Client Challenge
The Client, a Tier 1 Private Equity firm with operations in the US and the UK, reached out to TORI to carry out a Governance, Risk and Compliance due diligence for the potential acquisition of a UK based Wealth Management & Financial Advisory firm with assets in excess of £700 million.
What We Did
Following an assessment of the ‘as is’ state TORI provided a detailed report with findings and suggested actions to minimise potential risk related to the business before concluding the purchase.
Some of the key areas of the report were:
Governance
- Governance members and corporate structure
- Remuneration and incentive regime, contracts with partners and Senior Management
Risk
- Review existing Business Risk Management framework (Policies), including critical areas such as IT, Operations and Suppliers
- Review existing procedures on Risk profiling related to clients, suppliers and internal stakeholders
- Review existing employee training and competence framework
Compliance
- Financial Crime, including Anti-Money Laundering, Bribery Act 2010
- Conflict of interest and Complaints Handling
- Data Protection
- Regulatory reporting
Outcome & Results
As a result of our report and assessments:
- All findings were discussed and clarified between the acquisition Target’s leadership team and our client
- For the Critical and High Risk aspects, an action plan was established in conjunction with the Target’s Senior Management before completing the transaction
- For Medium and Low risk elements, a recommendation and follow up plan was set to ensure those elements will be resolved and mitigated post transaction
- A transaction competition agreement was set subject to resolving those critical and high risk elements defined as part of the assessment
