With the Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC) taking – and wanting to be seen to be taking – an increasingly robust approach with regulated firms, it is only natural for firms to ask what they can do to avoid a referral to the JFSC's Enforcement division and, if they are referred, what steps they can take to manage the risk of formal sanction. Avoiding a referral to Enforcement On a positive note, there are a number of steps that firms can take now to minimise the prospects of a referral to Enforcement. First, firms should review (and if necessary enhance) their compliance resource as a matter of priority. The JFSC has made clear (from its Compliance Monitoring guidance in 2013 through to its most recent public statements and civil penalties) that firms must have a compliance function that is adequately resourced. Importantly, this requires an assessment of both the quantity and quality of that resource. Further, firms must prepare and implement an effective compliance monitoring plan that is tailored to the specific risks faced by the firm, and which is reviewed and updated to reflect the changes in those risks over time.