Accelerate Regtech is an annual event hosted by the RegTech Association of Australia, bringing together regulators, financial institutions, and tech companies to discuss the future of Regtech, an industry projected to grow by US $7.6 billion over the next four years, to reach US $19.5 billion.
Here are our top three takeaways from the event:
Regtech as a vehicle to empower your people
Jesse Arundell, Head of Emerging Technology at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, discussed the approach the bank takes when assessing potential regulatory technology.
Jesse suggested one key question for both regtech and financial institutions to consider when buying regtech solutions: how will the technology empower compliance teams, legal counsels, and operations analysts using it to make them “superheroes as a result?”
“Regtech drives a reduction of risk and a gain in efficiencies. Software empowers people, leading to an increase in quality at lower cost to the business,” Jesse added.
For regtechs, this means building technology with the end user in mind; understanding both regulation as it is today and changes coming down the line, and creating solutions that are flexible enough to adapt with current and future needs to help customers stay ahead.
For financial institution buyers, the key is to consider how a new piece of technology enhances an end user’s role and makes them stand out. Technologies that increase efficiency and reduce operational burden or risk of error, for example, can free them to pursue more important endeavours as a business.
In either case, it is essential to understand who the regulatory technology benefits, and how.
Collaboration between regtech and government is key
The relationship between regtech and government was a strong focus at Accelerate. Headlining speakers and round table discussions all highlighted the need for increased collaboration from both sides.
“We need to work collaboratively across government and business if we are to address the major 21st-century challenges like cybercrime, the design of fit-for-purpose regulatory mechanisms, and customer-centric service delivery,” said Jane Madden, Principal at Brickfielder Insights, during her address.
Much of today’s legislation was adopted when technology was used very differently and perhaps wasn’t as wide spread, and organisations have struggled to manage compliance effectively as business systems and processes change. For example: in financial services, the majority of technology systems that run cross-border payments were built decades ago.
Piecing together a single view of what’s going on, even within one business, is difficult, which has made keeping ahead of financial crime and accurately reporting to regulators like AUSTRAC even harder. In this example, it’s clear that there is a greater need for governments, technology providers, and institutions to work together to improve current compliance practices and remove financial crime from our communities and economy. Although this is slowly happening, giving regtechs greater access to and insights from government and regulators will only help to create better fit-for-purpose solutions.
Sandra Roussel, Assistant Secretary, Regulatory Policy Branch, Regulatory Reform Division in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, is optimistic about the future, saying: “as regulation (becomes) more data and digital-driven there are more opportunities to streamline how regulators interact with the businesses and community…a trend that will be embraced by both sides of government.”
Regtech is a catalyst for broader change
Interestingly, this year’s Accelerate adopted a broader approach to regtech, which has traditionally existed to serve financial institutions looking to improve compliance processes.
The conference examined the need for regtech to branch out of financial services and look further afield to government, healthcare, and other industries. Regtech providers can create solutions that solve densely complex problems, pulling from experience in financial services and by applying the expertise gained by focusing on solving a singular problem multiple times for multiple customers. This extends the impact of regtech on our economic stability, global trade, regulatory systems, and even social and cultural environments.
Jesse Arundel suggested “it’s time for regtech to go beyond finance, in a big, big way,” while Jane Madden believes regtech has enormous potential and could be “vital as a transformative catalyst in terms of using technology in government.”
Elisabeth Bowes, Australia’s Chief Negotiator at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade even delved into the topic, sharing insights on the relationship between digital trade and regtech, saying: “tech is everywhere and consequently government has to think how we can address tech in our free trade agreements…70% of new value in the global economy will be based on digitally enabled platform business models.”
It’s clear that regtech is here to stay and will remain a vital part of helping institutions manage compliance more effectively, however, the growing need for regulatory solutions across many industries again supports the prediction that regtech will grow to a US $19.6 billion industry by 2026.
If you missed Identitii at Accelerate Regtech 2022…
This year, Accelerate Regtech focused on three core streams:
The Big Picture (Strategic, Cultural, Trade and Economic themes)
The Financial System (Institutional and Regulatory Reform)
The New Economy (Taking the learnings from financial services and application to new industries who can take advantage of Regtech)
Delegates tuned in from over 40+ countries to connect and share insights on technological and regulatory changes affecting regtech.
If you missed Identitii at the event, reach out today. Identiti works with financial institutions to automate AML/CTF transaction reporting to regulators including AUSTRAC in Australia.
To find out more about how you can increase automation and improve visibility into your AUSTRAC reporting, connect with us today.
Identitii’s compliance reporting platform helps you to automate AML/CTF transactions in a fast, safe, and secure way. To learn more about how our platform can assist with your regulatory reporting, click here.