Culture war topics, the spread of misinformation, and the war in Ukraine have further complicated firms’ social media presence and their efforts to craft policies guiding what employees should and should not say online. Firms should reassess policies guiding employees’ social media posts on accounts linked to the company and weigh up whether they are


I listened into a very interesting webinar presented by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) earlier this year about their usage of and experimentation with what all regulators seem to be calling ‘suptech’ these days. Now there was variance on the webinar among FCA speakers around the pronunciation of said moniker—’soup-tech’ was one variant, ‘supp-tech’


The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is seeking to improve its market surveillance technology and has tendered for a systems upgrade, a sentiment analysis tool and data sets. It is looking to update and develop the functionality, scope, or capabilities of its existing solution, according to the FCA’s procurement portal. The regulator collects trade information


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


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


Digital RegTech – countdown!

The digital assets marketplace is moving fast and this month, regulators have started policy efforts in anger. Join us 5 April as 22 market SMEs discuss what this means and what comes next. REGISTER HERE In the past month, US policy makers have fired the starting gun, The European Parliament has issued a DLT pilot


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


Doing Wholesale Digital Finance Right

Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) holds great promise for Financial Services and is being used to transform some markets.  In advance of JWG’s 5 April Digital Assets virtual Seminar JWG  brought Alex Dorfmann, SIX, Dan Doney, Securrency, Peter Randall, SETL and Tom Zschach, SWIFT together to discuss what digital assets mean for TradFi practitioners, the opportunities


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


In our fifth meeting, a global group of regulators, firms and suppliers discussed two key regulatory reporting problem statements and identified options to solve them, the considerations, potential paths and barriers. The minutes can be found along with the meeting materials here. The next meeting, DRTF6 on 14 June will review additional problem statements. JWG


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. 


Securities tokenisation permitting firms to settle trades on a blockchain reduces counterparty risk and settlement costs while providing a vehicle for compliance automation. Last year saw some tokenisation of traditional securities such as equities, bonds and foreign exchange; consultants say that 2022 will usher in “tokenisation of everything”, be that bonds settled on the Ethereum


In our fourth meeting, a global group of regulators, firms and suppliers discussed two key regulatory reporting problem statements and identified options to solve them, the considerations, potential paths and barriers. The minutes can be found along with the meeting materials here. The next meeting, DRTF5 on 8 February will review additional problem statements. JWG


2022 RegTech agenda reloaded

1,000 visits to the JWG Annual Conference site are keeping the conversation alive. There is still time to listen to the all-star debate, participate in the debates and help set the 2022 RegTech agenda. 2021 Annual conference On the 16th & 17th November, JWG held its 6th annual and its 1st virtual global conference, where


A decision that U.S.-based Clearview AI breached the privacy of Australians by scraping their biometric information from the internet and disclosing it through a facial recognition tool highlights risks for regtech companies using web-scraped personal data in commercial software. The decision by the the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s (OAIC) says emphatically that images


In our third meeting, a global group of regulators, firms and suppliers discussed the new risk system design criteria and specifications, objectives, and migration paths. The minutes can be found along with the meeting materials here. The next meeting, DRTF4 on 14 December will review feedback received at DRTF3 and the JWG Annual Conference JWG


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


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,


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,


New European Union rules governing artificial intelligence (AI) will put compliance obligations on automated facial recognition (AFR) used in some regtech applications, particularly client risk screening. UK data privacy and biometrics regulators are also seeking to improve employee monitoring and surveillance camera operation guidance to clarify compliance obligations under local data privacy laws. These efforts,


In our second meeting, a global group of regulators, firms and suppliers discussed the changes in the regulatory building blocks required and quickly identified components which could be assembled to define a new paradigm for risk information collection. The next meeting will focus on a new paradigm for collecting risk information from a digital system


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’


Financial services are digitizing fast but there is much more public and private sectors can do to deliver reporting controls which fulfil supervisory mandates in a digital age. We were pleased to have 50 individuals from global supervisory organizations, financial institutions and firms for the first working session of our new Digital Reporting Taskforce (DRTF)


In our first meeting, a global group of regulators, firms and suppliers discussed the changes in the regulatory reporting story, the building blocks required, stakeholders to engage and the collaborative mode of working we would like to establish. At this next meeting we will start with 4  building blocks, identify targets and highlight gaps to


 We are delighted to reveal more details for our annual conference. With so much happening in this space – make sure that you know what risks are coming and how to tackle them! See details below and sign up now to hear a great cast of regulators, academia, firms and suppliers discussing the next generation


RegTech for Quants – JWG’s 16/17 November conference computes!

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We really enjoyed speaking to the leadership of the Quantitative Finance Community in advance of our 6th annual conference in November. We covered a lot of ground: Key RegTech / SupTech issues for quantitative finance professionals How can quants contribute to the RegTech discussion How data management and agility have influenced the regulators The latest


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


Financial services are digitizing fast but there is much more public and private sectors can do to deliver reporting controls which fulfil supervisory mandates in a digital age. With support from top regulators, financial institutions, and vendors JWG is launching a task force to 1) define a future target operating model for the regulatory reporting


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


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.


JWG’s 2021 regulatory reporting research programme has concluded that the industry needs to step back and agree the digital vision for regulatory reporting. So far this year we have had over 20 firms, 10 suppliers, 7 regulators, 5 trade bodies and 3 academic institutions help align ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’ risk data collection challenges


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


The UK’s data transformation plans and Europe’s integrated reporting strategy are shaking RegTech and SupTech foundations and FS Supervisors need a new, bold and long-term approach to aligning data and technology strategies. As discussed in RRDS 26, the Global Derivatives DRR programme is enabling firms to meet CPMI/IOSCO deadlines in 2021 and offers an excellent


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


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


In an increasingly digital sector with divergent rule sets, the ability to manage the global compliance deltas in complex senior management accountability rules  is fast becoming a critical differentiator for senior management seeking to work across borders.   As we summarized in our latest Beacon, JWG’s surveillance community has covered quite a patchwork of regulatory obligations


We are pleased to have had over 100 participants in a fantastic launch to JWG’s 5th year of hosting a safe, independent space for regulatory reporting collaboration. The minutes and materials from our meeting covering recent papers from the Bank of England Transformation programme for data collection, BIS FSI Insights no 29,  and JWG’s Global


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 have a great collection of EU, UK, US and Asia Pacific regulators registered to join in our Chatham house rules discussion of integrated reporting with top firms and technology suppliers. Our research has identified a number of key challenges posed by 430C by the much bigger picture imposed upon us by continued technological developments.


Many U.S. and European globally systemically important banks (G-SIBs) have seconded staff to a digital regulatory reporting project that mutualises derivatives reporting rules interpretation, expresses those rules as computer code in alignment with trade association- agreed best practices. The project is training 25 G-SIB-supplied specialists to study the data fields required for the European Market


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


UK financial services regulators have asked bank chief executives to sign up to and largely pay for work to improve regulatory data collection. The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) last week wrote to bank chief executives explaining their plans for transforming data collection, which regulators expect will deliver integrated reporting,


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


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


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


JWG urges sector to address systemic technology risk blind spot

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JWG is proud to announce the publication of a ground-breaking research report ‘Risk control for a digitized financial sector.’    The analysis identifies a large systemic technology risk blind spot which regulators must take the lead in addressing. JWG urges Financial Services regulators and firms to collaborate with technology firms on new RegTech standards in advance of cloud and data crises.    The paper, which incorporates findings from JWG’s RegTech 2.0 conference and dozens of discussions with regulators, regulated and academia, builds on 10 years


How a firm manages data is now intrinsic to its value, yet the FS risk management framework provides no way to account for IT obsolescence, cloud concentration and data risks on the balance sheet. An explosion of advanced computing capability facilitated by cloud technology has provided massive benefits to both regulated financial institutions and their


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