My Interview With a Cross-Border Due Diligence Expert

Ilya Umanskiy GRCPDirector, Current Consulting Group

This week I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to learn about how due diligence investigations are conducted outside of the United States. I got to interview Björn Wahlström from Current Consulting Group, a supply chain and risk management firm with a presence in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. Originally from Europe, Björn has over 15 years’ experience working in China. He initially got started out by specializing in supply chain, then later he was able to use his extensive knowledge of supply chain to support due diligence and intellectual property investigations in China. Since Björn’s firm has a broad risk management focus, he was also able to share valuable insights about executive protection and general business practices in China.

Primary Topics Discussed

  • What should US-based executive protection professionals know about conducting protective operations in China?
  • How is data collection around assets, business affiliations, and people different in China VS the US (and Europe)?
  • What cultural challenges do investigators face in conducting due diligence in China?
  • How are general business practices different in China?
  • What advice do you have for aspiring professionals that are interested in careers in due diligence?

Click here, to listen to the interview.

Guest Profile

In this conversation I was joined by Björn Wahlström, of Current Consulting Group (Hong Kong/Shanghai/Shenzhen).

Björn is a seasoned risk management expert with over 15 years’ experience in China. Björn is a Partner and Managing Director based in Hong Kong. He has extensive experience in due diligence and corporate investigations and has personally led investigations in China as well as in Europe and the U.S. He has also been involved in investigative work in high risk countries. Björn is a certified external SAI auditor, with extensive on-the-ground experience in corporate security and manufacturing in China. Björn is also active in the field of FinTech and cross-border payment systems.

Previous roles include Asia Quality Manager for Swedish multinational SCA (Shanghai), head of IP Investigations for Australian O2O Brand Protection (previous CISAA), and Hong Kong Manager for risk management firm Keylink Associates.

Learn more about Current Consulting Group: http://current-consulting.hk/

Show Notes & Resources