Modern compliance demands need modern solutions, and that’s where regulatory technology comes in. But how do you decide on the best regtech for you?
In ComplyPortal’s recent webinar, Driving the Rise of Modern Compliance, experts in financial compliance gathered to discuss the challenges facing modern compliance officers and their teams. The speakers explored the multiple responsibilities and duties that compliance teams have to manage, from everyday compliance tasks to sustaining training and development and meeting the regulator’s desired data standards.
Tackling Compliance Challenges
The most significant challenge facing compliance teams, according to Deloitte’s 2020 State of Compliance Survey (p.14), is having sufficient capacity and resources – and 53% of respondents believed that this would be the case even without the Covid-19 crisis. ComplyPortal’s webinar panel agreed that the use of regulatory technology (regtech) is a crucial solution to these compliance challenges. Many software offerings in the industry are created to support compliance teams by meeting specific compliance challenges or being tailored to support the needs of a particular firm.
But with several options on the market, how do you select the right regulatory technology for your team or firm?
Identifying Priorities
According to Hilton Goudriaan, Head of Service at ComplyPortal, the first step to selecting the right regtech is to “Evaluate what you’re spending much of your time on, and how much this can be automated.” Looking for tasks that can be managed digitally is an important first step because many crucial compliance tasks – such as monitoring – are a time drain that reduces your team’s capacity to tackle other duties.
Identify the top tasks that can be automated, search for regtech software that is designed to conduct these tasks for you, and make use of available free demos or ‘explainer videos’ to assess whether or not a service or platform will match your priorities. Automating time-consuming tasks will free up your team for more complex compliance duties that require skills and expertise that technology cannot provide.
Narrowing Down Your Options
Once you have created a shortlist of regtech that will meet your team’s needs, step two is to consider costs. While regtech is a useful investment, Hilton notes that “Not all tools are equal.” The question that will arise – particularly from staff that have to sign off on budget expenses – is whether or not your chosen software is worth the financial investment you and your company will be making.
Searching for a cost-effective solution is also a useful way of narrowing down your options. As different teams and organisations will have different requirements, the key to step two is striking a balance between your firm and team’s needs and priorities and the available budget for new resources.
‘Sealing the Deal’ With Stakeholder Buy-In
Now that you have selected the most appropriate regtech options for your need and budget, your final step is to secure the support of key stakeholders. Steve Williams, Senior VP, Regulatory Compliance at Teleperformance BPO suggests conducting sessions with affected teams and colleagues to demonstrate how they can benefit from your chosen software investment. It may be that they, too, have a use for the software you have chosen, or that they can receive more collaboration or assistance from you and your team if there is software which can automate otherwise time-consuming tasks.
To gain the support of more senior stakeholders who sign off on new investments and resources – think Boards and executive leadership teams – demonstrate how your selected software meets your firm’s needs, is cost-effective, and will help other areas of your organisation.
For more insight on compliance technology options and benefits, visit https://complyportal.uk/modules/ and find out how our straightforward, comprehensive compliance technology solution can help you and your organisation.
About ComplyPortal – Compliance software since 2011:
First developed in 2011 by compliance professionals for compliance officers, ComplyPortal offers workflow, automation, and several modules to help firms with control and regulatory compliance monitoring.
ComplyPortal simplifies financial services regulatory compliance management on an easy-to-use cloud-based comprehensive compliance platform. It enables compliance officers, risk officers and senior management to keep track of their firm’s regulatory responsibilities and workflows. Our platform includes the following modules, among others:
- Monitoring: a year-round schedule pre-populated with monitoring questionnaires to ease compliance processes.
- Registers: lists controlled by the Compliance officer, but easy for staff to view.
- Risk: map and control risk areas to effectively identify and manage risk for your firm.
- eKYC system: perform comprehensive searches, including client identity verification, document authenticity, and more for a comprehensive KYC and AML approach
