Key benefits of RegTech for Fintech Services

Matt PaulMatt Paul
11 min read

Introduction

The ever-expanding RegTech industry has given companies a way to save time and money while dealing with regulatory issues. Without a doubt, today's financial institutions represent the bedrock of our economy. Simultaneously, companies are subject to tremendous pressure to adhere to various rules while ensuring the security of massive volumes of data, which is incredibly challenging to achieve without expert strategies and tools.

Fortunately, the regulatory technology (RegTech) movement is about to bring cutting-edge methods to tackle regulatory difficulties, thanks to technical breakthroughs and digitalization.

Read this article to learn more about the various RegTech solutions, what makes them special, and how you may reap the advantages of RegTech.

What Is Regulatory Technology (RegTech)?

RegTech uses cutting-edge technology and techniques like blockchain, fingerprints, machine learning, automated robotic processes, big data, cloud computing, APIs, and artificial intelligence to handle regulatory operations and procedures, which include reporting and monitoring.

A reliable corporate blockchain development firm may help organizations comprehend and handle risks, fight cybercrime, and stay up-to-date on new laws by using RegTech solutions. In addition to being able to legally operate, they may increase value creation without switching out their current infrastructure.

How Does RegTech Work?

Despite RegTech's common association with the financial sector, it has potential applications in other sectors where reporting and compliance with regulations are key to internal operations, including healthcare and insurance.

The potential of RegTech has already attracted the attention of some prominent figures in the business world, including top executives and industry experts. One study projects that the worldwide RegTech industry would expand from an estimated $20.03 billion in 2020 to $28.33 billion in 2027, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.3%.

What Is The Origin Of RegTech, And Why Is It Useful?

Businesses in the public and private sectors have been grappling with the rising expenses of regulatory compliance over the last decade as a result of national and international rules that are both complex and ever-changing. At the same time, uncharted territories have emerged as a result of digitalization, both in terms of context and topic matter.

Companies have spent a lot of capital on consultants and other expert assistance to assist them with compliance standards due to all of these and other causes. In fact, this is the main reason precisely why the regulatory tech movement gained worldwide support.

The Advantages Of RegTech Solutions

"RegTech" is more than a passing trend. Some of the many advantages it provides include easier development and decision-making, cheaper costs, less operational risk, and improved client experiences with more trust.

Let us explore each of these benefits in more detail.

1. Maximizing Efficiency with Automation

Among the many different benefits of RegTech, the most notable are the opportunities for increased automation and efficiency. Businesses can simplify their processes while still being fully compliant with rules by using this digital solution.

With the advent of RegTech, the way businesses operate has changed drastically. Now that automated solutions are available, businesses may ensure regulatory compliance without depending on slow and inaccurate human procedures. These systems also need significantly less time and energy to maintain.

In addition, staff members may more easily keep up with the ever-changing laws and regulations across many jurisdictions when they have access to an integrated platform. This way, they may remain current without investing much in the time and effort needed to personally investigate regulatory mandates.

Increased operational efficiency and a stronger capacity to comply with all applicable rules and regulations are the outcomes of these variables coming together. Thus, companies can get a more simplified method of data management while lowering their risk exposure due to the elimination of possible noncompliance concerns.

2. Cost Efficiency

Financial savings are another potential outcome for businesses that adopt RegTech solutions. Businesses may save time and cut costs by automating operations that are connected to compliance. What this implies is that the expenses of personnel involved with educating workers on new rules or adding support teams are cut in half.

With RegTech systems made for regulatory administration, operational risks related to manual applications may also be removed. Businesses can now keep a closer eye on their data than ever before thanks to automated technologies, which can detect and report possible infractions with rapidity.

In this way, it is possible to lessen the likelihood of significant fines or penalties levied by regulatory bodies while simultaneously increasing the likelihood of timely and correct reporting and decreasing exposure owing to noncompliance concerns.

3. Improvements to Data Analysis Expertise

Organizations can get profound insight into their data and processes with the help of RegTech. The application of smart data analytics enables this by revealing patterns and providing instantaneous reports. In addition, businesses may export this data for additional analysis, which can help them make better decisions about regulatory compliance.

4. Enhanced Risk Administration

In the ever-evolving world of compliance requirements, RegTech acts as an extra defense for organizations, much like a castle. Utilizing advanced algorithms and statistical analysis solutions, businesses can see possible dangers as they happen and take preventative measures to minimize their impact.

Organizations can swiftly uncover patterns in their operations that may suggest fraudulent conduct or otherwise violate regulatory standards by continuously monitoring consumer data. So, RegTech is like a double-edged sword: it protects businesses from harm while also giving them an advantage over their rivals when it comes to risk management.

5. Better Engagement for Customers

Regarding the consumer experience, RegTech also provides a number of advantages. Through the automation of compliance procedures and improved customer understanding, RegTech empowers businesses to craft tailored offerings and enhance consumer comfort.

In addition, businesses can gain a lot about their consumers' experiences with their products and services by using proficient analytics solutions, which helps them pinpoint problem areas and plan for expansion. Another option is for businesses to keep a close eye on market changes and alter approaches as needed.

6. Strengthened Security and Data Confidentiality Measures

A further benefit of RegTech is the increased privacy and security it offers to consumers, companies, and other interested parties. Organizations may safeguard all information and comply with regulations by adopting cutting-edge solutions like biometrics and blockchain to restrict access to sensitive data to authorized staff only.

Algorithms trained with machine learning can keep tabs on consumers in real time, spotting questionable conduct before it does any harm. Organizations may now safeguard their assets more effectively against cybercrime and fraud.

Furthermore, RegTech provides enhanced privacy controls by helping businesses to manage the acquisition and utilization of personal data in a more effective manner. This equips them to adhere to applicable laws while honoring the rights of individuals.

Both organizations and individuals can feel easy knowing that their customers' personal data is kept safe thanks to these advancements. Not only that, but it helps businesses gain the trust of their target audience, which is essential for establishing strong partnerships that last. Increased loyalty, engagement, income growth, etc. are all ways in which these collaborations benefit both parties.

7. Enhanced KYC Procedures

Another perk of RegTech companies is their ability to streamline KYC processes. By automating customer identification, authentication and onboarding procedures, the time it takes to perform these duties becomes minutes, rather than days or weeks. In addition to reducing paperwork, this helps banks better understand their clients' demands, which speeds up judgments on things like reliability, risk assessment, and other critical issues.

8. Streamlined Innovation and Decision-making

New possibilities for integrating and experimenting with complex technologies into basic infrastructure are presented to firms by RegTech. In this approach, C-suite executives may remain ahead of the curve when it comes to technology.

More than that, RegTech improves decision-making company-wide by giving users more insight into and command over their own internal data.

What Types Of RegTech Solutions Are Out There?

There are so many various kinds of solutions that make up RegTech that it would be impossible to list them all. But mainly, RegTech concentrates on these five core services. Among these, you may find monitoring of transactions, risk management, reporting, identification management, and compliance.

1. Compliance

The most popular service in the RegTech business, regulatory compliance, has been its foundation. Robotic process automation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, biometrics, blockchain, and statistical analysis are some of the tools and technologies used by RegTech companies to offer compliance services. Among the many compliance tasks made easier by this are data visualization, regulatory reporting, and monitoring new and revised legislation.

2. Identity Management

In order to identify and prevent any fraudulent acts, identity verification and control are crucial. To facilitate safe and quick identification management, RegTech solutions depend on developments in blockchain technology, machine learning consultancy, big data, and biometric technology.

Using RegTech, we can streamline and improve the verification of identities in accordance with regulatory standards like AML, due diligence, and Know Your Customer (KYC). We can also do additional background checks and verifications with RegTech, all while removing the need for human participation.

3. Documentation

By integrating automation tools with cloud computing, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence, RegTech allows businesses to drastically cut down on report production times while also automating data dissemination and regulatory reporting. Additionally, it facilitates the gathering, processing, and submission of internal information to the appropriate authorities, allowing executives to fulfill their regulatory requirements.

4. Managing Risks

Business risk management and prediction are both improved by RegTech's integration of big data consulting services with AI advancements. With the use of big data and AI, RegTech systems can efficiently handle and analyze massive amounts of data, giving stakeholders thorough insights.

Businesses should be vigilant and prepared to respond quickly with the help of RegTech, which allows for real-time surveillance of potentially fraudulent activities, such as money laundering and identity theft.

5. Transaction Monitoring

Approximately 71% of businesses fell prey to payment fraud in 2021. These disturbing numbers highlight the critical necessity for strict transaction monitoring in the fight against fraud and scams.

Regulation technology solutions built on blockchain and AI/ML will benefit businesses in this area. These help keep an eye on current transactions for indications of unusual activity and help avoid fraud and operational flaws.

How Does RegTech Affect Compliance?

Due to the high expense and lengthy nature of manual compliance processes, regtech for AML compliance is crucial. Given the dynamic nature of financial regulation, it is critical for FIs to stay abreast of any new or revised requirements and assess the compliance of their anti-fraud and anti-money laundering program accordingly. Furthermore, hefty fines and other penalties may ensue from noncompliance with financial standards.

Several KYC-related compliance procedures, like ID verification and transaction monitoring, are repetitive and thus amenable to automation, which is great news. Without having to constantly check if their anti-fraud and AML processes are up to par, financial institutions may focus on more pressing matters.

The Process of RegTech

State-of-the-art technologies are utilized in regtech compliance. By working in parallel, these technologies assist financial institutions in lowering the resources (both financial and human) needed to maintain compliance with anti-fraud and anti-money laundering requirements. Here is an overview of how Regtech impacts many aspects of a financial institution's operations:

Step 1: Onboarding

Before accepting new financial clients, it is necessary to confirm their identity and determine the level of risk associated with financial crime. By utilizing Regtech for identity verification, the onboarding process for new customers can be automated, and the system can learn from past case management data to identify suspicious activity with a reasonable degree of accuracy.

‍Step 2: Monitoring

A financial institution's monitoring efforts extend beyond the tracking of internal transactions and consumer risk profiles. It also involves monitoring market dynamics for trending financial crime schemes, verifying new regulations, examining sanctions lists, and monitoring personnel for internal dangers. With the aid of regtech, financial institutions may get their hands on data on these characteristics faster, allowing them to head off any issues.

Step 3: Identifying

Banks and other financial institutions must be able to detect red flags in customer transactions that might indicate fraudulent or otherwise unlawful activities. Given that crooks are ever devising new tactics, this is rarely as simple as it seems.

One use of AI in regulatory technology is white-box machine learning, which may analyze past warnings and cases to determine whether transactions are likely to include criminal activities.

Step 4: File the Report

Maintaining records of incidents and responses is an important aspect of an effective AML compliance program. When attempting to identify, anticipate, or manage questionable transactions, these records can be used as a reference or even to train machine learning models. However, they serve as a "paper trail" that can be utilized to demonstrate to regulatory authorities that a compliance scheme is being implemented in accordance with the appropriate requirements.

By automating tedious document management tasks, regtech can be of assistance in this regard. Consequently, reports are prepared, sent, and deleted at the exact moment they are required, whether it is for training or compliance purposes.

Step 5: Controlling the Process

Every one of those steps is enhanced and standardised with the help of Regtech when it comes to risk management. Building up a financial institution to handle larger volumes and quantities of data is made simpler, and compliance is made easier as well. This prevents risks from sliding through the gaps.

Conclusion

Any company doing business in the financial industry or other heavily regulated industries would profit greatly from this technology due to its many advantages, such as reduced costs and improved security. Using RegTech solutions, businesses can make their surroundings far more secure and rest easy knowing they are always in compliance with global rules. As a result, interactions with regulators and other stakeholders strengthen, and trust from customers grows.

0
Subscribe to my newsletter

Read articles from Matt Paul directly inside your inbox. Subscribe to the newsletter, and don't miss out.

Written by

Matt Paul
Matt Paul