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Entity Management: Taking control in the era of uncertainty
Historically, Entity Management was the forgotten child of the company secretarial world – a myriad of complex local rules and bureaucracy, relegated to the unglamorous back office.
Today – in the era of uncertainty, against a backdrop of evolving geopolitical, economic, legal and regulatory issues and where corporate responsibility and accountability is paramount – Entity Management is moving up the board room agenda and fast being considered as a discipline in its own right.
29% of respondents have seen an increase in the frequency of entity management discussion at a board level over the past 3 years*
There is a greater expectation to keep the board abreast of activity and ensure they are presented with standard KPIs – to give them peace of mind that each entity is properly managed and compliant. At the same time, providing the board with this deeper level of visibility has the benefit of allowing in-house legal teams to demonstrate how effective entity management is a key growth driver to support business priorities.
72% of respondents have outside help for entity management
As the profile of Entity Management increases, so does the importance of getting it right. However, Entity Management today goes beyond mere administrative tasks and handling a few filings in far flung locations around the world. It is a modern day logistical nightmare.
How many parties are involved across the entity portfolio? Who is responsible for what countries, in which countries and divisions? Is there a uniform input convention that ensures consistency across functions, countries and entities or does it differ across departments? How is information maintained, what systems are used and who has access? When you add in language barriers, the local regulatory quirks and nuances, changing deadlines and formats, the potential for damaging mishaps becomes apparent.
At the same time, the risks of non-compliance have never been higher. What might seem like a small misstep or human error, such as delays in filings or incorrect information being submitted to third parties, can have far reaching reputational and financial consequences and pose significant risk.
In-house and co-sec teams need oversight and assurance at each level. A complete understanding of the requirements, demands and expectations, and importantly they must have the tools and information at their disposal to meet their objectives.
44% say their company has increased it’s used of technology for entity management over the past 12 months.
It is little surprise then that more and more in-house teams are not only outsourcing and seeking help from specialist teams but pairing this with tech-based solutions to streamline workflows and keep control of their entities around the world.
Mercator® by Citco (Mercator) covers over 180 jurisdictions via a single-point-of-contact model, with services delivered by our highly-experienced client-dedicated teams, supported by local operations that cover all time zones. At the centre of our offering is Entica® – Mercator’s proprietary Entity Management solution – providing accuracy, transparency and total control over entity workflows, no matter the jurisdiction.
Entica® has been custom-designed for the modern day multinational – with legal updates to keep abreast of the latest regulatory changes, automated Compliance Calendars for forward planning and alignment, Interactive Structure Charts to visualise potential change scenarios along with the tracking of tasks and spend as well as a document repository. Increasingly, we are also enabling the full automation of company secretarial workflows for faster document creation and filings with authorities.
At Mercator the philosophy that the Entity Management is a discipline in its own right guides our business and providing value to clients and their stakeholders is a key driver to the development of our services and technology.
Our unrivalled knowledge and focus on Entity Management, combined with our proprietary technology solution, is evolving the way companies view and manage their portfolio of entities, helping them navigate the era of uncertainty and take back control.
Download Governance Intelligence’s Entity Management report here.
Kariem Abdellatif
Head of Mercator by Citco, Citco C&T Holdings (Luxembourg) S.à.r.l
*Source: Governance Intelligence’s ‘Entity Management Report 2024’. This report features findings from a survey conducted of 200 in-house and corporate secretarial teams.