FinTech, or financial technology, is an industry that is flourishing, not only globally but right here in Canada. Closer to home, British Columbia has secured its position as a FinTech hub with numerous success stories, such as RentMoola, FrontFundr, and Koho.
FinTech startups are small, agile, and able to innovate quickly and cost-effectively, putting outdated legacy systems and business models in jeopardy. The recent FinTech revolution, combined with the mountain of regulation that emerged after the financial crisis of 2008, has resulted in compliance becoming the be-all and end-all for financial services.
RegTech, otherwise known as ‘regulatory technology’, has come to the forefront to help businesses meet compliance requirements—helping companies both big and small deliver an enhanced user experience by streamlining and automating compliance processes. The RegTech industry is currently experiencing phenomenal growth, with huge demand from both traditional banks and FinTech companies—resulting in a level playing field for startups and banks alike.
It’s undeniable that regulatory requirements, outlining acceptable ways to ascertain identities, need to be digitized. This ensures we keep pace with new FinTech products and services. Earlier this year, FINTRAC (Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada) introduced a dual process method to determine identity. This method allows new digital techniques to qualify for compliance, enabling Canadian firms to introduce new services.
Of late, RegTech providers have upped the ante in order to help businesses in the finance industry comply with regulations around money laundering, customer due diligence, data protection, and payments. In addition to automating processes, RegTech is also helping financial institutions, in particular, banks, retrofit new technologies allowing them to bid farewell to outdated legacy systems and ensuring they stay ahead of the technological curve.
RegTech is an industry that has seen a lot of change in a short period, thanks to the rapid pace of technology. Of course, regulatory solutions have been around in some form for years, but RegTech is different in the way that it utilizes real-time data, advanced technology, and APIs to revolutionize the way in which financial institutions deal with regulatory requirements. The most successful RegTech tools are easily implemented into a workflow, but also uphold the highest bar for security, transparency, and effectiveness.
This article was contributed by Trulioo. Trulioo is a leading global ID verification company providing advanced analytics based on traditional information such as public records, credit files, and government data as well as alternative sources including social login providers, ad networks, mobile applications, e-commerce websites and social networks. As the leading global identification provider, Trulioo offers the capability to verify over four billion consumers in over 60 countries through a single API–the widest coverage on the market. Earlier this year, they launched their newest product, Global Business Verification, which enables organizations to easily verify business entities digitally with instant access to hundreds of government and commercial registers in over 80 countries.
