Whether you’re expanding into something new or creating something new to the industry, we do more than just outline the regulatory requirements and associated risks. We specialize in redesigning policies and procedures that are not generic and “off the shelf,” but are clear, simple, practical, and suited to your unique business and brand. We guide you through all compliance aspects—from the project planning to the initial compliance program buildout, “day-one” launch, and beyond.

Mergers and acquisitions are often more challenging than anticipated, but they don’t have to be. Helios believes they present an opportunity to reexamine historical practices and adopt the best of each organization involved.

By conducting extensive due diligence on a target company or “best in breed” assessments of each organization’s GRC practices and environments, and by being in tune with the cultural and relational considerations embedded within any merger or acquisition, Helios can help you achieve a stronger GRC program while also preserving one of your biggest competitive advantages—your culture.

We equip startup firms with foundational “day-one” GRC infrastructure and simple yet secure controls, allowing you to focus on gathering clients and assets and building your brand. We ensure your foundation aligns with what differentiates you from the rest of the field and the maturity level of your business.

Often, investment managers are vulnerable to process and control failures because institutional knowledge and context are concentrated within just a few key individuals.

Our knowledge management services help migrate this knowledge from individuals’ heads into documentation and systems to be used throughout the organization and mitigate continuity risks.

Helios knows key vendor selection is filled with implications and challenges. You are trying to find a long-term partner, but getting a clear picture of the ongoing relationship is often difficult during the pitch process.

With our experience conducting comprehensive written, in-person, and virtual due diligence on many vendors and key service provider types, Helios can help ensure the vendors you select fit your business and goals, seamlessly integrating with your operating model and relationship expectations.

Mere technical expertise when drafting policies and procedures to comply with new or amended regulations isn’t enough. When assisting with implementing regulatory requirements, Helios takes time to understand the discrete operational and people impacts on your business, helping you design clear and simple policies and procedures that are easy for your people to apply.

With extensive experience working for regulators and interfacing with them in CCO capacities at multiple investment management firms, Helios can conduct mock exams of your organization that quickly and deeply “get under the hood.”

We know the right questions to ask and have been in your shoes, giving you a partner who can prepare you for the twists and turns an exam could take and strengthen your brand with clients and regulators.

Even when you’re prepared for an eventual exam, when the time comes, administering the exam properly takes considerable time and thought. From interacting with exam staff themselves, to reviewing all of the documents and information to be produced to detect any issues or potential pitfalls, proper exam administration takes considerable time, energy, and expertise. With extensive experience managing numerous exams to positive outcomes, Helios can assist you with all aspects of a live exam, including any remediation that may be required.

Oftentimes, ensuring business is conducted in the clients’ best interests is more than just about adhering to existing rules and regulations. Ensuring that the industry has the right rules and regulations in place, and that regulators understand your unique business and client needs, are equally important threshold requirements. Helios can assist you with engaging regulators in the most persuasive, compelling way so your voice and clients’ needs are truly accounted for in whatever ambitious agenda regulators may have.

To make the best decisions for your business you need an accurate and long-term view of risk. It’s not enough to help you “look around the corner;” you need to be able to see beyond the horizon.

Helios takes the usual risk assessment methodology and enhances it through practices including using previously untapped “leading indicator” data points within your organization or factoring in emerging global events. Our risk assessments balance quantitative information and qualitative perspectives to give you a more nuanced, complete, and expansive picture of the risks ahead.

Helios can perform and prepare annual compliance reviews with a detailed, craft-oriented approach. We see these assessments and reports not merely as regulatory requirements, but as chances to enhance your reputation and brand among clients, corporate governing bodies, and regulators.

We conduct detailed assessments and reports on your compliance program, identifying your biggest risks and issues, but documented with thoughtful contextualization and an appreciation for the environment in which you work and its attendant risks.

Helios knows investment managers are increasingly challenged to do more with less, struggling to execute within those constraints.

Our extensive experience quickly identifies GRC processes that can be streamlined or eliminated, freeing you and your people up to support more growth and initiatives and spend your time and energy on what’s truly needed.

Finding the right fit in your GRC executives is critical. GRC professionals can cause bottlenecks or help elevate your business to new levels. They can guide you away from hidden dangers or allow you to face significant risks.

Ensuring the GRC executives you hire have the right technical expertise for your business and aspirations, but also GRC philosophies and mindsets that sync with yours, requires time and expertise. Helios can assist with vetting your GRC candidates, giving you the confidence that table-stakes requirements have been met.