Yesterday, 22 digital asset regulators and market participants gathered virtually across 39 jurisdictions to debate the RegTech challenges presented by digital assets. Tracking this sector’s regulatory obligations is like playing a three dimensional game of chess and small details can make or break markets. In this article we recap where we took away, how you


The UK’s finance ministry yesterday announced its plans to regulate certain stablecoins within existing payments regulation and begin to formulate its regulatory framework for crypto assets. HM Treasury has commissioned the Royal Mint to create a non-fungible token (NFT) this summer to mark the UK’s ambition to become a crypto-asset hub. “We see enormous potential


The rise of digitally-native compliance

As the digital asset sector matures and policy makers design new rules to oversee this market, compliance has become a strategic battleground for market participants. Regulations that prescribe controls over ‘who trades what’ are being drafted and will include many check boxes for the transaction lifecycle.  The great news is that TradFI has developed RegTech


US Order: Get your RegTech ready

Yesterday, President Biden fired the starting gun for the US regulators’ race to control Digital Assets. Crypto enthusiasts have been looking for regulators to take firm positions on whether digital assets race on Formula 1, NASCAR, or Motocross tracks. Regardless, it will be RegTech that is waving the chequered flags very soon. Join an all-star


5 April: RegTech + Digital Finance

Crypto bros might struggle to see it this way, but digital asset regulation has moved at great pace in a short time. Will it be fit for purpose? With interoperable standards on the way, RegTech has the power to unify digital and TradFi rails. Join an all-star cast on 5 April for our virtual conference


Surveillance RegTech 2022

The great work-from-home experiment forced traders from the office and digital surveillance teams into overdrive. RegTech can provide a path forward through serious legal obstacles that stand in the way of effective oversight. However, good compliance is not just about the tech and we need collaborative action to make surveillance RegTech fit for purpose. The


Digital Asset RegTech – OnDemand

This year  we will be producing 3 seminars which will facilitate regulator, firm and supplier collaboration and to develop and encourage interoperability between TradeFi and digital waves.  We are inviting Digital Asset, Crypto and TradFi market participants to join our 2022 Digital Finance Programme which will explore our global research and the role of Digital


2022 cyber defence upgrades

Global regulators are producing a steady flow of operationally-intensive rules focused on new digital risks in 2022.  Amongst them, cybersecurity is emerging as a top pain point as more persistent attacks threaten banking supply chains. New, deeper and aligned controls are now the order of the day. In this article we summarise the main components


Digital reporting 2022

With newly minted FS reporting strategies, the EU and UK are focused on enabling the fasteners of digital finance. This article summarizes the 2022 transformation drivers for public and private sectors, and how you can get involved in DRR. 2022 transparency drivers As we discussed in our 2022 Outlook, digital assets are coming into the


2022 RegTech Outlook

New digital rails are being laid next to traditional finance (TradFi) which puts RegTech in the critical role of integrating markets and defining safety standards. In our inaugural episode of RegCast here we lay out the key themes which peek over the horizon as JWG enters its second decade of RegTech. RegTech meets Digital Finance


Operational risk and operational resilience

Executive summary As regulators focus on Operational Resilience firms need to realign their risk frameworks Without this alignment, firms risk overlaps and gaps in their controls Third parties play a key role in aligning controls and service metrics for your board Fines or excessive cost benchmarks are in store for those that get it wrong


Behavioural monitoring and conduct analytics technology promise to make it easier for firms to detect employee misconduct as well as predict where it might occur next. However, reliance on data- and technology-led solutions may fail to deliver insights and controls, while increasing firms’ exposure to data privacy risks and ethical issues. The emergence of surveillance


The Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)-convened Artificial Intelligence Public-Private Forum (AIPPF) this month discussed potential accountability and governance frameworks that could form future guidance for the use of AI in financial services. Senior management accountability as well as the creation of a chief AI officer role were contemplated as oversight options,


Regulatory reporting is moving out of the backwater and into the limelight. New RegTech tooling is here and leaders are deploying it now and regulators are defining their SupTech approaches. The regulators and regulated have all made progress and the sector is building momentum in Q4. Register Here Regulatory demands picking up pace Last quarter


JWG Q421 research reveals major regulatory battles for information on third parties in 2022, which has massive implications for FS suppliers. Combined with Cloud, AI and other new controls, knowing your supply chain just became a lot more critical and complicated.   Without standard supply chain messages, regulators, regulated firms and their suppliers run the


Technology, data and infrastructure provision to banks now puts 3rd parties on the critical path for systemic oversight. Knowing your supply chain just became a lot more critical and complicated. There is an opportunity to take the pain away with a more joined up approach that requires senior engagement, trust and ‘safe space’


The UK Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has warned firms about deficiencies in their regulatory reporting governance arrangements, systems and controls as well as the of key rules interpretations. The PRA’s ‘ Dear CEO’ letter published last week, admonished firms for their “historic lack of focus, prioritisation, and investment in this area” and called for firms


It might be summertime but the work hasn’t stopped for those working in compliance. The constant barrage of tweaks to existing reporting regimes and wholesale refreshes such as the incoming derivatives reporting changes by the Commodity Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC) have kept teams busy. In Europe, Brexit has also impacted how firms must deal


Listen to the Podcast here Since the 2008 crisis, the markets have been asked to put everything on a venue, deliver vast quantities of transparency data, protect the customer and deliver growth. It has taken Europe over 15 years to build a mountain of rules that is millions of paragraphs high and stretches across the


Following a great discussion about the major surveillance AI control gaps highlighted by JWG’s July research  the FATF and BIS have both published complementary AI policy papers.   With penalties of up to 6% of annual revenue 500 working days away, we have decided to build RegTech AI surveillance use cases to: Tease out the


Why attend for Sponsors Why attend for Delegates Register Now   For our sixth annual RegTech conference we are bringing our global network of regulators, trade associations, academia, firms and leading technologists together to define the top challenges facing both private and public sector and debating potential strategies to overcome them. Our global regulatory debate


Although no international guidelines on AI exist, the EU is way ahead in policy formulation with a very clear view of what good looks like. JWG research has revealed major control gaps to other jurisdictions and draconian penalties for those that don’t comply in 2023. In preparation, we will be developing detailed business use cases


Presentation from SIG meeting on 27 July to review updates to the trade surveillance regulatory agenda, review global artificial intelligence gaps and agree next steps.


A new approach to global regulatory data observation is fundamental to the fulfilment of Supervisory mandates in a digital age. The sector is digitizing fast but there is much more we can do to deliver digital controls for public and private sectors. JWG is working with industry leaders to launch the Digital Reporting Task Force


Listen to the Podcast here Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are now under central bankers’ microscopes as they explore ways to improve digital commerce, reinforce systemic resilience and preserve the foundational role of fiat money in global finance. Emerging technology for digital identities, fraud detection and other elements of a robust payment solution can be


Last week, over 30 organizations including regulators, global financial institutions, trade associations and vendors met under the auspices of JWG’s Regulatory reporting special interest group (RRDS). In this 27th meeting on regulatory reporting the group examined the feasibility of integrating prudential/statistical ‘top down’ or more aggregated reporting (e.g., CRR 430C, ESG) and ‘bottom up’ or more transactional data collection (e.g., EMIR, MiFID, CSDR). So far


JWG summarized regulatory 2021 reporting efforts and explained how there are both prudential/statistical ‘top down’ or more aggregated reporting (e.g., Risk, ESG) with the ‘bottom up’ more transactional data collection (e.g., EMIR, MiFID, CSDR). The RRDS agenda will seek to share lessons learnt across both types of regulatory reporting innovations this year. Though concepts have been proven and studies generally align, without a more concrete description of the future risk information system which extends today’s notion of ‘data’ to include ‘language’ regulatory data efforts will continue to cost tens of billions while failing to achieve their policy objectives.


Following our discussion of several global accountability regimes and forthcoming culture audits we are turning our attention back to AI. This is a very noisy space with Germany, UK, Japan and the US all mandating new controls in advance of MiFID III update which could raise the algo trading bar even higher.   In this


Last week marked a key turning point for the derivatives industry as it moves towards aggressive implementation deadlines for regulatory reporting on either side of the Atlantic.   After a decade of international regulatory reporting the sector is marshalling resources to meet new CPMI/IOSCO implementation mandates for newly standardized common data elements.   A poll


Sponsored by Accountability is a theme that has been on the industry’s to do list since the Great Financial Crisis. Five years since new senior management regimes started rolling out, global regulators are already raising the bar to include front-office culture audits which apply behavioural science to new culture and conduct measurement. New JWG research


JWG summarized regulatory 2021 reporting efforts and explained how there are both prudential/statistical ‘top down’ or more aggregated reporting (e.g., Risk, ESG) with the ‘bottom up’ more transactional data collection (e.g., EMIR, MiFID, CSDR). The RRDS agenda will seek to share lessons learnt across both types of regulatory reporting innovations this year


Presentation from SIG meeting on 18 May to review updates to the trade surveillance regulatory agenda, review global accountability regimes and agree priorities for RegTech and SupTech tooling.


UK banks’ annual reports show an emerging understanding of operational resilience that emphasises business continuity planning and conflates pandemic performance with high operational resilience. Banks have asked regulators for more guidance on what they want operational resilience work to look like. That safe harbour will not be forthcoming, and firms need to work on evolving


The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II “quick fix” consultation signposts issues for further consultation as the onshored regime evolves post-Brexit. At the same time, the paper alerts industry to further consultations — at least two more from the FCA this year — including one contemplating the consequences of Libor


Newsflash: RegCast 7 – Democratized MiFID III?

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We are pleased to release our 7th RegCast today. Cries for faster, better, and cheaper access to financial services by millions of investors have shaken the markets this year. With advice out of reach for most individuals racing into the markets, they are placing risky bets which are poorly understood. In this episode, Jackson Mueller, Seccurrency,  Sam


HM Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have used FinTech Week to set out their regulatory support plans to make Britain more attractive to the financial technology sector. Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Nikhil Rathi, the FCA’s chief executive, confirmed plans to take forward many recommendations made by the Kalifa review of


The group discussed recent papers from the Bank of England, BIS and JWG’s Global Derivatives Digital Regulatory Reporting (DRR) programme and the business case for getting involved in these efforts. The group also reviewed  JWG’s proposed Regulatory Reporting & Data SIG (RRDS) 2021 plans to explore the feasibility of ‘top down’ aggregated reporting (e.g., Risk,


We are pleased to release our 6th RegCast today. Rachel Wolcott takes the chair to talk to Dawd Haque, Deutsche Bank, PJ Di Giammarino, JWG and Leo Labeis, Regnosys about the industry’s ground-breaking collaborative effort to get derivatives trade reporting right. The group explains how over a dozen sell and buy-side firms are rolling up


We are pleased to release our 4th RegCast today. In this episode Angus Moir, Bank of England joins us to share UK’s plans for Transforming data collection and to pick up with former UK regulator Gavin Stuart where we left off in RegCast 3. We focus on digital capabilities required for investment firms to share information with their


The UK Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) ordered globally systemically important banks (G-SIB) to commission skilled persons reviews of their governance and individual accountability regimes, as well as control and risk management frameworks in its financial year 2020/21. This activity underscores the continuing serious problems that the world’s largest and most-complex banks have had with risk


The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will consult on a review of the UK European Markets Infrastructure Regulation (UK EMIR) reporting standards in the second half of this year, a spokeswoman for the regulator said. It has “the aim of improving overall data quality and to align the standards with the global guidelines on critical data


We are pleased to release our 3rd RegCast today. This episode shines a spotlight on the new. digital capabilities required to track neo brokers, digital influencers (e.g., roaring kitty) and the new on-line herds of citizens that can influence market pricing (e.g., GameStop). Picking up with Sam Tyfield, Rachel Wolcott and Gavin Stuart where we


The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is developing a single-view-of-firm dashboard and other early warning systems to identify and potentially shut down problem firms more quickly, said Nikhil Rathi, chief executive. Upskilling in technology, operations and data science would permit the regulator to design systems to detect misconduct, fight fraud and react more quickly to rapidly


The latest episode of RegCast is available now! RegCast 2 covers the UK’s fast moving political and regulatory review process, the key questions they are addressing, and what they are likely to mean for regulators, regulated and their customers. The group discusses past choices and explores the implications of digitizing the future regulatory framework including


The number of cyber incidents at UK banks, asset managers, wholesale brokers and exchanges rose from 21 in 2019 to 55 in 2020, a 161.9% increase, according to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The disclosure was made in response to a request under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act. Asset managers, wholesale brokers, platforms and


It has been a very busy 2021 and it is a very noisy financial services regulatory marketplace. JWG is pleased to be helping to contextualise the strategic issues in play with a new podcast series called RegCast which you can access here.   So what is RegCast? RegCast is an industry spotlight on the business


Many UK firms are far from fully compliant with the Market Abuse Regulation ( MAR) applied in July 2016, requiring the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to continue its supervisory visits to check firms’ progress. More than four years into the regime, FCA supervisors still find basic flaws in firms’ systems and controls, including poorly calibrated


Digital regulatory reporting – tipping point 2021

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Digital regulatory reporting – tipping point 2021 By PJ Di Giammarino, CEO JWG Group New JWG research has found supervisors to be focused on creating new standards for interpreting complex data needs in 2021 as the industry hits a tipping point for in its quest for digital standards that simplify complex regulatory reporting obligations. Global


A UK Government-led forum in its third year. A dynamic and engaging event bringing together the leading public and private sector actors from the UK, China and Southeast Asia to exchange knowledge and innovative practical techniques and solutions to tackle financial crime and related issues. A vibrant and vital interaction between policymakers, regulatory bodies, law


Collaboration to finally realize GFC reforms via digitalization The good news about compliance is that financial firms are finally getting the last generation of G20 Global Financial Crisis (GFC) regulations under control, said PJ Di Giammarino, CEO of JWG, a financial regulation think-tank based in London. The not so good news is that the industry


Know your 2021 Cloud Compliance Strategy – Survey open

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JWG’s 2020 research has found that the financial services market exhibits an ever-growing blind spot from technology risk which lurks off balance sheet. High profile outages like Google and Microsoft have underlined the issue for both the regulator and regulated this month. This point has not been lost on regulators who in the middle of


L’Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), France’s financial markets regulator, has created a Data and Surveillance Directorate as part of a wider reorganisation announced earlier this month. Its establishment comes as a handful of regulators pursue digital realignment programmes, but the AMF appears to be ahead of the pack in establishing a new division, building data


   Donna Bales, Co-Founder and Member of the Board of the Canadian RegTech Association and PJ Di Giammarino, Founder and CEO of JWG Group were honoured to participate in the Canadian Institute’s 26th Annual Flagship Conference on Regulatory Compliance for Financial Institutions. The trans-Atlantic debate, ‘Assessing 10 Opportunities in the RegTech, FinTech and the


The European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) extensive proposed guidance to the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) could force the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to make some early decisions to diverge from the regime. “One of the questions is what does the FCA really think about the MAR review? This is where the rubber begins


Gentrifying The Wild West

Can suptech take DeFi to the next level? As technology-driven decentralised finance (or DeFi) grows in popularity and market value, it appears that a battle is brewing between DeFi protocols and regulators. But can technological tools in the hands of regulators head this off at the pass? A reasoned, transitional approach to compliance, along with


The global regulatory community has put its support behind digital regulatory reporting (DRR) initiatives acknowledging supervisors require the ability to collect better quality data more efficiently. The Bank of International Settlements (BIS), the European Commission, the European Banking Authority (EBA), the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the U.S.’s Federal


Remember, Remember, the 5th of November… FCA, conduct and Ops

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On Thursday last week, 5th November, the FCA published three Decision Notices, all prohibiting individuals from performing “any function in relation to any regulated activity carried on by any authorised or exempt persons or exempt professional persons” as each lacked “the necessary integrity and reputation required to work in the regulated financial services sector”. The offences


Key surveillance takeaways from the MAR review

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By PJ Di Giammarino and Sam Tyfield, Partner, Shoosmiths. The MAR review report was finally released on 23 September and clocked in at 276 pages. It raises a number of key issues for senior management at financial institutions, already struggling to form a holistic view of their communications surveillance obligations under COVID. The extensive review


Sabre rattling: Trade surveillance, RegTech and COVID obligations

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By Sam Tyfield, Partner, Shoosmiths. On 12 October, a speech by Julia Hoggett, FCA’s Director of Market Oversight, was published here. She speaks of having “rattled [her] sabre” about market abuse and surveillance. She started with some good news; activity the FCA regards as abusive, manipulative or insider dealing has not changed, so far as


SupTech update: Digital Regulatory Reporting is here 

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By: PJ Di Giammarino  After a decade of data challenges, Regulators are now taking cautious steps towards new reporting technology. New reports issued this month show that DRR finally has traction and that demand for better solutions is high as the industry pinpoints which areas to deploy it.   We may finally be at a tipping point for both transactional and prudential data reporting. However, all eyes


UK regulators must endorse a single digital interpretation of European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) reporting rules if the digital regulatory reporting (DRR) work underway with industry collaborators is to succeed. The private sector has engaged and done much of the heavy lifting to prove digital regulatory reporting works for all kinds of business models, said


The UK’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has commissioned 11 skilled persons reviews under Section 166 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 into firms’ regulatory reporting in the last two quarters. The PRA commissioned nine prudential s166 reviews of deposit takers in the fourth quarter 2019/20 (December through February), according to publicly available information.


FS Compliance officers have been hit with an unprecedented deluge of 3,021 COVID-19 alerts 2 months into the pandemic, which JWG forecasts to be a total of 15,695 documents by year end.   Regulators expect firms to be able to navigate these difficult circumstances while delivering fair outcomes for customers and complying with existing rules. That’s one of the clear messages in these 3,000 plus regulatory updates.  Better RegTech tooling is


Firms’ 2020 compliance workplans and risk management strategies have been rendered redundant as the regulatory response to COVID-19 has usurped everyone’s agenda. Regtech companies tracking COVID-19-related regulatory publications say more than 1,300 announcements have been made internationally as regulators roll out pandemic-specific guidelines and relax some rules to help financial institutions manage their businesses. “If


Author: Rachel Wolcott, Thomson Reuters The European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) derivatives trade reports and Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II transaction reports regulators collect is unlikely to be yielding the market insights required to navigate the COVID-19 crisis. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) 2019/20 annual report and work programme shows EMIR reports’


Round the table: ​ Firms: Barclays, BNP, Credit Suisse, EDF Man, ING​ Vendors: Altergiaia, Datavisor, Grant Thornton, Lysis​ Regulators: FCA​ Independents: Mark Davies, Kumar Raju, Stephan Niermann, Samantha Sheen ​ 15+ people will dive into AMLD V RegTech use cases:​ Discuss latest status with FCA TechSprint & Companies house interaction​ Review conclusions from the RTC registry survey and implications for RTC Project​


Round the table: ​ Firms: Barclays, BNP, BlackRock, Citi, Credit Suisse, EDF Man, ING, GAM, Santander, Westpac​ Vendors: Altergiaia, pTools​ Regulators: FCA​ Independents: Stephan Niermann, Samantha Sheen ​ 15+ people will dive into AMLD V RegTech use cases:​ Review FCA TechSprint outcomes for UBO ​ Understand potential vehicles for leveraging Citadel’s solution​ Identify potential participants​ Agree plans for CMS and RegTech Council on 17 October


Round the table: ​ Firms: Blackrock, BNP, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, GAM, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, Natwest Markets, Railsbank​ Regulator: Companies House, FCA​ Infrastructure: BvD, Ince, SEI​ 25 people will discuss:​ Align our current understanding of 5MLD registry challenges​ Define key challenges for the RegTech Council​ Agree a plan to mutualise the work required to digitize the exchange of data The


To recap, we have been working with your peer firms over the last 2 years to engage with the regulators on AML: The RegTech Council, at the direction of Barclays, Credit Suisse, BNP, Citi and other firms worked with the FCA to define the UBO use case for the global Tech Sprint last summer Team


Round the table: ​ Firms:  Barclays, BlackRock, BMO, BNP, Commerzbank, Credit Suisse, ED&F Man, GAM, Janus Henderson, Jeffries, JP Morgan, Macquarie, Man, Nomura, RBC, Santander, Scotia, Soc Gen, TD, UBS, Wells Fargo​ Vendors: Altergaia, Digital Reasoning, Grant Thornton, Lysis, NICE Actimize, pTools, Relativity Trace​ Regulators: FCA​ 30+ people will:​ Review recent conclusions from FCA review and Global AML TechSprint​ Discuss operating


Round the table: ​ Firms:  Aviva, BAML, Barclays, Blackrock, BNP, Commerzbank, CS, ED&F Man, Fidelity, GAM, Janus Henderson, Jefferies, Macquarie, Morgan Stanley, RBC, Santander, Scotia Bank, Soc Gen, State Street, TD and UBS ​ Vendors: Altergaia, Digital Reasoning, NICE Actimize, pTools, Relativity Trace​ 30+ people will:​ Discuss the results of JWG’s Surveillance Capability model research findings​ Discuss the group’s view of barriers


With enough regulatory change to last another decade already, JWG remains committed to collaborating throughout the pandemic. We look forward to a robust on-line discussion with colleagues from Avivia, Blackrock, GAM, Itau Unibanco, Janus Henderson, Northern Trust, RBC, Renaissance Capital, Macquarie, Santander, Scotia Bank, Soc Gen, State Street, TD and Westpac.   Please see the


The FCA issued Market Watch 63 with a grave warning of post-COVID surveillance thematic or retrospective review. This confirms the expectations of many last month (minutes attached)  and we are delighted to add it to our meeting’s agenda as we discuss the worked SM&CR Surveillance guidance example to define how the deliverables can help firms