FinTech & RegTech: Financial Technology Solutions for Regulatory Compliance Requirements

Regulation technology, or RegTech, encompasses any technological innovation that helps improve efficiency and

transparency in regula- tion. RegTech has come about as a result of the growing need for more effective and efficient means of ensuring that businesses, both traditional and startup, stay compliant in industries facing increased regulatory protocols and complex regulatory transitions. Financial technology, or fintech, is most often associated with RegTech and is regarded by many as a driving force behind its rapid growth and development especially with regards to Alternative Investment, Hedge Fund, Start Up, VC & PE Firms.

Why Do We Need RegTech? In a world full of computerized systems, the financial services industry has become highly dependent upon timely and reliable access to vast amounts of both structured and unstructured data. The reality is that today’s regulatory compliance process can no longer viably support expensive and time-consuming, work by hordes of workers. Hiring more manpower alone is not enough to stay compliant.

RegTech is the result of fintech and big data being applied to regulation. Financial institutions have many different internal data systems, making it difficult for them to quickly compile data to satisfy requests from reg- ulators. As the amount of data stored inevitably increases, so too does the challenge to meet regulatory requirements. Automating this work with the help of RegTech helps institutions alleviate the burden. In order to enable effective competition and promote innovation, the adoption of RegTech solutions will be inevitable.

Who Are the Key Players? With solid support from the UK Government Office for Science and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the UK appears to be leading the global charge for RegTech. The UK’s FCA ‘Regulatory Sandbox’ initiative is the first of its kind globally and has sparked a series of worldwide regulatory bodies to follow suit. The sandbox allows FinTech innovative firms to work with the regulator to test innovative products, services, business models and delivery mechanism products aimed at the financial sec- tor, in a live environment, promoting effective competition and increasing the regulators understanding of innovative companies so the regulator can keep up to date with technology and change their rules accordingly.

Is RegTech the Future of Financial Regulation?

As the financial service industry becomes evermore data-driven, greater automation will be essential in order for companies to maintain compliance. RegTech will represent the new face of financial regulation. There will be much more collaboration and two-way dialogue between regulators and institutions, data collection will be automated, data presentation will become standardised regionally and glob- ally, and open source compliance systems with compliance criteria built into their protocols will encourage greater fintech participation.

In the short term, RegTech will help financial firms to automate the more mundane compliance tasks and reduce operational risks asso- ciated with meeting compliance and reporting obligations. In the longer term, it will empower compliance functions to make informed risk choices based on data provided insight about the compliance risks it faces and how it mitigates and manages those risks. The com- plexities of growing amounts of data collection and storage in various locations in different formats require smarter, more efficient solutions which Storm IT Financial can provide. Just as fintech is revolutionising financial services, RegTech is revolutionising the compliance process for financial services.

Find out how your business and firm can benefit from RegTech solutions, data collection and storage services. Storm IT Financials’ Storm Private Cloud™ Service helps regulated firms meet regulatory compliance across multiple jurisdictions, reduce operational costs, and protect against data theft and fraud. Contact us today for help and advice and to find out more.

Storm IT Financial FinTech News & Trends picks: Week 24th April – 28th April 2017

Microsoft Announces new Azure Services in the UK

Azure announce new services which are now available in the UK:

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/announcing-new-azure-services-in-the-uk/

Regulating the gig economy would be a regressive blow against individualism

The gig economy provides a mixture of healthy competition for both em- ployers and employees and disruption to the status quo:

http://www.cityam.com/262953/regulating-gig-economy-would-regressive-blow-against

Serverless computing might finally deliver on the promise of the cloud

How the cloud is evolving:

http://www.geekwire.com/2017/serverless-computing-might-be-the-next-crucial-step-in-the-evolution-of-cloud-computing/

AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform: What we learned from tech earnings

A look at some of the key cloud takeaways from the earnings reports of Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet:

http://www.zdnet.com/article/aws-microsoft-azure-google-cloud-platform-what-we-learned-from-tech-earnings/

Apple patents method to charge devices wirelessly using Wi-Fi router

Apple was granted a patent for a method that could mean users would be able to charge their iPhones wirelessly using a Wi-Fi router:

http://www.zdnet.com/article/apple-patents-method-to-charge-devices-wirelessly-using-wi-fi-router/

Microsoft, AWS and Google Entangled in Price War

Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google in a battle over who will offer the lowest price to customers:

https://solutionsreview.com/cloud-platforms/microsoft-aws-and-google-entangled-in-price-war/

Fintech: What Will Bring the Most Change?

Fintech has increasingly captured the attention of the financial services industry over the past several years..:

http://www.cityam.com/263717/fintech-bring-most-change

Microsoft’s latest Azure customers revealed; Her- shey, Maersk, UBS, and more

Microsoft announces a slew of new customers using its Azure cloud services including financial services provid- er UBS:

http://bit.ly/2pbbVPl

Microsoft cloud jumps 50% while Surface crashes

Azure cloud & Office 365 thrives:

http://bit.ly/2oSjZly

Innovate Finance members will be joining UK Reg- Tech Mission to NYC

Innovate Finance members will be joining a RegTech delegation to New York City this week:

http://bit.ly/2poO9xH

FinTech Monthly: £108m in UK FinTech investment, Square’s UK launch, Monzo news and more

Lots of investment in UK FinTech:

http://bit.ly/2oIssKw

Security-as-a-service (SaaS) model gains traction

SME companies are increasingly turning to SaaS offer- ings to manage their network security needs:

http://bit.ly/2oMXUnL