This year marks TCC’s 20^th year. And with so much regulatory and technological change continuing to disrupt the industry – both in the UK and Australia – it goes without saying that we’ve seen a lot in those 20 years.

Plenty of mistakes have been made, achievements have been celebrated, and many a lesson has been learnt. Here’s what we wish we knew when we first started out all those years ago.

1. There’s usually a smarter way of doing things

Back in 2012, we realised that so much of the financial services industry is bogged down by manual, inefficient processes. Take recordkeeping and monitoring as an example – it felt like there was no way for our clients to do this at scale without wasting huge amounts of money and resource. That’s how our sister company Recordsure was borne.

Then we applied the same logic to ourselves. Since then we’ve been integrating technology into almost everything we do as a business. Often they are just small changes, but they soon add up.

2. Connect the dots

Compliance is all about solving real challenges. But we’ve certainly been guilty of looking at problems in isolation, which can make finding a solution so much harder. Over the years we’ve perfected the art of stepping back and looking at the bigger picture. Because only then can problems be traced back to their root cause – saving loads of time and effort in the long run.

3. Knowledge is king

When you have great people in your business, you also run the risk of losing all their knowledge if they move on. This is why knowledge sharing is so important, and we try to do it as often as possible – both internally and with our clients.

We’ve also realised the benefits of enlisting external help wherever possible. You don’t know what you don’t know, and independent third parties can often bring loads of market insight. That’s why we collaborate with cutting-edge technology partners to combine our skills and experience and drive innovation.

4. Cultural fit is underrated

In the world of financial services, there’s no time for awkward relationships. We learnt very quickly that we should work with people who want to solve the same problems as we do. For example, we’re all about culture and we think it’s the key to a flourishing financial services sector. So we love working with firms that recognise the value of strong cultures and want to improve theirs too.

5. Nurture creativity and ideas

All businesses started as one small idea. The most successful ones never stop innovating, and we’re lucky enough to call some of them our clients. If they’ve taught us one thing, it’s that seeing failure as a learning opportunity is key to drawing out creativity and new ideas from employees.

6. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail

Working at TCC means rolling with the punches. We pride ourselves on our agility. But good compliance isn’t just about responding to the latest hurdles. It’s about looking ahead, scanning the horizon and planning strategically. We’ve helped our clients to fix their past – when things have gone wrong – but we also work tirelessly to help avoid problems before they emerge.

7. Plain speaking is best
   

Regulation is complex. And our clients are busy people. So we try as hard as possible to cut through the noise and tell them exactly what they need to know. That’s why we employ former regulators and practitioners who have “walked in clients’ shoes”, because they really get the day-to-day challenges our clients face.

8. You can’t do everything

When businesses are just starting out, it’s common for them to try to be all things to everyone. We soon realised that we could deliver much better value for our clients if we focus our areas of expertise and do them really well.

9. A business is nothing without its people

Need we say any more?

10. Remember to celebrate the good times

Sometimes we all just need to knuckle down and get on with it. With the global Covid-19 pandemic to contend with, the last year has definitely been one of the most surreal and challenging.

But it’s also proven that we’re not scared of hard graft here at TCC, and being able to celebrate every small win with colleagues makes it all worth it.