How to promote a positive compliance culture – and why behavior matters.

No matter what compliance managers do, people continue to disregard rules. Why? Sandro Boeri, president of the U.K.’s Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors, has spent a career in compliance and audit roles in large financial services firms. He is passionate about the importance of instilling a positive compliance culture – and believes that a new standard about to be made mandatory for internal audit teams can help.

“One of my previous roles was as a compliance officer in a French bank, and I always wondered why people didn’t comply with rules and regulations when many of these carried significant penalties,” he says. “As a compliance person, I assumed that the power of the potential punishments would make people obey rules. But again and again we see that they don’t.”

A self-confessed “rebel at heart”, Boeri acknowledges that he too often looks for ways to (legally) avoid cumbersome rules that impede efficiency. He points out that people are emotional and often respond irrationally.