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On Tuesday 30th May, 2017, the Experteq executive team held our first-of-its-kind Compliance Index launch with an executive round table discussion in Sydney.
Moderated by Kris Peach, Chair & CEO, Australian Accounting Standards Board, the roundtable was attended by a range of high-profile guests, including: Karen Malzard, Head of Risk, Global Pensions & Investments and Insurance for Global Wealth – ANZ; Michael Vainauskas, Chief Risk Officer/General Manager Risk & Internal Audit – Perpetual; and Elizabeth Sheedy, Associate Professor, Department of Applied Finance and Actuarial Studies – Macquarie University, among many others.
The event was a tremendous success, bringing together the best minds in risk and compliance to canvass the trends, opportunities and challenges facing financial services organisations today.
We also officially shared with the guests our inaugural Experteq Compliance Index and highlighted some of our key findings, including how 76 per cent of companies are increasing spend on compliance year-on-year.
Why did we initiate the Compliance Index?
In our global economy and always-on business world, we have seen new market trends emerge and disruptive players enter the field. Increased levels of complexity, stricter regulation requirements and heightened risk have placed pressure on organisations to get compliance management right, while remaining cutting-edge and innovative.
Industry compliance is at the heart of everything we do at Experteq. As a leading technology partner servicing over 50 financial institutions, we initiated the Compliance Index to ensure compliance and risk are top of mind for the industry. In response to the evolving regulatory landscape, we have provided a timely snapshot into the state of play in risk and compliance for the modern organisation.
The aim of the Index is to pave the way for forward-thinking organisations to better manage risk and compliance. To achieve this, we surveyed a diverse range of organisations across banking, finance, insurance and IT to identify key risk management strategies, compliance trends and challenges facing financial and professional services organisations in Australia.
Top 3 outcomes from the conversation with industry experts
1. Build a strong risk and compliance culture from the top down. In an environment of compliance-phobia and uncertainty of what’s to come, many organisations are missing the fundamental ingredient of best-practice compliance management: a strong risk and compliance culture.
Historically, compliance has been considered as a function or afterthought of effective risk management. All too often, it’s thought of as an overhead or forced necessity; yet in reality, compliance is intrinsic to risk management.
From the top down, organisations need to build risk and compliance into the entire process, creating a strong risk and compliance culture. Risk and compliance as a culture adds significant value not only to the organisation, but to the end customer and wider industry.
2. Collaborate with industry and disruptive players like RegTechs. Whether it be with partners, industry bodies, regulators or RegTechs, collaboration is key to improving compliance management across the enterprise.
In an always-on business world, there are high standards that every industry player is expected to meet. To stay ahead of the curve, organisations need to prioritise the sharing of experiences and knowledge, leveraging a three-way relationship with industry, regulators and RegTechs.
Collaboration with regulators is an untapped opportunity for many. Furthering collaboration will help regulators to strike a balance between approachability and enforcement, reducing barriers to engagement for the modern organisation.
At the same time, enhancing collaboration with RegTechs will fast-track technology for the industry. By working together, we can form a holistic ecosystem grounded in open and transparent partnerships with regulators, and innovation-driven partnerships with RegTechs.
3. Automating compliance is a double-edged sword. Advancements in technology have changed the nature of risk and compliance management, as we’re seeing from the emergence of the RegTech industry (Regulation Technology).
A significant portion of compliance management is still manual. With organisations adopting new technologies like RegTechs to assess work flow management, there is a rising need for technology that automates compliance processes in an aggregated way.
Savvy organisations are focusing on future-proofing with technologies that reduce manual impact. This is something that RegTechs can deliver – yet it remains a double-edged sword.
Being solely reliant upon technology creates a new danger zone for organisations. There is a risk of losing people within the business that actually understand risk and compliance regulations. We need technology providers that can work with governing bodies, understand the specific compliance requirements and provide aggregated solutions that significantly reduce the manual workload.
So, where to next? Our round table indicated an appetite for continued discussion on the compliance topic, which we intend to facilitate over the coming months – stay tuned.
To read the full Experteq Compliance Index insights, click here to download the report.
Click here to participant in our compliance survey and contribute your insights and expertise to the next round of results at the end of the year.
