recordsure listed at 13 on regtech 50 2022

Recordsure ranked #13 on 2022’s RegTech 50 list of influential tech firms

We’re delighted to reveal that we’ve been ranked #13 on this year’s RegTech 50 list of the UK’s most prominent regulatory and compliance technology firms!

After previously being announced among the 82 companies shortlisted for inclusion earlier this month, we’re very proud to have been confirmed as one of the top 20 brands in the British RegTech sphere for the second year running.

Commenting on this latest accolade, Recordsure CEO Joe Norburn said: 

I’m thrilled that Recordsure has once again been noted as a leading name in the RegTech and ComplyTech fields amongst such fierce competition. To be included in the RegTech 50 is a very well-deserved recognition for the Recordsure team.

Between the rising cost of living bringing customer vulnerability into greater focus and Consumer Duty raising monitoring and evidencing standards across the board, the past 12 months have brought about a number of novel challenges for financial services firms. This is why now, more than ever before, RegTech plays a critical role in achieving compliance.

Joe Norburn, CEO, Recordsure
joe norburn smiling in black and white

In these pressing times, the benefits of Recordsure’s AI-driven voice and document analytics solutions couldn’t be more apparent – offering unique compliance analytics tools for businesses that are looking to level up their oversight and risk management capabilities.

The final RegTech 50 ranking was ultimately decided by a poll of BusinessCloud magazine’s readership alongside an independent judging panel, which included leading representatives from Tech Nation, techUK, the Centre for Digital Banking and Finance, and RegTech Associates.

Organised by Business Cloud, this influential annual list celebrates the most pioneering start-ups and established businesses creating disruptive technologies and platforms for compliance, regulation and fraud protection applications within the UK financial services sector.

We’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate all firms that made this prestigious list and thank everyone who took the time to vote for us!

You can learn more about our industry awards and recognition here.

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RS consumer duty compliance webinar 31st october 2pm

Consumer Duty compliance: why now’s the time to take action

More than simply the latest in a long line of legislative tweaks, the FCA’s ambitious Consumer Duty represents a paradigm shift in the way consumer protections, oversight and compliance evidencing are managed and regulated across the whole of the financial sector.

The new rules are intended to significantly raise standards of customer care and will require businesses to prioritise the needs of the consumer at every step of the decision-making process, spanning the entire business cycle from product and service design through to customer interactions and complaints handling.

And not only that: the regulator will expect businesses to be able to evidence that they’re adhering to a customer-first approach. It’ll also want to see how any emerging risks are being dealt with promptly and that less-than-stellar outcomes form the basis for meaningful change going forward.

The Consumer Duty, then, signals an evolution from the previous ‘Treating Customers Fairly’ doctrine, encouraging firms to do more than simply avoid causing harm and instead actively work to help customers achieve their financial goals.

Why is Consumer Duty compliance so critical for FCA-regulated firms?

The Consumer Duty is emblematic of the FCA’s new ‘assertive supervision’ approach to regulation, pledging to be more ‘proactive’ – as opposed to primarily reacting to issues that have already occurred – and quicker to intervene in the face of emerging risks when necessary.

The duty’s overarching Consumer Principle mandates firms to ‘act to deliver good outcomes’ for customers, whilst the Cross-Cutting Rules and Four Outcomes set out the FCA’s expectations for behaviour towards consumers and the standards that businesses must strive to achieve, respectively.

But equally significant is the Consumer Duty’s emphasis on a ‘show me, don’t tell me’ approach to regulation, whereby businesses will have to routinely evidence:

‒ They’re clear about what constitutes ‘good outcomes’ for their firm

‒ Good outcomes are being consistently achieved

‒ Lessons are being learned, and improvements are being made, when they fall short

It’s undeniable that these stringent consumer protection rules will look to ensure vulnerable customers are better protected – however, implementing and sustaining this considerable step up in monitoring requirements is sure to present a challenge for even the most dutiful compliance teams.

For example, how can firms be sure they’re able to identify signs of vulnerability when relying on random sampling checks? And how can they be sure they’re treating the root cause of any inefficiencies, not just the symptoms?

Want to learn more? Looking for answers to your Consumer Duty compliance questions?

For expert advice on how to maximise your teams’ capacity and optimise your risk management strategy in the face of ever-increasing regulatory obligations, we invite you to view our exclusive webinar from Monday 31st October.

During this productive session, we outlined the main objectives and thought processes behind the FCA’s Consumer Duty regulations – and assessed what maintaining compliance with these impactful new rules will mean for your compliance processes.

Our panel of compliance experts shared some actionable tips on how you can meet your Consumer Duty oversight and risk monitoring requirements, alongside valuable guidance on building a robust compliance strategy that’s built to last.

The discussion ended with a Q&A session, during which our specialists addressed specific points of interest from attendees.

Watch our webinar on demand for critical insights from our compliance experts – and have your most pressing questions answered!

‘What is Consumer Duty compliance, and why do I need to take action now?’

Hosted by Recordsure Programme Manager Adeline Han, the panel for this not-to-be-missed session also featured:

Unlock new Consumer Duty compliance efficiencies with post-conversation Compliance Analytics  

Download our whitepaper to explore how AI-enhanced RegTech can make relying on a random sampling approach to compliance reviews a thing of the past – and introduce simplified audit trails with 100% oversight of all client interactions.

 


Compliance analytic tips for Consumer Duty readiness

Five important factors in getting ready for the new Consumer Duty

1. How will the FCA assess a firm’s Consumer Duty compliance?

The Consumer Duty and how it will regulate financial service compliance is being widely discussed across the industry. The changes are significant and given that the FCA is now leading with more assertive supervision – a ‘show me and don’t tell me’ approach, and assuming that you’ve already got it covered is a risky approach

The onus will be upon proving in practice that your firm is meeting all four outcomes of the Duty and that you can demonstrate a good understanding of your target market and the needs of their customers.

With this in mind, the practicalities of how the Duty will be monitored are significantly shifting – and this change should not be underestimated. It will no longer be enough for firms to  simply have a theory and policy that meets the Duty’s four outcomes and cross-cutting rules.

Being able to demonstrate Duty compliance consistently, in real terms, across all your products and service processes throughout every customer journey is going to be the key. Firms will be required to show that they have a clear understanding of their target market and what a good outcome (and equally what a bad outcome) looks like.

With so much pressure on firms to demonstrate fair customer treatment, it’s unlikely that random sampling of customer calls or interactions will be enough to achieve Duty compliance. Firms will need to go beyond a small sample and a theorised policy when it comes to evidencing that they are achieving good consumer outcomes.


2. Who is responsible for ensuring the Consumer Duty compliance at a firm?

In simple terms, the board or an equivalent governing body. 

The board (or an equivalent governing body) will need to make sure that the Duty is embedded in the firm’s culture and ensure that the four Duty outcomes are consistently achieved across the business and that this is clearly evidenced and continually monitored. It will be equally important that the board ensures vigorous measures are in place to tackle and correct any underperformance. 

There is an expectation on boards to have a clear set of management information that underpins the Duty’s presence throughout your business model, with the ability to demonstrate at any given time that their business is doing the right thing by its customers.

A further requirement from the FCA is to select a Consumer Duty ‘champion’ that is an independent non-executive director  or equivalent. It’s the champion’s responsibility to ensure the Duty is regularly included in relevant discussions in a significant way.

Should the board not take a proactive approach to the FCA’s Duty requirements and the firm fails to comply, this change in the FCA’s style of governance could result in increased scrutiny,  reputational damage and brand equity risk for your firm. 

And, although the Board have ultimate responsibility for ensuring the Duty is embedded, the FCA have also strengthened the requirements around governance and accountability to ensure senior managers and executives are held accountable, and added a new Conduct Rule 6 to reflect the new, higher standard of the Duty and the behaviour they expect of all conduct staff, so responsibility for compliance with the duty and delivering good outcomes for customers cascades to all levels within an organisation.


3. What evidence does your firm need to have available for FCA’s Duty compliance spot-checks?

Firstly, FCA may check your Consumer Duty compliance at any time. 

If the FCA wants to check on your firm’s Duty compliance for any reason, they could do this in several ways. They might ask to see evidence of how you’re meeting the four Duty outcomes and conduct a deep dive audit of your firm’s  products, services, policies and processes to assess this. Or they may do random spot checks and request specific management information that evidences a particular customer journey. 

Another scenario may be that they conduct a thematic review, for example, focused on vulnerable clients. Thus, the FCA asks firms to evidence and explain how they identify vulnerable clients and how their firms support their additional needs in practice.

So, if the FCA were to ask to see the last 50 consumer conversations your firm had, and the steps and processes taken within such calls to identify vulnerable customers – would you be able to provide the necessary evidence? Firms in this instance may need to show who was identified as vulnerable and how this was decided upon – not only that, but the regulator will also expect to see evidence that your processes can be adapted to ensure that such customers receive a ‘good outcome’ as the Duty requires.

In other instances, firms may only be asked to provide certain data to evidence an outcome, within a short, deliverable timeframe. More than ever, The FCA will be relying on data-led techniques in their monitoring,  so it will be critical for firms to be able to promptly prove that they are compliant.

 


4. What happens if the FCA doesn’t think a firm is adhering to the Consumer Duty?

If firms are unable to provide evidence of the required level of detail, then they may not be considered Consumer Duty compliant by the FCA. This could lead to increased scrutiny including further in-depth reviews, monitoring and reporting and considerable reputational damage. 

The fact that most firms have been putting customers’ well-being first for many years  is an excellent starting point. 

However, under the new Consumer Duty, if you can’t provide clear evidence that this is the case and demonstrate your compliance, your firm could be classed as non-compliant.


5. How can firms evidence Consumer Duty compliance?

The FCA is moving towards intelligence-led regulation with a focus on outcomes-based supervision. Under the FCA’s Consumer Duty, the regulator will increasingly be asking for data focused on consumer outcomes, and such requests could come at any time.

However, many firms are concerned about how they can sufficiently evidence Consumer Duty compliance and good consumer outcomes without drastically increasing the size of their compliance teams which carries a significant increased cost. This is where RegTech can be used, to great effect, to automate certain processes and free up staff to focus on tasks that humans do best, such as outcomes testing.

For example, Quality Assurance (QA) across the sales, service, advice and collections process can provide a hidden mine of insight to support the delivery of Consumer Duty outcomes, yet, it’s sometimes viewed as burdensome and a box-ticking exercise.

The good news is that intelligent compliance analytics tools, such as Recordsure’s Compliance Analytics AI platform, can look across and analyse the entire population of consumer conversations, allowing firms to proactively identify thematic trends and gain insights into customer journeys that can be utilised to achieve and evidence Consumer Duty compliance.

At the same time, our smart thematic classification and highly-accurate risk profiling of 100% of agent-client conversations enable targeted and rapid review of calls. Having this up-to-date information at your fingertips when FCA data requests come in will show that you take Consumer Duty compliance seriously and provides in-depth intelligence to address potential consumer harm before it occurs.


Download our whitepaper to learn how post-conversation Compliance Analytics can help FCA-regulated firms meet their Consumer Duty obligations.


recordsure regtech 50 shortlist 2022

Recordsure shortlisted for Business Cloud’s 2022 RegTech 50

We’re very pleased to announce that we’ve been shortlisted for inclusion on the RegTech 50 list of influential technology firms for 2022!

Organised by Business Cloud, this annual ranking celebrates the most pioneering start-ups and established businesses creating disruptive technologies and platforms for compliance, regulation and fraud protection applications across the UK.

This year’s shortlist features a total of 82 companies and the final 50 will now be decided by a judging panel alongside votes from the public. The final ranking is set to be revealed on 31st October.

Voting is now open until 10th October and if you’d like to vote for us you can do so here:

https://businesscloud.co.uk/regtech-50-vote-for-the-most-innovative-uk-compliance-technology-firms/

We previously ranked 4th in the 2021 edition – and so it’s especially exciting to us to have our innovative Compliance Analytics solutions recognised as at the forefront of the UK tech sector for two years running.

Good luck to all shortlisted companies and thanks to everyone for their continued support!

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