Managing Global Regulatory Compliance

(Reuters, 1 February 2012)

In Brief: Companies had to deal with 14,215 global regulatory changes in 2011, up 16% from the previous year, with 57% of the regulatory activity coming from the US, 22% from Europe, and 15% from Asia, explains a new report.

Our View: While legal departments cite multiple barriers to effective regulatory management, including overlapping responsibilities between business units, the most often reported barriers relate to obtaining and organizing regulatory information. Rather than reacting to regulatory change as a threat to the status quo, we see leading companies harnessing regulatory tracking and streamlining efforts to ultimately create business opportunities.