The RegTech for Regulators Accelerator (R²A) Process: Giving Financial Authorities Superpowers

Technology solutions for regulators (RegTech for Regulators or “RegTech2”) and supervisors (“SupTech”) enhance the capabilities of financial authorities to meet the challenges posed by digitization and globalization of the marketplace as well as the expansion of their mandates. They lend themselves especially well to the implementation of data-intensive, risk-based supervision. They do so by furnishing authorities with tools that can capture larger and richer datasets from more varied sources, automate and accelerate administrative procedures, and extract deeper meaning from their data than was hitherto possible. The first section of this paper lays out the challenges that financial authorities face in safeguarding the soundness of their financial systems given the growing demands on their mandates, the evolving nature of financial services, and the pressures of digital financial globalization. The second section highlights some of the benefits that such an approach can deliver. The third section looks at use-cases of RegTech2/SupTech, both real and possible. The fourth section examines potential risks surrounding these technologies together with the challenges authorities might face in implementation. Finally, the fifth section offers some examples of current efforts to deploy RegTech2/SupTech applications in Mexico, Nigeria, and the Philippines.