Key takeaways from The RegTech Association's annual conference

There were 3 key themes that shaped the event:

1. People and Planet
2. Regulatory Innovation
3. Accelerating Adoption

Objective hosted Government lunch panel

As part of our sponsorship, we held a Regulatory Technology (RegTech) Government-focused lunch panel session specifically for government regulators. It was an invitation-only lunch with industry experts:

Jessica Downey Assistant Director, Wage Theft – Wage Inspectorate Victoria

Jordan Hatch Assistant Secretary, Regulatory Technology and Innovation – Department of Finance

Simon Corden Public Policy Consultant

Ben Hobby, Global VP of RegTech at Objective facilitated the panel which discussed:

• The importance of adopting RegTech early for new regulators
• The benefits and barriers to RegTech adoption
• The future potential of RegTech
• Advice for those beginning their RegTech journeys

Key Takeaways

Embedding the right Regulatory Technology solution from the outset will reap benefits quickly. Such as:

• Enabling data extraction from the system that then can be analysed in-house rather than needing a third-party agency.
• Allowing secure communication between Government and law enforcement on sensitive matters.
• Improving staff retention in younger generations due to adoption of cutting-edge systems they’ve come to expect.

The two big pitfalls Government stumble upon with regulatory management solutions are thinking technology can solve all problems, and focusing on generic platforms that aren’t designed for the regulatory problem they’re trying to solve.

• Assuming technology will solve all often results in lost focus on laying the foundations needed in place for the technology to be beneficial.
• It’s imperative to understand the challenges users are experiencing and how they’re over-compensating for the failures of the process before trying to implement a solution.
• Taking a more agile approach to development and focusing on biting off smaller chunks and releasing them for use to the public rather than waiting for the big implementation reveal will be invaluable.

A RegTech implementation isn’t an IT project, it’s a business transformation.

• If those in the regulatory departments aren’t involved until after the system goes live, they won’t feel ownership over the system and will be resistant to adopt.
• Change management and understanding how the system fits into the business process shouldn’t be an afterthought, it should be the first thought.

What’s next?

We found the discussion so enriching that we’re going to develop a learnings paper of the wisdom we gathered to share with our network. Keep an eye out over the coming months for a deeper dive into the fascinating insights from our Government panel session and the role regulatory management systems can play.