Governance and Controls Review for Financial Businesses
Strong compliance always starts right at the very top, with clear oversight and sound controls. We review how your business governs and controls compliance, so accountability sits where it should in Canada.
Compliance Is Governed From the Top
A compliance program is only as strong as the governance above it. Senior management has to own oversight, responsibilities have to be clear, and the control structure has to be sound. We review how your business governs compliance, so the right people hold the right accountability rather than gaps opening between them.
A Sound Control Structure
Good governance needs a control structure that actually works. We look at how your lines of defence are set up, how oversight flows from the board and senior management down, and how issues are escalated and reported. We identify where accountability is unclear or controls are weak, so your governance holds together as one coherent structure rather than a set of disconnected roles.
Governance Review
We review how oversight and accountability for your compliance are structured.
Controls Assessment
We assess whether your control structure is sound and clearly owned.
Defence Lines
We review how your lines of defence are set up and working.
Reporting Lines
We check how oversight, escalation, and reporting flow through your business.
Ready to Simplify Your Compliance?
Businesses We Review and Guide
We review payment service providers, money services businesses, currency dealers, crypto businesses, and the many other financial businesses that need sound governance and controls over their compliance under Canadian regulation.
We support banks with program design, oversight, & regulatory examination readiness.
We help credit unions meet obligations proportionate to their membership and scale.
We handle registration, renewals, reporting, & controls FINTRAC expects from you.
We cover Bank of Canada registration alongside your anti money laundering obligations.
We establish what your wallet activity triggers, then build only what applies.
We build compliance around what your product does, before volumes and questions arrive.
We register virtual currency dealers and build the reporting their activity demands.
We support financial institutions across registration, program build, and reporting duties.
Why Businesses Choose Our Review
Accountability Clear
We pin down who owns what, so accountability for compliance is clear rather than falling between roles and functions.
Oversight Sound
We check that senior management oversight actually works, so governance is real rather than only on paper.
Structure Coherent
We make sure your controls fit together, so your governance holds as one structure rather than scattered parts.
Serving Businesses Across Canada
We review businesses right across the whole of Canada, from Toronto and Montreal to Vancouver and Calgary, and foreign businesses governing their Canadian compliance wherever they happen to be based.
Let's Talk About Your Compliance Needs
Schedule a Free Consultation
Whether you’re starting a new MSB or need ongoing AML support, our team responds within one business day.
Governance Review Questions
Clear answers to the questions businesses ask most about reviewing the governance and controls over their compliance across Canada today.
What is a governance and controls review?
It is a review of how your business oversees and controls compliance, checking that accountability, oversight, and the control structure are sound.
Why does governance matter for compliance?
Because a program fails without proper oversight. Governance decides who owns compliance and whether senior management actually holds it to account.
What is the three lines model?
It separates those who own risk, those who oversee it, and those who independently assure it, so responsibility is clearly divided.
How does this differ from an audit?
An audit tests whether controls work. A governance review looks higher up, at how compliance is overseen, owned, and structured from the top.
Do you help us fix weaknesses?
Yes. We identify where governance or controls are weak and set out how to strengthen accountability, oversight, and your control structure.