RegTech Asia Summit 2022

Here are some snippets from the RegTech Asia Summit organized by A-Team Group and held in Singapore on Nov 29, 2022:

1. Very interesting Fireside Chat led by Irene Liu , APAC Board Co-Chair, #EDMcouncil with Dr. Mohammed Rahim , Global Head of Data Management, #standardcharteredbank on a data-driven approach to #regtech . His view is that banks should take an Outcome Focused approach where the data enables the outcome rather than focusing on the data and figuring out what outcomes to achieve.

When it comes to leveraging #regtech solutions he also encouraged the audience not to focus so much on customization but use what is already available in the various tools in the market. Many banks look for extreme customization instead of using the out-of-the-box capabilities to the maximum. As he put it, they want a “triangular wheel”. Unfortunately, as soon as there is a regulatory change the entire customization turns out to be a hindrance rather than an asset. Of course, you do need customization for local context but it’s all about avoiding extreme customization and keeping the balance.

With respect to data flows he suggested more effort goes into the automation of the data flows that the simple documentation of the flows. You can spend 6 months documenting data flows, but 3 days after your work is done you may need to update it all again because of some changes being introduced.

2. In the session moderated by Peter Tierney , Founding Partner, #SaquishPartners focused on trade and transaction reporting, the panelists went through the evolution in this space over the past 10 years. As Shiv Kumar, Director, Transaction Reporting Compliance, #standardcharteredbank put it, the conversation has now moved to data quality. Banks have moved from struggling to send out their trade and transaction reports in time to now looking at the quality of data in the reports and putting in place more proactive exception management.

The audience was also reminded by Priya Kundamal , General Manager, Head of DTCC Data Repository, Singapore, #DTCC that the CFTC will go-live with the first phase of its rewrite on December 5, 2022, with a focus on new and updated data fields, driving the submission of more standardized trade data as well as revised reconciliation requirements.

The rewrite is an opportunity to take stock of the past 10 years and drive standardization forward. In that context, the following changes will help:

a. New fields are being introduced following the adoption of Critical Data Elements (CDE)

b. Format submission is moving to ISO 20022 (XML schema)

c. Use of common standards such as the Unique Product Identifier (UPI) first and then the Unique Trade Identifier (UTI) will be made mandatory.

Other regulators will also embark on a review of their requirements to ensure greater transparency and mitigate risks. As a result, #regtech is here to stay!

3. The final session reminded everyone that sourcing #esgdata remains a major challenge. In addition, there is still little standardization across the data that is made available. To compound the problem, many firms make a lot of claims regarding their #esg credentials by producing data which has not been independently verified. It is still early days for this space and there is a lot of work ahead.

Ending on a positive note for the #esg space, Dr. Kalpana Seethepalli , Director of ESG, Asia Pacific, #deutschebank stated that the thinking has shifted from "you can make profit and do good" to "you can make profit by doing good"!