The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) has launched its first survey of regtech (regulatory technology) and suptech (supervisory technology) firms, in partnership with EY Japan and with support from key industry bodies and thought leaders.
Fieldwork is now underway for the survey, whose primary aim is to create an evidence-based taxonomy of regtech firms, then produce benchmarking data for regtech firms against this. Building on this, CCAF researchers will publish a report in the first half of 2019, assessing the outlook for the sector and its place in the broader innovation ecosystem.
The Global Regtech Benchmarking Survey is now live, and the CCAF invites regtech leaders to respond.
Understanding a growing industry
Regtech is only the latest in a series of innovative sectors to be covered in a CCAF benchmarking survey. The Centre’s flagship series of UK Alternative Finance surveys is now in its fifth year, and the Centre also recently published its 2nd global cryptoasset survey. Emmanuel Schizas, Lead in Regtech & Policy at the CCAF, said: “Regtech and suptech are critical if the pace of industry and regulatory change is to be made manageable. This type of benchmark survey will help accelerate the conversation by establishing a common language around the sector.”
Research sponsor EY Japan has been actively and closely working with many government and private sector stakeholders to develop the environment underpinning regtech innovation globally. EY Japan’s official release welcoming the research explained the motivation behind their involvement:
“As market regulations have become tighter and more complex, market participants are increasingly looking to use innovative technologies to meet their regulatory compliance obligations. At the same time, a string of emerging innovations are causing rapid change in the industrial landscape and social structures, and we face a gap where traditional regulations are not corresponding to new operations.
“EY Japan has great hopes for advanced technologies and the contribution they can make to regulatory compliance; we believe that government and the private sector can cooperate successfully to implement innovative solutions. And we are confident that this research will contribute to and help advance the technology-driven disruptive innovations currently evolving worldwide.
“We look forward to the survey findings assisting key players in the regtech ecosystem, including regulated entities, regulators and innovative technology startups, in driving breakthrough innovation.”
Industry support for the regtech Survey
The CCAF is particularly grateful for the support of industry leaders, who are helping increase the reach of the survey among their membership.
Welcoming the research, Ben Richmond, CEO at the International RegTech Association (IRTA), said: “This initiative supports the IRTA’s goal of enabling global collaboration and connections to advance the market development and adoption of regtech. It will provide ITRA members with an opportunity to help shape a much-needed global taxonomy of solutions and educate industry and policymakers on regtech use cases. We support the work that academics and advisory firms are putting into this and we particularly welcome the CCAF’s research.”
Deborah Young, Chief Executive of the RegTech Association (RTA), said: “The regtech Association welcomes this global regtech data collection program. This is consistent with our goal of accelerating regtech adoption and creating a global centre for excellence through fostering closer collaboration between regulators, regulated entities and regtech firms.”
Dr Sian Lewin, Head of Client Delivery at specialist advisory firm RegTech Associates and Founder of RegTech Women, said: “We welcome this research into the fast-growing regtech industry and see this project as complementary to the work we have done in the RegTech Directory to map and categorise the many regtech products that are currently available globally. We believe this sort of independent research is vital to separate the signal from the noise and hype in the regtech industry. It will hopefully bring needed clarity about regtech to financial institutions, regtech firms and regulators.”