Because I actually give a FAQ: your questions and reservations about FinTech Compliance Pro Certification

Your program sounds interesting but I am not sure I have the time. What exactly is the time commitment?

The time commitment expected to complete the program is 30 hours over 3 months, which is, on average, 2.5 hours a week.

All workshops and trainings are recorded, so you can listen to them during your commute, in the gym or walking your dog.?I had students who joined the program shortly after being fired, just after starting a new job, in the middle of their divorce, shortly after giving birth and even while starting their own business.

I have seen it all.

People who are serious about turning around their professional situation or who really want to finish a particular project will alway find the time.

Time is just an excuse, never a true reason.?

What you decide at the end is not really any of my business, but may I suggest that you can be honest with yourself about what is important to you.

"I do not have enough time” really means that either? the person wants some quick easy wins and is not really willing to commit to developing a new skillset and applying new behaviors, or maybe they do not see their current situation as critical or unacceptable enough...

This Certification is designed for action-takers, ambitious, driven individuals who see that their current professional environment is slow and inefficient,? they see a lot of waste and nonsense, and it frustrates them.

They want to do things differently and are ready to apply what they can learn right away.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

What if my company (my boss, my auditors…) are too conservative and I will not be able to apply common sense compliance?

Frankly, it is not useful to continue to be focused on other people's expectations and external circumstances. If you operate based on your external limitations, you will likely repeat your circumstances. This is why the certification will start with your own goal setting and defining what you would like to achieve.

There are millions of options for you to achieve what you want that you have not tried yet, even if your boss or your company or your board or your auditors (or all of them) are reluctant to change:

• Present different arguments
• Negotiate a pilot or trial project
• Gather new data
• Assemble a different team
• Do things your ways without telling anyone
• Form new alliances within the company
• Change the company and move on
• Change your goal…

?I don’t know what will work, but there is only one way to find out – to design an experiment, commit to a new plan, consider mitigating strategies, and FINALLY start taking new action.

You are never really stuck, you just don’t like the options in front of you, and you are skeptical they won’t work. But it is never true that you actually tried everything and nothing works anymore.? ?

What can I tell my company so that they cover the costs of the certification??

You can present the following arguments for your company using the ROI (Return on Investment) method:

• Immediate access to compliance project management 12 workshops, each of them individually costs 400 EUR to join. Total value 4800 EUR.
• Immediate access to 40+ compliance policy templates, checklists, sample documents, contract templates (with free access to future updates and revisions for 2025 and beyond). Any audit or legal firm would ask at least 10,000 EUR for this.
• You can easily reduce your annual audit costs and audit issues remediation costs by 10,000 EUR when your documentation is solid and well-structured and you use the strategies presented in the Audit preparation workshop.
• You will be able to accelerate your time to market by being able to receive faster bank account opening approvals, sign-offs or approvals from partners or regulators, and depending on your running costs, each month can save you up to 25,000 EUR per month– even for a small startup.
• Alternative compliance certification (based most likely on data that’s 3-5 years old or using irrelevant examples from the banking world that’s not suitable for startups) can amount to 10,000 EUR on average.

The total value of these savings and benefits during the first month is about 60,000 EUR, so an investment of less than 4k EUR is a smart business decision with 15x ROI in the first month!Your company can delay this decision, as some short-term thinkers do, but a few months later, they usually find themselves having to pay much more for audit findings remediation, urgent consultancy, hiring interns, diverting engineering resources and other unnecessary and entirely avoidable costs.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

What if I have to finance it myself, how will this investment pay off?

That is why we have the installments plan option for you!

Think about it: all the possible tools and strategies, insanely boosted? communication skills, your level of confidence, plus 3 months of hard core motivation from yours truly, how likely is that your new job, bonus, promotion, side hustle or a teaching opportunity can generate an income that is higher than 4000 EUR in the next months??

Plus, if you pay for the program yourself, all the content and templates are yours, so you can freely take it all to your new company or a project.? ?

What are my personal benefits? What can this Certification do for me?

Most clients and students who work with me find themselves at some critical turning point, where they want different results, faster progress. For example, they are unsatisfied with the role in the company, work-life balance, level of confidence, income,? team performance, or how? management perceives them.

There is a sense of urgency that the status quo is not sustainable.

If this is you, most likely you don’t need to learn new regulations, you actually need to do things differently – negotiate differently, delegate more, take more risks, learn to deal with your own perfectionism and internal doubts, secure and spend resources differently, maybe change jobs or bosses or teams… Fintech Startup Compliance Pro certification is not about learning, it is about doing new things while receiving feedback and guidance at the same time.??

Full overview of what is included into the program

This package is a?comprehensive implementation blueprint? including? everything you need to set up and manage compliance function within your FinTech or Crypto startup. It includes two tracks:

• FinTech Compliance Self-Starter?which is s set of instantly available pre-recorded trainings, implementation guides and documentation templates.
• Interactive trainings, live sessions and and the final assignment, leading to the CPD-accredited and formally recognized??FinTech Startup Compliance Pro Certification.

Here is a list of pre-recorded and instantly available trainings and workshops:

• Opening bank accounts
• Preparing Business-Wide Risk Assessment (including AML, governance, financial, regulatory, product, operational, crypto and several other sub-sections)?
• Managing your own FinTech licensing?
• Structuring White-Label solutions
• Choosing between the white-label and your own licensing
• FATCA/CRS implementation workshop
• Onboarding and risk-rating for corporate customers?
• Performing due diligence on your future financial partners (to avoid the risk of over-reliance on Wirecard, FTX or Railsbank)
• Creating your FinTech Privacy Policy and managing your GDPR compliance??
• End-to-end Blockchain Compliance?
• Preparing for and managing external audits?
• Standardizing and simplifying you annual compliance reporting
• Complying with Apple and Google Appstore Guidelines
• DORA Compliance. Documenting your Outsourcing?
• Implementing Russia-related sanctions within FInTech and Crypto startups
• Digital Services Act implementation
• Managing compliance function using ROI method: KPIs, performance metrics, preparing compliance plan and budget, allocating resources and making prioritization decisions.

Here is a list of instantly available templates:

• AML, KYC, PEPs, sanctions policies and SOPs,?onboarding flow setup guide (including policies, tools review, and guidance on admin and case management setup)
• Privacy and GDPR module, including privacy policy, GDPR compliance policy, binding corporate rules, and standard contractual closes or Data Transfer Appendix template (to be included in all your contracts with vendors and payments partners where data transfer is involved). Digital Services Act implementation guide.
• Outsourcing?framework setup, including outsourcing policy template and outsourcing assessment checklist
• Consumer and Investor Protection, including?Customer Protection and Complaints Handling Policy, Investor Protection Policy, and Customer Funds Safeguarding Procedure?(for fiat and crypto services)
• Information Security, including InfoSec policy, incident management, and business continuity policy
• Blockchain-specific regulations, including?Blockchain Operational compliance policy?
• Corporate Governance?and Board of Directors set up, Code of Conduct, Segregation of Duties guidance, Anti-Bribery and Corruption procedure, and other relevant templates (e.g. gift policy, HR screening, etc.)
• Business-wide risk assessment?and product risk assessment (with dedicated sections for AML, Product, VASPs, General Risks, Financial Risks, Startup Risks, and Regulatory Risks)
• Risk Management, Assessment, and Fraud Prevention, including relevant Risk Management policy and Risk Assessment and Risk Assessment methodology templates
• Conflict of Interests and Insider Trading Policy
• Terms of Service, Affiliation and Loyalty Programs structuring?(including sample language for loyalty points or reward programs, beta testing provisions, and affiliation program templates)
• Inter-Company Agreements and SLAs
• Detailed and comprehensive Annual Compliance Plan and sample Internal Audit Plan.?Compliance Assurance Framework (roles of FLOD, SLOD, audit)
• FinTech Licensing?- including License Application Template, financial projections template, business plan template, FinTech licensing roadmap, first regulatory inquiry template
• Token listing and token assessment criteria?(for cryptocurrency exchanges or wallets).
• DORA-compliant disclosures
• FATCA and CRS compliance policy

?Certification-specific curriculum (live and subsequently recorded):

• January 15th 2025 - Kick-off and Goal Setting?
• January 22nd 2025 – Managing Regulatory Change. MICA readiness and MICA-compliance.
• January 29th 2025. Effective Compliance Communications with Stakeholders using NLP Language Patterns.?
• February 12th?2025. Preparing and Defending Compliance Plan and Budget Using ROI Method.
• February 19th 2025 Overcoming Unhelpful organizational Behaviors and Habits. Using NLP Language Patterns for Conflicts Resolution.
• February 26th?2025 Preparing for Final Assessment: Where Can You Take More Risks?
• April 1st?2025 is the deadline for the final assignment submission. You will graduate and get your certificate ?by April 15th?2025.

So, tell me – are you still in??

At this point, you may be asking yourself if you should continue figuring things out on your own or not.?

This is actually the wrong question to ask because every successful leader will tell you that they got where they are because they had mentors, external advisers, and support from more experienced people.?

So, the more powerful question you should be asking is WHO can support you and WHERE you can find help and continued guidance.?And as you already know, if you choose nothing... then nothing changes.

You can obviously keep the status quo blindly pouring more time and money into compliance without much hope of creating different results or reversing existing inefficiencies...

But why would you put yourself into this position, pursuing a broken strategy, draining your resources, and creating more and more organizational conflicts??

If you are still here and still reading and thinking whether or not you should invest and if so, what should be your goal, which of the many things that you want should be put front and center for the purpose of this certification??

This is exactly what you don't need to know or decide right now. Right now, you have to make a commitment to building a compliance function that makes sense to you and your business and from now on you can take just one step and one decision at a time to keep making progress.?

So -?

• Are you going to continue to be a person who plays a victim, complaining about confusing compliance requirements, unreasonable auditors, or some other uncertain circumstances or will you take responsibility for being a leader and problem solver?
• Are you a person who sees obstacles or opportunities? More specifically, will you be a forward-looking visionary leader who sees how agile compliance can be a massive competitive advantage for your business?
• ?Are you someone who waits for the perfect time or an action taker who knows when enough excuses are enough excuses, and it’s time to move ahead even when you don’t have all the answers?

?Well, if you are a smart action-taker and ready to commit, simply click here and I will be waiting for you on the inside.

PS.?If you need a template for the reimbursement letter request asking your company to sponsor this training,

download it here?https://competitivecompliance.co/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Reimbursement-Template.docx and send it to your boss.?

P.P.S Doors are closing, so you have to decide fast!