Inspiring Women In Law - An interview with Ginny Castillo: How to understand the importance of Compliance for companies

Latin Counsel: What has been your experience in advising local and international companies on labor and compliance matters, and what do you consider to have been your most significant contribution to this area?

Ginny Castillo: My experience in this area began when I was the Regional Manager in Central America of the Legal and Compliance department for an international company, listed on the stock exchange and also a regulated entity in most of the countries in which it operated. This responsibility allowed me to learn a lot, not only from theory and practice, but also by understanding from the regulators’ perspectives the core issues they are concerned about and usually audit to verify the level of compliance of an organization. Within EY, we have clients in different industries (electricity, energy, oil, real estate and telecommunications) who have placed their trust in me to accompany them from stage zero, which has been spectacular, and from the eyes of a consulting firm it is fascinating when they allow us to accompany them from the beginning, providing comprehensive and timely advice, which has allowed me in recent years to structure phases of initiation and implementation of compliance programs that have included:

• Training and awareness to their stakeholders (employees, suppliers and senior management) on the importance of compliance, criminal liability of legal persons, the pillars of a compliance program, among other topics.
• Identification of regulatory compliance obligations and identification of those obligations of voluntary compliance but that generate value and standard to the industry to which our clients belong;
• Advice in preparing and/or reviewing the internal policies that the organization needs to implement for a solid and successful compliance program;
• Review of your internal processes for whistleblower channels and internal inquiries, so that you can ensure that relevant rights are honored (confidentiality, privacy, transfer of information, responsible parties, consent, etc...).
• Review of risk matrices identifying opportunities for improvement and gray areas in light of current legislation; etc.

LC: What frequent challenges do you see your clients facing in terms of Compliance?

GC: In my experience, I can highlight the following:

• Understanding. Compliance is a concept that has gained a lot of traction in recent years, and it can be as generic and broad as it is concrete, depending on the industry and the risk appetite of our clients or stakeholders. The first challenge is to understand what can be covered by Compliance. Modern Compliance no longer refers only to compliance with mandatory laws and regulations, but also to compliance with union standards, good practices, or even internal policies and values of the organization. To the above, other pillars of compliance must be added (training, risk measurement, control mechanisms, continuous improvement, whistleblower channels, etc...); in this universe, the uncertainty of how to start, how much an organization wants to commit, and which route to follow, is the key to build an effective compliance program.