A COMPLY fan-favorite, the Hear from the Regulators panel was back this year with regulators Duane Pozza from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Kavita Jain from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and Tony Alexis, current Partner at Goodwin and former Head of Enforcement at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), moderated by Jo Ann Barefoot of the Barefoot Innovation Group.
These innovative regulators kicked off day 2 of COMPLY2018 by catching us up on what’s been shaping their agendas and most pressing on their desks during a time of global upheaval, innovation and unrest. Each regulator was able to offer a unique perspective to how they are approaching some of the most turbulent topics today such as the impact of the new US administration, Brexit and the adoption of new technologies to solve for common compliance problems, placing keen attention on answering how all of these changes will impact financial institutions, the law and most importantly consumers.
Similar to years’ past and not unexpected, the subject of innovation was top of mind for the regulators, and how their agencies are approaching it. At the CFPB, they’re developing the Office of Innovation and the No Action Letter to allow for pilot testing and experimentation with RegTech without destabilizing the system. At the FTC, innovation has always been a point of focus. Their open door policy allows anyone to approach them and discuss the best solutions to consumer protection issues. FINRA has launched the Innovation Initiative to foster an open dialogue with the securities industry that would help them better understand the needs of the industry.
Regardless of what changes are occurring within the new administration, compliance remains top of mind, and the new technologies available to combat these compliance struggles are a big focus for the regulators. They’re learning that technology like RegTech can further advance their consumer protection agendas and in fact, Kavita Jain said that during their many internal meetings and roundtables at FINRA, the topic of RegTech comes up almost every time.
There’s much more to learn from the Hear From the Regulators session that took place at COMPLY2018. We’ve got the on-demand content for you to watch when you want, and stay up to date on today’s most turbulent topics. Plus, it’s never too early to register for COMPLY2019 and see this session live.
