Financial Institutions in South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Face Compliance Risks
The Government of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands (GSGSSI) has issued a policy paper outlining its approach to risk management, with specific focus on financial institutions operating in the region. This policy aims to identify, manage, and mitigate risks proactively to avoid unnecessary threats and suitably manage those that it chooses to take.
Risk Management Policy
The GSGSSI’s risk management policy defines risk as anything that presents a physical, financial, legal, continuity, environmental, reputational or other business risk to the government. The policy acknowledges that some level of risk is inherent in the delivery of its activities.
Methodical Approach to Risk Management
GSGSSI will take a methodical approach to risk management, using industry standard tools to identify, assess, record, and manage key risks through five stages:
- Risk Identification: Identifying potential risks
- Describing and Understanding Risk: Describing and understanding the identified risks
- Reporting Risk: Reporting the identified risks
- Managing the Risk: Managing the identified risks
- Reviewing Risk: Reviewing the identified risks
Risk Register
The government has developed a risk register to define key risks and agreed controls, identify “risk owners”, provide a clear audit trail, monitor changes in risk trends, and facilitate sharing of information.
Implementation and Review
All GSGSSI staff are affected by this policy. The policy outlines procedures for carrying out a formal annual review of key risks, assessing their likelihood and impact, setting out and implementing mitigation actions where possible, and recording risks in a register that will be reviewed quarterly. The current risk register can be found on the GSGSSI server, and the review process will be undertaken by the government’s Senior Leadership Team.
Policy Review
The policy is subject to review at any time but must be reviewed within five years of coming into force, replacing and revoking Policy No7 of 15 March 2016. The Chief Executive Officer has been designated as the responsible officer for this policy, which can be found on the GSGSSI website.
By implementing this risk management policy, GSGSSI aims to proactively identify and mitigate risks, ensuring the successful delivery of its strategy and maintaining a safe and compliant operating environment for financial institutions in the region.