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1 Credit Management and Compliance © 1 January 2014 EDF Energy plc. All rights Reserved1

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Credit Management and Compliance Sue Chapple

Credit Management and Compliance © 1 January 2014 EDF Energy plc. All rights Reserved

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Contents

An Understanding of Compliance

The Impact of Non-Compliance

Compliance as an aid to Collection

Making Compliance work for you

Compliance – is it fair?

Protecting your customers AND you


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An Understanding of Compliance


Regulation

Regulatory bodies vary by Industry Sector,

but in essence Regulation targets:

Fairnes

sProtection of the vulnerable

Honesty & Transparency

Clarity (plain English)

Legislation

The Acts that we must abide by are also

designed to fairly protect the customer:

Anti- Fraud & Anti-Bribery

Data Protection

Competition Act

CEAR Act (Complaints)

Com|pli|ance: The state or fact of according with or meeting rules or standards

Credit Management is monitored and governed by various bodies, all of which impose

obligations. Compliance is a necessity, not a choice.

Is this fair to the Industry? Does this restrict or strengthen Credit Management activity? Can we

make Compliance an asset?

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The Impact of Non-Compliance


Regulation

Obligatory rules that must be followed, governed and enforced by a Regulatory body

Penalties: Fines (up to 10% of turnover), Licence Restrictions

Legislation

Statutory Law stated within Acts, governed and enforced by Law Enforcement Agencies

Penalties: Company and/or personal fines, Imprisonment and Criminal Record

Policy/Procedure

Formal procedure, set and governed internally

Penalties: Disciplinary, internally managed

Company Commitments

Standards set and governed internally

Penalties: Disciplinary, internally managed

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Compliance as an aid to Collection


• Invoice promptly - keep the supply to payment timeline as short as possible

• Give your customers concise and timely notice of actions and requirements

• Clearly signpost the implications of non-payment throughout the customer journey

• Publish meaningful statements of Policy and Fairness

• Treat customers fairly – assess your processes and ensure that you are doing the right thing

• Know your customers – what do they do and when do they do it?

• Respond to queries quickly and keep the customer informed

• Have a strategy in place to deal with vulnerable customers effectively and fairly

Key Responsibilities

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Making Compliance Work for You


Compliance at an operational level

All of the previous points are Legal/Regulatory touch points. They ensure that the customer

knows exactly what is expected of them, and the implications of not complying themselves.

They are also the right thing to do!

Structuring your processes to clearly detail how you incorporate these obligations documents

that you are compliant. Training your staff and setting Controls to audit evidences that you are

compliant

The result

Your customer has the best opportunity to pay before alternative action is needed, and your

business has the best opportunity to avoid further actions and additional costs

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Compliance – is it fair?

Treating customers fairly

The litmus test for your processes and customer impacting decisions: is it fair, is this the right

thing to do? Assessing this as a baseline should set you on the right path to complying with all

Regulation and Legislation

Stepping outside of an approved process

Sometimes following the standard process is not the right thing to do. If a decision is taken to

treat a customer differently under specific circumstances, assess and document why it is fair to

take this course of action. If questioned on the motives behind the activity, you can provide

evidence that you did the right thing


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Protecting your customers AND you

Historically Regulation and Legislation have been seen as a nuisance, preventing us from doing

our jobs effectively

I challenge this – why would we want to take a course of action that’s not morally the right thing

to do?

Having Policies and Procedures that are clear, transparent and compliant ensure that you and

your customers know exactly where you stand. You send a clear message, and that message

can’t be contested as it’s coming from exactly the right place.

This makes it easier for your customers to understand, and places you in a strong position if

you ever do need to take action against a customer, as you have done the right thing

throughout the course of their journey with you

It takes less time to do a thing right, than it does to explain why you did it wrong. ~Henry

Wadsworth Longfellow


Business

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