Scott Tominaga has worked in financial services for over 20 years and he has witnessed the functions behind compliance evolve from being a deeply hidden bank activity to the high level and detailed focused tool which it now is.  Scott has specialized in compliance and regulation for the last 10 years of his career and he firmly believes that for those who care and for those inside the industry, now is just about the most interesting time in the history of compliance for banking and for financial services. 

Gaining Trust 

The whole purpose of compliance may look as though it is to ensure that no wrongdoing takes place and whilst that is true to an extent, there really is much more to it than that. After what has happened with Barings bank and then back in 2008 with the financial crisis, customers have lost faith in banks, something which many never thought would have happened. The only way in which banks have been able to try and regain this trust from customers has been to send their compliance into overdrive. The bridge of trust between banks and customers is closing and much of that has come down to compliance. 

Money Changing 

Part of the reason as to why compliance is more interesting ever before is the fact that banking has changed drastically in the last decade alone and there is more risk and exposure than ever before. From online banking to cloud computing, not to mention the introduction of online banks and cryptocurrency, the way in which we view the world is completely different to how it was just a decade ago and for every advancement there has to be a level of protection and of due diligence, and this is putting pressure on the banks to make sure that they are stepping up their game enough to move with the times, and to ensure that the future is secure. 

Boldness

The times in which we are living in require boldness from the world leaders in banking, they hold the power far more than anyone else is it will be their moves which are then copied or mimicked by those mid and low level institutions. We have spent the last 10 years weeding out the bad eggs from the financial sector, or at least trying to clean up our side of the fence, and I’d say that there has been a lot of success to that end. As that chapter closes however there is more importance than ever before on the big banks and financial institutions to up their game when it comes to compliance but do so in a way which is wholly realistic and which is going to achieve he dual purpose of making us more secure and improving our experience with banks and lenders. 

Banking is ever changing and whilst compliance is going to be a common theme going forward, it too must change in order to remain relevant.