Governance, Risk, and Compliance: The Cornerstone of Business Success

Beyond the usual ingredients of innovation, market capture, and revenue growth, the recipe for business success also includes robust corporate governance, risk management, and compliance procedures. Together, these form a holistic base on which you build layers of sustainability and trustworthiness into the cake that represents your business.

Embedding strong governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) controls isn’t just ticking off a checklist of preset items. It is essential to weave these practices into the fabric of your business’s DNA. This transformation turns perceived administrative burdens into powerful assets.

GRC entails creating a culture of integrity, accountability, and transparency, permeating every aspect of your organisation. It’s not just the responsibility of one or a few individuals; everyone has to get involved and channel GRC principles across all that they do. This collective effort safeguards the business from threats and positions it for long-term success.

This article walks you through the ins and outs of GRC, exploring why it is important and how you can apply it to your business by partnering with Mezzanine Enterprise.

What is Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC)?

Let’s start by clearly defining the concepts of governance, risk, and compliance (GRC). Just like how they are often presented together as one neat acronym, governance, risk, and compliance do not function in three separate silos.

Coined by the Open Compliance and Ethics Group (OCEG) in 2002, GRC combines governance, risk, and compliance as an integrated capability. This integration enables your business to achieve Principled Performance, where you are empowered to reliably achieve objectives, address uncertainty, and channel integrity into business practices.

Governance (G)

Governance refers to the how. It is the system of rules, practices, and processes that direct, control, and hold your business accountable. Under this pillar, you need to perform a balancing act between managing the interests of your stakeholders and ensuring transparency and ethical leadership. Good governance sets the tone from the top and provides the framework for effective risk management and compliance.

Risk Management (R)

Once your governance is properly set up, you move on to risk management. This is the what-if, where you proactively and systematically identify, assess, treat, and monitor potential threats and opportunities that could impact your business’s objectives. Effective Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) requires you to understand the uncertainties your business faces and make informed decisions to navigate them.

Compliance (C)

Finally, we have compliance. This is the must-do, where you absolutely have to adhere to all applicable laws, regulations, industry standards, internal policies, and contractual obligations to operate legally in your base of operations.

Why is GRC Important for My Business?

The world has become increasingly interconnected. With these stronger connections between disparate regions comes a greater level of scrutiny. If your business extends beyond Singapore’s shores, you must establish strong GRC practices in your operations.

Below are the central reasons why GRC is important for your business:

1. Build Stakeholder Trust

Investors, customers, employees, and partners actively seek businesses they can trust. By demonstrating a robust commitment to ethical governance, proactive risk management, and diligent compliance, you foster the trust these stakeholders seek. This trust supercharges your business with an unrivalled competitive advantage.

2. Enhance Your Business’s Reputation and Brand Value

According to a study into the role of ethical business practices in building consumer trust and long-term brand loyalty, at least 68% of surveyed consumers prioritise ethical practices when choosing businesses to purchase from. Brands like Patagonia have experienced a 35% increase in loyalty due to their ethical stance.

What does this study tell us? In essence, businesses that have integrity and sound practices attract more loyalty. Through proactive compliance via proper business licensing, ethical customer onboarding (KYC/CDD), and transparent governance, your business can build a strong brand reputation that attracts and retains talent and customers.

3. Improve Your Decision-Making Process

With clear governance as a guiding hand, you can definitively establish roles in your organisation. Coupled with robust ERM to highlight potential pitfalls and opportunities, you will be better equipped to make more informed and resilient strategic choices.

4. Attract Investment and Capital

As investors and lenders funnel money into your venture, they will naturally scrutinise your GRC practices. To gain their trust and make yourself more attractive for funding, you will need to construct strong frameworks. This includes thorough due diligence processes and transparent operations to signal lower risk and better management.

5. Mitigate Risks and Avoid Penalties

Building a cohesive GRC foundation enables your business to identify and manage legal, financial, and operational risks. Covering a wide range of compliance programmes, including permit applications and Anti-Money Laundering/Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) controls, GRC goes a long way in preventing your business from incurring costly fines and sanctions.

6. Establish Operational Resilience and Continuity

Instead of waiting around for disaster to strike, why not take that first step and build measures to counteract its impact? This is where solid Business Continuity Planning (BCP) and Crisis Management frameworks come into play. They enable your organisation to identify potential threats, assess their impact on critical business functions, and craft strategies to withstand disruptions and recover swiftly.

7. Foster an Ethical Corporate Culture

Setting the right ethical tone starts from the top. By leading the charge with strong governance values and risk awareness, you will see the rest of your organisation naturally following suit. To set the stage for your employees, it will be helpful for you to support them with mechanisms like confidential whistleblowing channels. This promotes a culture where they feel safe and empowered to do the right thing.

8. Meet Regulatory and Societal Expectations

Last but certainly not least, Singapore’s regulators—including ACRA, MAS, PDPC, and more—each have their own separate sets of GRC expectations that your business has to comply with.

Regulator oversight aside, society itself has evolved to demand greater corporate responsibility from businesses. This further makes GRC a key priority in your operations.

Tap on Mezzanine Enterprise’s Professional Expertise to Build a Sturdy GRC Framework

Now that you understand the importance of GRC for your business, what’s next?

Implementing GRC practices meaningfully into your business is more than just neatly ticking things off a checklist. It also requires specific expertise, time, and resources that many businesses, particularly startups and SMEs, may not have at their disposal.

This is where specialised professional support may just be the answer.

At Mezzanine Enterprise, we recognise the intersection of operational efficiency and robust GRC measures. That’s why we offer a dedicated suite of GRC services designed to integrate seamlessly into your operations. Below is an overview of the services we provide:

1. Enterprise Risk Management (ERM)

We design risk registers and enterprise-wide risk management frameworks to help you identify, assess, prioritise, and mitigate the diverse risks facing your business. As part of the process, we define your risk appetite and tolerance levels before formulating appropriate mitigation strategies and control measures. Once created, you can embed our frameworks into your planning and decision-making processes.

2. Data Protection Review and Policies

We conduct a thorough review of your current data collection, usage, storage, and disposal practices against the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) requirements and relevant global standards. We then tailor data protection policies, privacy notices, consent mechanisms, data breach response plans, and employee training materials that are ready for you to adopt in your business.

3. Business Licensing Determination

We perform deep research based on your specific business model, accurately identifying all necessary licenses, permits, and registrations you require to operate legally in Singapore.

4. Permit and Licensing Application

We manage the entire application lifecycle for compulsory operational licenses and permits. This encompasses preparing and compiling all necessary documentation, completing application forms, liaising with relevant government agencies (e.g., ACRA, NEA, SFA), tracking application progress, and addressing any queries from regulatory bodies.

5. AML/CTF, CDD, and Other KYC Reviews

We design, implement, or review your Anti-Money Laundering/Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) programs. This covers Customer Due Diligence (CDD) and Know Your Customer (KYC) policies and procedures, risk assessment frameworks for customers, transaction monitoring guidelines, and staff training programs that are specifically customised to your sector's regulatory requirements.

6. Due Diligence

We conduct thorough legal, financial, operational, and reputational due diligence for critical business events. These events include mergers and acquisitions (M&A), joint venture partnerships, significant vendor/supplier onboarding, and key personnel background checks.

7. Whistleblowing Policies and System Implementation

We set up whistleblower frameworks and establish response protocols to foster ethical conduct and internal accountability. We also advise on setting up secure, confidential, and accessible reporting channels such as hotlines, dedicated email, and other online platforms.

8. Business Continuity Planning (BCP) and Crisis Planning

We conduct Business Impact Analyses (BIA) to identify your business’s critical functions and resources and evaluate your vendors and partners for operational risks. Based on this information, we develop robust business continuity and crisis management plans to ensure operational resilience during and after disruptive events.

9. Crisis Management Framework Development

We establish protocols and communication plans to counter unforeseen crises and safeguard your reputation. This involves defining crisis team roles and responsibilities, developing communication protocols, creating decision-making matrices for various scenarios, and designing crisis simulation exercises to test preparedness.

10. Insurance Advisory and Risk Coverage

We start by assessing your business's risk profile and existing insurance coverage to identify potential gaps, overlaps, or inadequate limits. From here, we source and coordinate appropriate insurance coverage to optimise your coverage and costs.

11. Specialised Services

DPO-as-a-Service

We help you appoint a qualified Data Protection Officer (DPO) to oversee your PDPA compliance programme, handle queries, and manage data breaches.

Compliance-Officer-as-a-Service

We provide your business with outsourced expertise to function as your dedicated Compliance Officer. This officer develops and maintains your overall compliance framework, conducts regular compliance reviews and audits, updates policies in line with regulatory changes, delivers staff training, and ensures ongoing compliance with relevant regulations.

Learn more about *Mezzanine Enterprise’s Governance, Risk, and Compliance services

Build a Foundation for Lasting Success

Robust GRC forms your business’s foundation for trust, resilience, and sustainable growth. By being proactive in embedding GRC principles and practices within your business, you protect it from significant risks and ensure its longevity in Singapore.

Mezzanine Enterprise is here to serve you with our team of experienced professionals who deeply understand the legal requirements and operational practicalities of a solid GRC framework that supports your goals and protects your reputation.

Find out how we can tailor our GRC services to meet your operational requirements and secure your long-term success.

Talk to us now!