Taming the DORA dragon

The EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) dragon is getting ready for flight in 150 days. Leave your castle walls in disrepair over the summer holidays at your peril. This regulation has taken a far deeper, broader and more prescriptive approach to derisking the ‘end to end’ Information Communication and Technology (ICT) risk than ever


JWG adds 3 to the awards shelf

London, UK – 17 June 2024 – JWG, the trusted financial services regulatory intelligence company, has been honoured with three more industry awards. Global Business & Finance Magazine has awarded JWG, Most Trusted Financial Services Regulatory Intelligence Company, UK 2024, Best Networking Platform of the Year, UK 2024 and purveyor of the Best AI-Powered Compliance RegTech,


With only 6 months left to deliver compliance with Europe’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), financial entities and their suppliers face a myriad of new ICT risk management, testing and reporting obligations. Governance, policies, incident logs and contracts need to be recalibrated to new standards which vary based on business models. 22,000 entities are getting


The landscape of financial regulations is evolving rapidly, with new technologies paving the way for unprecedented opportunities. We invite you to join us on June 28th, 2024, at 13:00 GMT for a webinar titled, “How RegTech Helps FinTech Eat BankingTech.” Watch here Webinar Highlights: Expert Insights: Hear from PJ Di Gammarino, a pioneering RegTech founder,


To discuss Digital Surveillance Rule (DSR) programme objectives and determine next steps.


We are pleased to announce the first wave of confirmed firms, regulators and trade associations are participating in JWG’s 8th annual RegTech conference, ‘Getting real about RegTech 2024. Don’t miss this opportunity to join this premier global event which articulates the key challenges which RegTech can help overcome in 2024. Register here RegTech year 8 Regulators


UK RegRadar Update – 7 Feb 24

The UK Financial Services Regulatory Initiatives Forum released its second major Regulatory Initiatives Grid update of the year and the 7th edition of the Grid overall. Over three dozen new initiatives have been added to last year’s plan (JWG Grid 6 analysis here) taking into account the summer update which flagged the significance of Financial


JWG tops 12 awards since 2022 with 4 more

London, UK – 17 October 2023 – JWG, the trusted financial services regulatory intelligence company, has been honoured with four more industry awards. Global Business & Finance Magazine has named JWG’s cutting edge regulatory technology (RegTech) solution as the Best RegTech Innovation of 2023. Meanwhile, Corporate LiveWire has named JWG as the Networking Platform of


JWG’s eighth annual conference will be the premier, global event for setting the 2024 RegTech agenda on 7 February in London. Join us to help shape the debate today. Register for 7 February 2024  About the JWG RegTech agenda Long recognised as the first, biggest and most professional public/private sector agenda debate, JWG is continuing


Three new industry awards for JWG

London, UK – 21 June 2023 – JWG, the trusted financial services regulatory intelligence company, is thrilled to announce that for the second year running AI-Publishing has recognized JWG for its global RegTech efforts. “JWG’s tireless dedication to assisting finance professionals across the world to remain compliant with the latest regulation changes, makes them the


Senior managers have 163 days left to get ready for new rules in Ireland which will become effective on the 31st December 2023. In the wake of the pandemic, FinTech and digital assets have become real, the next big round of post-crisis derivatives reforms is in here, trading rules are being rewritten and the regulatory framework


JWG scoops another industry award

London, UK – 5 May 2023 –  JWG, the trusted financial services regulatory intelligence company, is thrilled to announce that our global RegTech efforts have once again been recognized, this time by Feedspot, naming us one of the Top 10 global RegTech Blogs. This latest accolade is a testament to our commitment to delivering cutting-edge solutions


UK RegRadar Flash Update

UK Regulators have finally disclosed their plans for 2023 which are 29% bigger than last year with the FCA owning the lion’s share of the 143 initiatives. Practitioners should update their firm’s radars with this version but beware: further updates are expected over the course of 2023. JWG RegRadars are primed and ready. Join us


UK crypto-asset regulation should require firms to be authorised locally and establish a physical presence to help asset recovery efforts when customer funds are lost to fraud or theft, lawyers said. HM Treasury’s crypto-asset regulation consultation paper, published this month, says crypto-asset activity provided in or to the UK must be authorised by UK authorities.


UK confirms Crypto needs RegTech

The UK Treasury’s fired a warning shot across the bow of digital assets businesses yesterday. The proposed regime will be a significant challenge for the current exchanges and digital asset firms who do not have access to institutional-grade RegTech solutions. With so much at stake, it is essential that those affected understand what impact these


The UK Treasury’s consultation on further crypto asset regulation signals a heavy compliance burden for crypto businesses and some vertically integrated firms may be required to restructure to gain authorisation. Crypto businesses operating in the UK must be registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and compliant with the Money Laundering Regulation (MLR 2017). Around


JWG RegTech Beacon 29 published

2023 RegTech Beacon – Guiding your way through regulatory storms  We are delighted to publish the 29th issue of JWG’s RegTech Beacon which now serves as our yearbook and recaps 2022 accomplishments as well as providing an outlook of what lies ahead. Our RegTech outlook is one of collaboration between the front office and its supporting


JWG scoops 5 industry awards for 2022/2023

JWG has won five global awards for its RegDelta platform and website. If you’re looking for the broadest regulatory intelligence with the deepest enrichment, within the fastest timeframes, then you need to check out JWG’s RegDelta platform. It showcases the latest analysis, highlights relevant products, services, and events so you can create a bespoke library


Many of the financial regulatory reforms announced in Edinburgh on Friday by Jeremy Hunt, Chancellor of the Exchequer, had a familiar ring to them. Banks, investment firms and anyone selling products to or into the UK market will need to engage with the detail of what was published. “The Edinburgh Reforms seize on our Brexit


Join us to set the 2023 RegTech agenda

An all-star cast of 40+ speakers will gather virtually on 9th & 10th November 2022 to set the 2023 RegTech agenda at JWG’s 7th annual premier RegTech conference. Markets have been rocked by turbulence unseen in over a decade and the regulatory agenda has shifted quickly. JWG research has defined 10 panels and worked with the industry to


RegTech for clean controls

Regulators don’t just want firms to read what they put on their websites, they want them to prove their risk and control frameworks do what they say. RegTech now enables firms to interpret their requirements and provide businesses with an opportunity to bring costs down and avoid regulatory actions that can put the business ‘on


Join our all-star virtual cast 9-10 Nov

We are pleased to announce the first wave of confirmed firms,  regulators, trade associations in JWG’s 7th annual RegTech conference,  ‘Digitally-native compliance’. 2022 regulatory agendas have been rocked by political and market turbulence unseen in recent decades. Don’t miss this opportunity to join this international group of all stars who will articulate the key challenges which RegTech


Are EU ready for accountability RegTech?

Accountability regimes will force board members and senior management on the Continent to rethink compliance for the Senior Executive Accountability Regime (SEAR) in 2024. The new regime will ‘gold plate’ current EU law and present international firms with major new hurdles. Irish bankers will be individually accountable for their responsibilities, with fines and even jail


Rulings by the Belgian and French data privacy authorities (DPAs) emphasise the risk posed by social media monitoring and scraping technology to firms and regulators such as the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) that commonly use such tools for sentiment analysis, as well as to monitor individuals’ and organisations’ online activity. “The public nature of the personal data available


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 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


JWG RegTech Beacon 28 published

RegTech Beacon – Guiding your way through global regulatory storms. We are delighted to publish the 28th issue of JWG’s RegTech Beacon which now serves as our yearbook that recaps 2021 accomplishments and provides an outlook of what lies ahead. Our focus this year is defining the next steps required for a truly digital financial infrastructure. 


RegTech Beacon – Guiding your way through global regulatory storms. We are delighted to publish the 28th issue of JWG’s RegTech Beacon which now serves as our yearbook that recaps 2021 accomplishments and provides an outlook of what lies ahead. Our focus this year is defining the next steps required for a truly digital financial infrastructure. 


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


100+ Organizations have registered for RegTech 2021   JWG has finalized an all-star cast of  37 speakers from the best and the brightest in our space which will be gather virtually on 16th & 17th November 2021. Don’t miss this opportunity to join international firms, the Bank of England, FCA, global regulators and trade associations and top banks,


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’


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


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.


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.


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


The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) will look at potential risks in neo-brokers’ business models after MEPs raised concerns about payment for order flow (PFOF), short selling and market abuse. Tuesday’s ECON session at the European Parliament was dedicated to discussing the GameStop market event and its impact on EU markets. Steven Maijoor, ESMA’s


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


As we summarized in our latest Beacon, JWG’s surveillance community has covered quite a patchwork of regulatory obligations over the past 2. In all that time, nothing has pulled all into focus like GameStop. JWG has been digging beyond the broadsheet news to examine what roars from Reddit chat groups will mean to wholesale and


JWG RegTech Beacon 27 published

RegTech Beacon – Guiding your way through global regulatory storms. 2021 is off to a fast start with regulators redoubling their efforts to police a more digitally enabled market. In this Members newsletter we provide an overview of what JWG has been up to and what lies ahead. Topics covered: New themes for RegCast. We summarize our research on emerging global digital regulatory themes 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


   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


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

In Partnership with:

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


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.


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


The State of Holistic Trade Surveillance – JWG research published 

In Partnership with:

By PJ Di Giammarino Over the past few years, financial services firms have been investigating how to improve trade-related surveillance capabilities and techniques. Expectations from regulators and senior management have been placed under the microscope, mainly due to high surveillance noise levels across all communication channels and asset classes. In tracking this evolution of technologies


By PJ Di Giammarino, CEO JWG   Key points: In 2019 JWG tracked 204,469 pages with 60 million words on FS regulatory reform 8 RegTech discussions require senior management attention now and will be debated under Chatham house rule with audience Q&A 6+ regulators, 12+ firms and 8 tech SMEs will debate winning strategies and


RegTech: the new lifeblood of compliance

By PJ Di Giammarino, CEO JWG Group and Chair of the RegTech Council In the aftermath of the global crisis, financial regulators rushed to implement complex rules without having a complete view of their consolidated impact and how the technical infrastructure of the industry would have to respond to their new demands for data. After


JWG RegTech 2.0 conference – Regulators, regulated and leading technologists to explore winning strategies for top 2020-2021 issues   London, 6 December 2019 – JWG is pleased to announce that its 5th annual RegTech Conference will be held on 7 February 2020 at the Gouman Tower Hotel in the City of London.    At a crucial point of inflection post financial crisis the Financial Services sector faces 374 new legal challenges. New JWG research has revealed low levels of awareness to key shifts in the regulator’s RegTech framework. Specifically:    Enabling market ecosystems. New global RegTech/ SupTech policy initiatives    Infrastructure risk. FSB, FRB, BoE focus on cloud


Your Board’s RegTech agenda

5 quarters ago I was pleased to report that the industry had taken an important step out of base camp.   On the eve of our 2019 conference it is clear that regulators, firms and the vendors which support them have all continued up the RegTech mountain, but we are at a crossroads.  New demand mounts from all


2019: Getting real about RegTech?

As we enter the year in which we will celebrate the 10th birthday of the G20 plan to make our financial services sector safe the agenda for compliance and how it leverages RegTech is being reset at a board level by many financial services actors in parallel. This article explores 5 drivers for RegTech 2019


Ready for digital regulation?

  JWG are pleased to announce new research in partnership with MarkLogic, which shows that financial institutions are ill-equipped to deal with the data demands of new regulation.   During Q4 2018, JWG conducted in-depth interviews with senior executives from 12 global financial institutions to develop the insight published in a subsequent paper titled ‘


Q1 19 RegBeacon published

As we enter the year in which we will celebrate the 10th birthday of the G20 plan to make our financial services sector safe we wonder whether we are making enough progress? Armies of compliance staff are now required to run the firm and the standing armies are brought on in to help with the


New JWG research has found 374 ‘legislative initiatives’ targeted at financial services due in the next three years globally and regulators are increasingly less tolerant of poor data quality which is ever more crucial in demonstrating compliance. Thanks to MarkLogic, we are pleased to be able to host a global discussion on our findings. Come


You may have noticed that we snuck out a complete refresh of our websites this week. The revamped pages bring our thought leadership and technology offerings together for the first time. After 1,000,000+ page views from 190 countries since 2012, this was a big migration. Why do it now? Well, as readers of these pages


Both MAR and MiFID II ushered in many new requirements that have forced firms to completely re-assess their approach to trade surveillance. One significant consequence is that firms are having to spend more time and resources on quality assurance controls that ensure trade surveillance systems are both appropriate and effective. MAR, for example, includes a


HM Treasury has published a draft regulation outlining UK regulators’ plans to smooth the transition for inbound passporting firms in the event of a ‘no deal’ Brexit. The draft regulation outlines a temporary permissions regime that will enable EEA financial services firms operating in the UK via a passport to continue their UK operations for


Latest RegBeacon published

We are now 10 years on from the crisis which began the seemingly never-ending stack of regulation that we continue to plough through. As with any infrastructure project the post-crisis regulatory framework requires renewal and repair. Regulators are revisiting reporting regimes and data standards, and are looking at the emergence of new technology, whilst at


As the European Union starts to roll out its Fifth Amendment of the Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD V), financial criminals continue to become more sophisticated and less detectable. With an 18-month transposition period, it is critical for firms to implement the new, more prescriptive rules efficiently and effectively. Join us and 20-plus firms at the


At this year’s RegTech Capital Markets Conference a debate took place on the benefits of using RegTech for trade surveillance in the context of the evolving technical landscape, led by expert industry professionals on compliance and surveillance. Taking into consideration the volume and quality of data firms are expected to monitor, whether the current system


With MiFID II’s implementation date of 3 January 2018 fast approaching, investment firms need to prepare for the changes that will be brought about by the EU’s flagship regulatory policy. All-encompassing in its scope, MiFID II will implement regulatory changes that will impact the trading of all financial instruments. In an attempt to fulfil the


Culture, conduct and how RegTech can help

Improving the culture and codes of conduct within financial services firms has been a longstanding issue of contention since the financial crisis.  Combatting negative behaviours and inefficient controls has proven difficult to regulate and tackle head on. In 2013, the FSB officially acknowledged business conduct as a new category of business risk and now, in


Instilling a culture of compliance

On 5 July, JWG hosted their RegTech Capital Markets Conference in London, attracting over 150 attendees from top tier banks, buy-side firms, vendors, lawyers and academics from across the industry.  A speech from the FCA’s own Nick Cook at the start of the day told of the clear signs of progress being made and reiterated


This month, the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts released its forty-first report of session 2015-16 which looks at ‘financial services mis-selling: regulation and redress’.  The Committee is tasked with ensuring value for money of public spending and generally holds the government and its civil servants to account for the delivery of public services.


The clampdown on mis-selling practices

On 24 February, the National Audit Office of the UK published the findings of a report carried out by the Comptroller and the Auditor General which looked at financial services mis-selling.  The definition of mis-selling is currently “a failure to deliver fair outcomes for customers” and this includes providing customers with misleading information or recommending


This week, the EU commission published the responses to their call for information on the impact of EU regulation so far.  The FCA’s response, also published this week, has been similar to other feedback in citing the constraints on both the banks and the real economy of financing themselves, overly complex reporting obligations and spill-over


With the MiFID II delay finally official, implementation teams received the good news that they had been waiting for patiently for months.  But now is not the time to rest on their laurels. Completing all of the work required to change technology systems, policies and procedures in line with MiFID II was considered an impossibility


Know Your EU Remuneration

JWG analysis. Since the 2008 global financial crisis, there have been multiple bones of contention and areas of tussle between the regulators and members of the financial industry.  One example is the issue of remuneration, because of its reputation as a key driver for instilling particular behaviours within the financial industry.  Used correctly, it can


Battle of the bonuses

JWG analysis. On 7 September, the EU published a statistic showing that, according to the EBA, the percentage of high income earners that have a material impact on an institution’s risk profile has increased from 53.68% to 59.00%.  They stated, though, that this trend is likely to change in the future following the adoption of


JWG analysis. With 40+ regulations covering 500+ KYC data requirements due to be implemented over the next 3 years, meeting the requirements poses significant challenges to all firms in the market, not least client outreach, data management and multiple, iterative, implementation dates.  Combined with record fines for AML failures, and new personal liability for senior


Conduct risk – controlling Bigfoot?

JWG analysis. Conduct risk continues to be a hot topic.  There is a number of reasons for this: everybody’s being fined for it, there is a continuous stream of regulatory requirements demanding it and -probably most importantly – no-one knows exactly what it is. The FSA provided a definition in 2011 in their Retail Conduct


Darragh O’Grady and JWG. There has been much written lately on the potentially disruptive impact that digital currencies may have.  However, the blockchain architecture that underlies them has also been a recent subject of a CFTC meeting to discuss the potentially disruptive impact of this new technology.  We asked an architecture expert with a background


Huge fines and complex KYC rules are causing banks to ‘de-risk’ their client portfolios leading to many without access to banking.  Now both consumers and politicians are unhappy.  For years, the industry has struggled without real standards in the AML arena.  So what happens next? SIBOS news was full of more KYC claims again this


JWG analysis. Following our review of the $260,000,000,000 total cost of regulatory transgressions, we now take a look at what the actual fines are and what the future holds? Firstly, according to the LSE’s review of 2009-2013 fines, is that 38% of fines are related to control failures like governance, internal controls, market abuse and


How much? The cost of regulation

JWG analysis. It seems you can’t open a paper these days without reading that a financial institution is being fined for some discretion, controls failure or mismanagement. This stark reality that all firms face in the post-crisis financial services landscape. Mounting pressure to get on top of regulatory reform has been matched by a frightening escalation


JWG has extracted the following questions from ESMA‘s Consultation Paper on MiFID/MiFIR Technical Advice.  ESMA needs to deliver this advice to the European Commission by December 2014 and is therefore subject to a condensed consultation process for this paper. For more on MiFID/MiFIR see here. Q1.      Do you agree with the proposed cumulative conditions to be


JWG analysis. Our jaws hit the floor when it was revealed at our CDMG meeting last week that ESMA’s MiFID II technical standards are expected to be in excess of 800 pages with more than 800 questions to be answered by August 2014. And this is just the start.  ESMA’s 2014 work plan has over