At the start of June, Marketing & Partnerships Manager, Matt Flenley听was a panellist on an on overcoming barriers to RegTech adoption alongside 厂辞辫丑颈补听Bantanidis听of Citi,听Kayvan听Alikhani听of Compliance.ai, and Patrick听Boscher听of Pabora.io. With questions posed by Sarah Underwood, the webinar delved deep into views from different sides of the fence – buyers, sellers and investors听鈥�听seeking to provide a broad understanding of the barriers each side face with regulatory compliance and adopting regtech solutions.听Here, he focuses on a few of the biggest talking points raised by the webinar.听
From听the moment the听panellists听began听introducing听themselves, I knew it was going to be pretty wide-ranging.听Patrick听Boscher听is ex-Allianz Group, now听RegTech听advisor and听Startup听Angel;听厂辞辫丑颈补听Bantanidis听is a former regulator,听now leading听RegTech听& Fintech听innovation at Citi鈥檚听Innovation Lab;听Kayvan听Alikhani听of Compliance.ai, a technologist who鈥檚听worked with hundreds of compliance officers; and then, of course, me 鈥� now at a Fintech/RegTech, but formerly in a bank and dealing with the sorts of听problems听that technology is rapidly solving.听听
A-Team Group usually gets a good panel together, full of opinions from across the sphere of a debate,听and this was no different.听
Sophia听叠补苍迟补苍颈诲颈蝉鈥檚听views reflected the need of a massive financial听organisation to听have regtech companies think big 鈥� how can my solution be deployed at an enterprise level to solve multiple problems around regulatory requirements and risk management for thousands of people, in hundreds of different countries? 鈥� and the counterpoint听RegTech adoption听view听from听Kayvan听Alikhani听was that听banks should think in terms of specific problems they have听right听now听that must be solved,听even on a small scale.听
Fundamentally, the most important thing emerging was that both sides 鈥� all sides, including investors 鈥� have a strong desire to make it work and improve their regulatory processes with the help of RegTech.听
Innovation centres at banks are a superb way of getting a foot-in-the-door, and as听Ms.听Bantanidis听said听鈥� they can act as a sponsor throughout the organization, a champion for the firm to gain a foothold and start to grow.听听
This willingness to support听innovative tech firms听flourishing in organisations听is听something听the independent commentator听Chris Skinner听expanded upon听in a session last year held by the FS Club听on digitisation (and the focus of his most recent book);听he asserted that much of the evolution听necessary听to fully benefit from听the opportunities that听RegTech promises in mitigating against financial crime and improving the financial services industry requires听a change in mindset within banking and finance,听to听become听data-and-digital-first 鈥� and not听simply parrot those statements without changing the underlying structure of banking and financial regulations.听
Now, it would be too easy听鈥� not to mention wrong 鈥撎�for me to suggest that all we need for a banking and finance revolution is for the banks to evolve culturally!听
Like partners in a relationship where听perhaps听different听views on a听point听are held, we need听a willingness to work things out together听and听some intelligent mediation听along the way. The webinar鈥檚听conclusion really hit home on this, with some sage points of advice and compromise:
- RegTechs shouldn鈥檛 over-inflate their involvement with a financial institution, because they鈥檒l figure out that the contract with a big bank that鈥檚 on the sales deck was actually just a one-off piece of work which didn鈥檛 go anywhere;
- Banks听mustn鈥檛听just听put听RegTechs听into the same听IT procurement process听as used for giant blue-chip tech firms;听there鈥檚 a need to be creative and听flexible, as difficult as that might sound for banks (and I do genuinely understand!)
- RegTechs听should听tell听the innovation department at a bank if they鈥檙e听already working on a project elsewhere in the organisation听to avoid听miscommunication 鈥� something Ms. Bantanidis听was really very clear about
- Lastly, banks should view a paid project with a RegTech – at the very worst – as a valuable way of 鈥渇ailing fast.鈥� It might be a big cultural shock to think this way, but听the saying is true: if we always do what we鈥檝e always done, we鈥檒l always get what we鈥檝e always got. And in 2020, with no let-up in regulatory reporting scrutiny and COVID-19 pressuring margins, it鈥檚 clear that backing the right RegTech adoption could turbocharge compliance while delivering better efficiencies. Regulatory technology offers the opportunity to compliment compliance teams and make their regulatory obligations easier to deliver.
Next up for听91APP听on the webinar front, we鈥檝e Head of Sales Kieran Seaward听in a Wealth Management special on 鈥溾��, followed a week later by Head of AI, Dr Fiona Browne, exploring uses of AI in听AML & Know Your Customer.听I鈥檒l share details of these in my LinkedIn feed, or follow the company one听.听
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