JWG, the independent think tank for the financial services industry, is today publishing their much anticipated analysis report, ‘G20 FS reform: will you survive or thrive?’
The report surveys regulatory efforts from 131 regulatory bodies which have produced approximately 50,000 documents since 2009. It finds that the volume, pace and complexity of deciding how to comply with a continually evolving regulatory agenda are staggering:
- 54% of major legislation in 2014 focuses on topics unforeseen by the G20 action plan of 2009
- $260 billion in fines have highlighted the real regulatory risk that affects not only their firms, customers and shareholders, but senior managers personally.
- By 2020, the industry could face a page count that tops three Eiffel Towers high worth of paper
The analysis describes the self-scrutiny required to decide how the next five years of reform will be managed:
- How can you spot the detail or movement in the regulatory picture?
- How do you know what it means to your firm?
- Do you do the right things about it? And can you prove that you did it?
Rather than survive on management by regulatory deadline, audit points and lots of human intervention, JWG found leading firms to be moving towards a comprehensive approach for regulatory risk management which allows them to use the regulatory changes for competitive advantage. The report provides a checklist for financial services professionals to analyse their own organisational, process and platform capabilities.
PJ Di Giammarino, JWG CEO, commented “Changing the bank is not a natural act and is often at odds with the firm’s traditional culture, especially to the extent it requires a holistic view of the institution, its processes and its data.”
He continued, “With so much of the agenda being set by regulatory drivers, leading firms are starting to shift their approach from ‘why would I do more than just the basics?’ to ‘where could I win by doing the things regulators want me to do, but doing it better, quicker, more innovatively than my competitors?’”.
The report is available to JWG members for free: http://www.jwg-it.eu/media.php?menuID=2&typeId=36