What are the main challenges with compliance? With the worst financial crisis in more than a generation, it's a question that will weigh on the minds of corporations the world over.

According to a report from the Economist Intelligence Unit, 66% of respondents say the big problem that hinders their company's ability to manage regulatory risk is the complexity and 46% said it was the lack of regulatory harmonisation between multiple jurisdictions. More than eight in ten respondents said that they had increased their focus on regulatory risk issues in the past three years.

On the positive side, most said they had strong capabilities dealing with regulatory risk. But the big weakness, according to the report, was the problem of dealing with multiple regulatory environments, both domestically and internationally, and juggling multiple projects.

And as the global economy becomes even more interconnected, something that this financial crisis will ensure, we can expect those sorts of problems to continue.