What happened?
Regulators around the world have signalled their intent to keep strengthening consumer protections and raising standards, including the incoming Consumer Duty, the expansion of the Appointed Representatives regime, and the FCA’s Consumer Investments Strategy.
Research from the Wealth and Asset Management 4.0 project found that one in three businesses polled expect risk management regulation to increase within the next two years.
In this piece, TCC Group Chief Commercial Officer Mark Hover explains how digital transformation and RegTech are helping firms manage this growing compliance workload.
Why does it matter?
Staying on top of compliance manually is becoming unmanageable for even the most experienced teams as new rules accumulate. Private banks, retail asset managers and broker-dealers are already leading the shift, with more than half self-reporting mid- or advanced-stage digital development.
Around 65% of these firms are investing in process automation, 52% in smart data and analytics, and 46% in tech-powered compliance platforms, showing that digital tools are becoming standard practice rather than an experiment.
Who is affected?
Banking, wealth management, pensions, payments, lending, insurance and motor finance firms that need to scale compliance activity, such as file reviews and SMCR administration, without a matching increase in headcount.
Key risks
- Manual compliance processes becoming unmanageable as new regulatory requirements accumulate
- File reviews and quality assurance checks that are too labour-intensive to scale with demand
- HR teams administering processes like SMCR Fitness & Propriety assessments without the regulatory knowledge to handle irregular cases
Actions to take
- Automate time-consuming file checking tasks to increase the number of checks carried out without adding headcount
- Introduce workflow tools that guide teams through processes such as SMCR administration step by step
- Use speech analytics to review client conversations and direct reviewer attention to higher-risk interactions
- Build a management information trail that supports supervisory oversight and audit evidence
Wider implications
With around 30% of firms expecting more rules on conduct and individual accountability, RegTech that codifies best practice into workflows can help firms stay consistent as requirements continue to change.
Recommendations
How can RegTech transform your business?
- Open up a more efficient way of working
There’s no two ways about it – file checking has always been a meticulous and labour-intensive process. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Thanks to game-changing solutions, it’s now possible to reduce the resource-hours required for reviewing even the most complex files – without sacrificing accuracy.
Our High-Performance Assurance (HPA) solution, for example, automates some of the most time-consuming file checking tasks. It frees up valuable time for your assurance teams to focus on areas that their expertise is needed most by increasing the number of checks carried out without scaling up human resource. HPA – underpinned by Recordsure‘s AI-driven technology – provides unparalleled transparency, precision and efficiency throughout the project lifecycle.
It also offers comprehensive MI to enhance your audit trail and keep the regulator satisfied without spending hours collating evidence as you work.
Not only does this streamlined workflow allow projects to be completed at remarkable speed, but your budget will stretch further too.
- Simplify compliance and assure quality
Compliance has come a long way since the days of filing cabinets full of case files. But even with the added convenience of digitisation, creating and maintaining a complete and organised set of client records can all-too-often turn into an uphill battle without the right tools.
Records filling aside, ensuring compliance and quality of advice is not a simple one-off task. When engaging in customer conversations, you need to take proactive steps to make sure that customers are treated fairly at all times – with advisors adhering to quality assurance processes and best practice.
By leveraging AI and machine learning technologies, our Recordsure AI Voice speech analytics transcribes and segments 100% of your client conversations – bringing effortless clarity and consistency to regulatory evidencing, and compliance monitoring and review like never before. And that’s not all: AI technology focuses reviewers’ attention on high risk customer interactions – making your quality reviews quicker and more efficient, and offers actionable insights to help mitigate risks.
With all your client-facing interaction records at your fingertips, it’s easier than ever to ensure that all instances of customer advice are of the same high standard and drive better customer outcomes. And not only that, the comprehensive record of past conversations is an invaluable tool for advisers and their supervisors – allowing them to self-critique their performance, whilst enabling firms to upskill teams and improve future customer interactions.
- Codify best practice within workflows
The best RegTech systems are developed in close collaboration with those who know the FCA’s expectations inside out – and are therefore designed to make best practice second nature to the teams using them.
Take SMCR for example. We know many HR teams manage the day-to-day administration of certain processes, like Fitness & Propriety assessments. Yet they simply don’t have the regulatory knowledge to know what to do with an irregular case, for instance.
Many platforms now provide case management workflows that guide users through each step of the process in sequence. By outlining exactly what’s required, and a process which can’t be deviated from, HR can get the job done at speed – while Compliance can be sure that important regulatory requirements haven’t been overlooked.
Given that research suggests 30% of firms think more rules around conduct and individual accountability are imminent, businesses rely on a robust process to manage this effectively. TCC’s SMCR Pro, for example, helps firms to embed compliance into the way the business operates and drive a healthy culture knowing their staff are fit and proper.
Supporting sources
Frequently asked questions
Why are firms turning to RegTech?
New regulatory requirements, including Consumer Duty and the expanded Appointed Representatives regime, are making manual compliance processes unmanageable, so firms are automating tasks like file reviews and SMCR administration instead.
What is TCC's High-Performance Assurance (HPA) solution?
HPA automates time-consuming file checking tasks, letting assurance teams increase the number of checks carried out without adding headcount, and it is underpinned by Recordsure’s technology.
How does Recordsure AI Voice help with quality assurance?
It transcribes and segments client conversations and directs reviewers’ attention to high-risk interactions, making quality reviews quicker and more consistent.
What does TCC's SMCR Pro do?
It provides case management workflows that guide HR and compliance teams through SMCR processes, such as Fitness and Propriety assessments, in line with FCA expectations.
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- BankingTCC helps retail banks, challenger banks, building societies and specialist banking providers strengthen governance, manage financial crime risk and demonstrate good customer outcomes. Our specialists support Consumer Duty, remediation, regulatory transformation, FCA intervention and compliance assurance programmes through advisory, managed services, specialist resourcing and technology-enabled compliance. With more than 25 years of experience supporting FCA-regulated firms, we help banks respond confidently to regulatory scrutiny while strengthening operational resilience and customer trust.
- General Insurance & ProtectionTCC helps insurers, brokers, MGAs and protection providers evidence fair value, strengthen customer outcomes and identify emerging customer harm. We assess product governance, claims performance, distribution oversight and vulnerability risks, helping firms create regulator-ready evidence, improve operational performance and demonstrate that products and services deliver value throughout the customer lifecycle.
- Lending & Consumer CreditTCC helps consumer credit firms evidence good outcomes, strengthen affordability and vulnerability frameworks, and manage complaints, remediation and regulatory risk. We support lenders with practical, regulator-ready compliance programmes that improve governance, customer treatment and operational resilience.
- Motor FinanceTCC helps motor finance lenders, brokers and providers assess redress exposure, prepare for large-scale customer reviews and strengthen complaints, affordability and Consumer Duty frameworks. We combine regulatory advisory, managed operations, specialist resource and technology-enabled assurance to deliver consistent customer outcomes, robust governance and regulator-ready evidence under heightened FCA scrutiny.
Reviewed by TCC Group Editorial Team