What our community has to say: Alexia
BOTS sees compliance (complying with regulations) as a strategic spearhead. The further integration of compliance in the boardroom is a significant step towards the BOTS dream: to make algorithmic trading accessible to everyone in the world.
Compliance
In order to work professionally, BOTS has to comply to certain rules. This is known as compliance. This concerns crucial matters such as laws and regulations relating to the prevention of money laundering, the safe management of personal data and safe and accurate financial management.
How can a young fintech like BOTS comply with all of the thousands of regulations imposed on the company by the government? Privacy and employment law, anti-money laundering laws, security and anti-hack measures, the list seems endless.
Whereas banks and insurers have hundreds of people working in the compliance department, the challenge for BOTS was to implement the same processes with a higher quality but with less than 1% of the banks’ budget. We’ve done a great job, if we say so ourselves.
To start with, we opted for a sound quality management structure. After some research, ISO 27001 turned out to be the most suitable. ISO 27001 is an ISO standard for information security and therefore the most suitable for BOTS. Specialists were then appointed within the company, such as legal experts, compliance officers, privacy officers and a Quality Manager. Finally, we worked on a design for IT and the organisation based on ‘compliance by design’..
The intended result is a proactive organisation that has compliance and data security in its DNA. BOTS was also extremely lucky, of course: because it is a young organisation, the security architecture could be built from scratch. A huge advantage compared to existing companies.
Today we’re giving Alexia the opportunity to explain. At BOTS, Alexia has been given the task of attaining ISO certification in the area of information security.
BOTS & ISO
“A well-functioning management system is actually a must for every organisation,” says Alexia. “The same applies to BOTS and that’s why we have opted for ISO.”
Alexia has been working on gaining ISO certification since last April. “And it involves a lot more than you might think at first.” Over the past week, the entire BOTS team has been brought up to date on the current situation and the established procedures and processes were discussed. Every BOTS team member is responsible for complying with these procedures and processes. “That’s why we ask everyone to sign their agreement.”
BOTS works with personal data at various levels. “The BOTS app contains user data and of course we have the data from all the BOTS team members, and we also have our other stakeholders’ data. We must handle all of this data carefully and according to the regulations,” says Alexia.
For instance, there are procedures for working from home, a code of conduct and an incidents procedure . “But, of course, there is also much more.”
ISO certification
In order to be certified, various control measures are needed, such as policy, processes, work instructions and technical facilities. “You need to check and manage your data (and all other quality aspects) well,” says Alexia. “That’s how you create structure and it is then clear to everyone what is expected and how we handle data at BOTS.”
BOTS hopes to receive ISO certification at the beginning of 2021. “This will then be valid for three years. After this period, a new audit will take place to assess whether we still meet all the requirements. But throughout this time we will also carry out our own internal audits.”
So, within BOTS there will be a control cycle in which the ISO control measures will be taken as the starting point. In this way we can ensure that compliance and information security are broadly supported throughout our entire organisation. This will make BOTS future-proof and enable it to take the next step towards making algorithmic trading accessible to everyone in the world.
Trading is for everyone
Everyone should be able to trade. And now they can. With BOTS. Together, we are committed to making the world of trading fairer and more transparent. Interested, but your question hasn’t been answered yet? Please take a look at the FAQs on our website or contact us. We would be happy to explain everything to you in person.
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