding my breath. In the meantime, I’m actually looking forward to the time when you raise our fee back to normal….” Regardless of industry, the sentiment of looking forward to returning to “normal” provides comfort now and something we all can look forward to.
About ComplianceWorks
ComplianceWorks was born in 2007 out of the need for small to medium-sized investment advisers and broker-dealers to have access to professional compliance help at a reasonable cost. Typically, principals of firms trying to grow their businesses soon discover that keeping abreast of compliance regulations and their compliance obligations is onerous and falls by the wayside in favor of revenue producing tasks.
ComplianceWorks’ consultants have learned compliance in real-time corporate environments, on the job as CCOs and other high-ranking compliance professionals which gives them an understanding of where compliance fits into the bigger business picture.
For more information, contact info@cwicompliance.com
Related Link
http://www.cwicompliance.com
ComplianceWorks Inc.
P.O. Box 6
Palos Verdes Estates, CA 90274
