Why 2023 Represents Another Shift in Compliance Paradigms

In the ever-evolving landscape of global finance, 2022 presented a multitude of unprecedented challenges for the financial system (The Fintech Times, 2023). As we step into 2023, a new dilemma arises: how can banks strike a balance between the risks and rewards of incorporating disruptive technologies into their operations? Tom Padgett, general manager of Smarsh Enterprise – which helps organisations to identify regulatory and reputational risks within their communications data – sheds light on this as he explores the confluence of economic, technological, and regulatory forces reshaping the financial services ecosystem, with compliance poised to serve as a vital interconnector. 

In many ways, 2022 was an unparalleled year in terms of the number of challenges the global financial system had to contend with. From returning to a post-pandemic world, to navigating the wide-ranging consequences wrought by the Russia-Ukraine War – be it the breakdown of global supply chains, or the highest inflation levels in decades – the challenges have been immense.

While these difficulties continue to persist, 2023 has brought a new challenge – namely, how financial institutions balance the risks and benefits of integrating the latest, disruptive technologies into their operations. This technological shift has contributed to an increasingly active regulatory field, looking to not just understand ever more complex financial markets, but steward them effectively.
Together, the confluence of these economic, technological, and regulatory headwinds, point towards a fundamental transformation of how the financial services ecosystem functions. At the centre of this transformation, compliance is uniquely positioned to be an essential interconnector, both enhancing how financial institutions operationalise and draw value from their data as well as informing regulators on how to produce safer financial systems.