" Organisations in many APAC countries are still grappling with the rollout of global regulations such as Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)
" Respondents rated an average of 6.3 out of 10 in terms of readiness to address new global regulations, but 62% admit their organisation has not planned any specific actions to ensure compliance with local and global requirements in 2019

Hong Kong, 11 January 2019 – Organisations across Asia Pacific (APAC) are struggling to keep up with new compliance rules, according to Facing the future: developing a response to regulatory change, a report jointly released by TMF Group and Asia Risk.

The study, based on a survey of more than 100 senior legal and compliance professionals across the region, found that almost 40% of respondents see changing local and global regulatory requirements as a major challenge. But a worrying majority (57%) of respondents did not take any action in 2018 to adjust to regulatory changes, and do not currently have any actions planned for 2019 (62%).

The report shows that many businesses are struggling with the volume and pace of change. When asked to rate on a scale of 1 – 10 their confidence in their organisation's ability to remain compliant in 2019, more than one fifth of respondents rated their confidence five or less.

Leila Szwarc, global head of compliance and strategic regulatory services at TMF Group, said: "In recent years APAC businesses have had to deal with a huge array of new regulations. Most firms are only now becoming aware of the size of the challenge they pose – but not all have yet managed to adapt. This is a crucial issue for the region's companies, as failure to comply can have seriously detrimental consequences."

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Survey conducted in October 2018 by Asia Risk in collaboration with TMF Group. To download a complimentary copy of the survey report, please visit https://www.risklibrary.net/regulation/compliance/facing-future-developing-response-regulatory-change-29631.