Nida Rahimi-Naeem
What is regulatory intelligence?
Regulatory intelligence is the crossroads where financial regulation in all its forms meets artificial intelligence.
Financial regulation + artificial intelligence
While regulatory intelligence may sound simple, it is a concept that goes far beyond the surface layer of generic regulatory data and regulatory processing. It uses sophisticated technology such as machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) to automate compliance processes and provide deep insights into regulatory data; doing the leg work of hundreds of compliance officers, in an instant.
How has regulatory intelligence evolved with technology?
Regulatory intelligence has taken on many definitions over the years. Around 10 years ago, it was a term used to describe a person, or teams of people, carrying out horizon scanning in the regulatory sphere; however it has recently taken undergone a technological rebranding.
In the past, human-driven regulatory intelligence was hugely beneficial and insightful for financial institutions (FIs). Not only did these teams know what changes were afoot, they knew the regulatory expectations and industry feeling around those changes. However, while beneficial, these teams had their limitations; FIs would only know as much as a person, or a team could find out. Not only that, but it took months of research and manual process to find out this information. This inevitably led to gaps in compliance systems, resulting in inefficiencies in both resource and cost, as well as punitive regulatory action.
This is where technology plays a part. The last 10 years alone has seen a drastic advancement in technology, which means FIs no longer have teams spending hours upon hours scouring the regulatory internet. Instead, through technology, this process can now be done automatically and instantly.
How does regulatory intelligence benefit financial institutions?
Regulatory intelligence takes a holistic view of the world of financial services. RegTechs, such as CUBE, benefits FIs by addressing traditional compliance processes, including regulatory change management, and providing deep insights into every aspect of the regulatory chain; from regulatory obligations through to operational risks and controls.
Regulatory intelligence also allows firms to free up resources, from costs to human power, and instead commit those resources to higher up the value chain.
Finally, it also gives peace of mind in mitigating gaps in compliance systems and minimising the risk of regulatory non-compliance. In turn, it can highlight many potential blind spots within an organisation. Whether that’s gaps in regulatory inventories or in blind spots within the controls and policies that sit behind FIs. So overall risk is reduced.
Does this mark the end of the compliance officer?
The simple answer? Absolutely not.
Regulatory intelligence, while valuable as a stand-alone, is at its most valuable when working in concert with industry experts. This is where it really elevates and accelerates the capacity and efficiency of compliance teams to implement changes faster and bring a high-level of assurance to FIs.
