Dawn raids: how corporates can stay awake

DAWN raids, the unannounced search and seizure operations carried out by regulatory authorities - and often dramatised in Hollywood productions - are becoming an increasingly frequent occurrence in reality; yet, just how prepared are Singapore businesses when it comes to dealing with this newer and relatively more unfamiliar form of regulatory risk?

A report last week by global law firm Baker McKenzie, which surveyed 260 business executives and legal managers based in Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo, said that businesses in Singapore listed compliance with changing regulations as the biggest risk facing companies. Most (78 per cent) believed that their companies are well prepared for potential regulatory investigations; yet, the bulk (60 per cent) said that they either do not have any dawn raid guidelines in place or are still working on them. A similar proportion (61 per cent) said their company has neither conducted any dawn raid training, organised mock dawn raids, nor prepared their staff for one.

This is hardly ideal. As Baker McKenzie pointed out in its report, regulators around the world are stepping up their efforts to clamp down on corporate abuses and non-compliant behaviour, with dawn raids becoming a more frequent tool for enforcement agencies.