Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why the name change from "Pratt & Associates" to "Jodi Pratt & Associates"?
A: In recent years, the "Pratt" name has become associated with a number of unrelated financial services organizations. In order to reduce the possibility of mistaking one of these other organizations for our organization, we have decided to rename it "Jodi Pratt & Associates" so clients can clearly distinguish who we are.
Q: Who are the "Associates"?
A: We have developed and maintained an extensive network of experts in a number of disciplines related to risk management. Dependent upon the engagement, this network is drawn upon to create a team of experts to address your organizations' specifics needs. We are proud to consider these, the foremost risk management professionals in the industry, our colleagues and "Associates".
Q: Why do you believe the risk management needs of the 21 st century are so different from what financial institutions currently have in place?
A: Research since the horrendous 9/11/01 event provide an entirely new picture of how criminals – which include terrorists as well as common fraud operators - abuse the US financial system.
First, we now recognize that independent fraud detection/prevention "silos", which are standard in most banking organizations, create a number of gaps where fraudulent activity still sneaks through. Risk control structures must be changed to look for criminal behavior based on customer relationships, which cross the divisions of most financial institutions.
Second, we have learned that money-laundering does not account for all terrorist funding. A significant amount of terrorist funding has been identified as coming through fraudulent activities as well. Therefore, "fraud" and "compliance" operations which are often maintained separately, need to be more closely aligned to achieve the ultimate goal of identifying all criminal activities and then responding to them as appropriate.
Third, stringent regulatory compliance is being mandated, requiring additional risk management controls and reporting throughout financial organizations. Much of this is new to the Operating Risk area, such as risk ratings, more specific expectations for new customer identifications, more thorough activity monitoring and suspicious activity reporting, etc.
Finally, new technologies (e.g. electronic check presentment and image) that will update and eventually strengthen the US banking infrastructure are being implemented. However, at this early stage, they create a number of new vulnerabilities that need to be monitored and continually re-evaluated to keep criminals from taking advantage.
In order to respond to this new information and the changes it demands, financial institutions as individual entities, and the industry as a whole need to realign resources and approaches in order to more clearly understand and respond to where the vulnerabilities really lay.