FinTech breakthrough award logo with TCC & Recordsure

Recordsure and TCC recognised for RegTech Innovation at FinTech Breakthrough Awards 2023

by BlogNews

We’re excited to share that we’ve been chosen as joint winners, alongside our sister company TCC, of the RegTech Innovation Award at the FinTech Breakthrough Awards 2023!

One of five prizes given under programme’s RegTech category, the RegTech Innovation award highlights the business that the judging panel – comprising technical, business, academic and marketing specialists – deems to have pushed the boundaries of regulatory technology by providing truly disruptive, tech-enabled solutions over the past year.

The assessment criteria includes metrics such as degree of innovation, performance, ease of use, functionality, value and overall impact.

Commenting on the joint award, Recordsure and TCC Group CEO Joe Norburn said:

“We, Recordsure & TCC, are proud to bring together smart people and smart technologies. To see the incredible collaborative efforts of both companies recognised, for a second year running, by the FinTech Breakthrough team is a fantastic achievement for us.”

Recordsure and TCC unite regulatory expertise with state-of-the-art AI technologies, to offer intelligent insights and MI. Our Intelligent Compliance approach to solving regulatory challenges allows our clients to be more effective and efficient in what they do.

Joe explains:

“By combining Recordsure’s AI-powered analytics suites with TCC’s unrivalled consultancy expertise, we can offer a unique, intelligent way of solving the sector’s biggest regulatory challenges.

“And our clients are seeing the game-changing impact of this comprehensive strategy, benefitting from both the experience of our smart people and the efficiencies of our smart tech.” 

This announcement represents a second consecutive year of wins for Recordsure, having previously taken home the title of Best RegTech Company at last year’s ceremony.

Established in 2016 by market intelligence firm Tech Breakthrough, the FinTech Breakthrough Awards have grown to become one of the most hotly anticipated listings in the tech sphere. And not only that: the awards’ focus on innovation and overcoming process roadblocks via new technologies have given them an added prescience in recent years, following the pandemic’s acceleration of digital transformation across almost every area of the global economy.

By combining Recordsure’s AI-powered analytics suites with TCC’s unrivalled consultancy expertise, we can offer a unique, intelligent way of solving the sector’s biggest regulatory challenges.

Joe Norburn, Group CEO, Recordsure & TCC

Amid the widespread adoption of digital channels and the rapid rise of FinTech within the financial services arena, the FinTech Breakthrough Awards serve to champion the companies at the forefront of addressing the challenges – and harnessing the opportunities – presented by the ‘new normal’.

This exciting award is the second FinTech-focused accolade for the group this month – Recordsure and TCC Founder and Executive Chair Joanne Smith was also listed among the sector’s most influential Senior Leaders on this year’s Women in FinTech Powerlist.

A very well done to the Recordsure and TCC teams!

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Recordsure Founder Joanne Smith featured on 2022’s Women in FinTech Powerlist

by BlogNews

We’re pleased to be closing out International Women’s Day celebrations with very exciting news: Recordsure and TCC Group Founder and Executive Chair Joanne Smith, has been recognised in this year’s Women in Fintech Powerlist as one of the sector’s most prominent Senior Leaders!

This prestigious list, organised by Innovate Finance, shines a spotlight on the work of the FinTech sphere’s most influential and innovative female figures over the past year, paying tribute to 250 leading women in tech across eight separate categories.

With an emphasis on growing and supporting female participation in our historically male-dominated industry, the Women in FinTech Powerlist serves to highlight the disruptive contributions to those pushing transformation across the FinTech arena – as well as give thanks for their vital work inspiring other female technology professionals in their careers as mentors and role models.

This latest accolade marks Joanne’s second appearance on the list within the Senior Leader’s category, having previously made the 2020 edition of the publication.

A huge congratulations to Joanne from all of us at TCC and Recordsure!

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Welcome new talent and diversity into the world of RegTech: Happy #STEMDay 2022!

by BlogNews

8th November marks Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Day – and we’re celebrating!

Founded in 2015, STEM Day highlights the achievements of those leaving their mark within these vital disciplines and inspires the next generation to get involved with science and tech-based careers.

But more specifically, STEM Day also seeks to promote the continued diversification of our sector, which despite good progress being made in recent years, still finds women and minorities underrepresented within its ranks.

For example, recent research has highlighted how men outnumber women two to one in the FinTech sector – and amongst the women working in the industry, only 13.5% are from minority ethnic backgrounds.

Why does diversity in STEM matter?

We, at Recordsure, believe that those at the forefront of the FinTech and RegTech spheres have the responsibility to show that women and those from underrepresented backgrounds are welcome and valued within the industry – and that the culture is shifting for the better.

Because at the end of the day, it’s only by doing so that we can expand the conversation, invite new diverse voices and ideas, and inspire the most capable technology professionals to join our exciting industry.

Wishing everyone a happy #STEMDay – here’s to a brighter future!

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Recordsure collaboration with Grant Thornton News

Recordsure and Grant Thornton strategic collaboration to transform customer conversation monitoring

by BlogInsightsNews

News Release

We’re delighted to announce a new collaboration with leading professional services provider Grant Thornton to support Consumer Duty implementation and compliance across the UK financial services industry. This strategic collaboration is set to transform customer conversation monitoring for FCA‘s Consumer Duty compliance.

Consumer Duty: transforming customer conversation monitoring

Leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to achieve regulatory requirements

Financial services businesses need to focus on ensuring positive consumer outcomes. Increasing pressure on consumer finances is adding to the higher standards required by the FCA’s Consumer Duty. 

The new regulations stipulate ongoing monitoring of retail customer outcomes. You must monitor key elements and set up continuous feedback loops into governance forums to ensure these standards are achieved, and that appropriate action is taken if not. Reliance on random sampling of customer conversations doesn’t provide sufficient oversight to be confident of Consumer Duty compliance. 

To help you enable this monitoring, we’re collaborating with Recordsure on a new service that makes it easier to get the right quality assurance processes in place. This service brings together our own expertise in data, regtech, automation, and digital transformation with Recordsure’s market-leading artificial intelligence.

Oversight of all customer conversations

Random sampling of customer conversations throughout the customer journey isn’t a reliable quality indicator – and presents a significant hidden conduct risk, both at individual and systemic levels. It’s not an acceptable approach when there are viable solutions available for detecting harm.

Strategic data-driven AI and machine learning

Working together, we’ll enable regulated financial services organisations to automate oversight of all customer conversations and support subject matter experts to review identified risks. Implementing compliance analytics to highlight and better understand non-compliant conversations directly feeds into individual and team coaching, and improves customer outcomes by helping to identify possible systemic issues.

Niresh Rajah, Head of Data, RegTech & Digital Advisory Practice at Grant Thornton UK LLP comments on the strategic collaboration.

Ensuring firms are able to discharge their consumer duty obligations is a complex set of activities and requires a data driven approach underpinned by sophisticated machine learning and artificial Intelligence tools and techniques. This exciting collaboration allows us to support our financial services clients through the Consumer Duty journey by combining our data management, data analytics regulatory change and regtech expertise and experience with Recordsure’s leading machine learning platform

Niresh Rajah, Grant Thornton UK LLP
Niresh_Rajah_Grant_Thornton

Adrian Crean, Partnership Director at Recordsure and TCC Group is thrilled about this new strategic collaboration and looks forward to working with Grant Thornton and bringing more benefits to our clients:

We’re thrilled to launch this new strategic collaboration with Grant Thornton. Both organisations, Grant Thornton and Recordsure, have a strong belief in fair customer treatment, and conviction in helping our clients power their regulatory and consumer oversight obligations with market-leading technology and data, to deliver better customer outcomes.

Adrian Crean, Recordsure and TCC Group
Adrian Crean-Recrodsure-Partnership-Director

Find out more about this collaboration and the efficiencies our Compliance Analytics AI solutions can bring to your Quality Assurance teams. 

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recordsure listed at 13 on regtech 50 2022

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

by BlogNews

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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Recordsure shortlisted for Business Cloud’s 2022 RegTech 50

by BlogNews

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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Recordsure Founder Joanne Smith named as finalist for RegTech 2022 Awards International Female Innovator of the Year

Recordsure Founder Joanne Smith named as finalist for RegTech 2022 Awards’ International Female Entrepreneur of the Year

by BlogNews

We couldn’t be happier to reveal that Recordsure Founder and Executive Chair Joanne Smith has been announced as a finalist for the Female Entrepreneur of the Year Internationally title at the RegTech Australia Awards 2022!

This prestigious award recognises the female entrepreneur that has worked most tirelessly to spearhead RegTech business growth and innovation worldwide over the past year, as well as deliver solutions that provide real tangible value to the technology and compliance spheres both at home and abroad.

Through a commitment to highlighting the pioneering work being done by female trailblazers in a traditionally male-dominated environment, this important accolade also aims to inspire new generations of new, diverse voices to join the RegTech arena at this exciting stage of its development.

This latest announcement comes in a string of well-deserved recognition for Joanne, coming just weeks after she was featured in the longlist of candidates for Most Influential Women in Tech in the UK.

Commenting on her nomination, Joanne said:

I’m thrilled to have been made a finalist for RegTech Australia’s Female Entrepreneur of the Year. For Recordsure’s work to be honoured amongst fierce international competition is a real testament to the disruptive power of our Compliance Analytics AI platforms.

Our international achievements show that our solutions offer just as many oversight and efficiency benefits for firms outside the UK.

Joanne Smith, Founder and Executive Chair, Recordsure
Joanne Smith-Recordsure - Headshot B&W

The Female Innovator award is intended to inspire more young women to step into the RegTech industry, which makes this announcement a particular point of pride for us all at Recordsure: above all else, our team is a shining example of the glass ceiling being broken.

RegTech Australia’s awards scheme forms an integral part of its mission to devise a global centre of excellence, drive technological innovation and promote the adoption of RegTech platforms within regulated sectors worldwide.

The winners of this year’s prizes are set to be announced at the RegTech Awards 2022 Gala Dinner in Sydney on 27th October.

Find out more about our industry awards and recognition

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Joanne Smith-Recordsure - Headshot B&W

Recordsure Founder Joanne Smith makes 2022’s Most Influential Women in UK Tech longlist

by News

We’re very pleased to announce that Recordsure and TCC Group Founder and Executive Chair Joanne Smith has been nominated for a place on this year’s 50 Most Influential Women in UK Tech list.

Launched in 2012 by digital magazine Computer Weekly, this much-anticipated publication recognises the most forward-thinking and hard-working women driving real change and innovation within the technology sector.

The official list initially featured just 25 female leaders before being expanded to showcase the work of the most 50 prominent women in tech each year – alongside Rising Stars and Hall of Fame honours lists highlighting the industry’s up-and-coming talent and high-profile lifetime contributors, respectively.

The final list of this year’s 50 Most Influential Women is now set to be decided by a panel of expert judges. 

Following publication, Computer Weekly readers will be able to vote on who should receive the prestigious ‘Most Influential Woman in UK Technology 2022’ award, which will be presented during their diversity in tech event in October.

Find out more about our industry awards and recognition

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Consumer Duty Compliance with Recordsure RegTech

New Consumer Duty: from October 2022 implementation planning to going ‘live’ in July 2023

by BlogInsightsNews

The wait is over, after over a year of debate, speculation and rumours from all corners of the industry, the regulator has now set out the formal set of rules for its long-touted Consumer Duty legislation.

First formally proposed in May 2021, the Consumer Duty, as published on 27 July 2022, effectively supersedes the previous Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) framework with a more dynamic and proactive approach to regulation – described by the FCA as ‘assertive supervision’.

Our rules require firms to consider the needs, characteristics and objectives of their customers – including those with characteristics of vulnerability – and how they behave, at every stage of the customer journey. As well as acting to deliver good customer outcomes, firms will need to understand and evidence whether those outcomes are being met.

FCA

The newly introduced rules and outcomes focus on four key areas: products and services, price and value, customer understanding, and customer support – bringing customers to the forefront of everything financial services firms do.

So what are the new rules?

  • A new Consumer Principle that requires firms to act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers. 
  • Cross-cutting rules provide greater clarity on FCA’s expectations under the new Principle and help firms interpret the four outcomes.
  • The Consumer Duty Rules relating to the four outcomes represent critical elements of the firm-consumer relationship, which are instrumental in helping to drive good outcomes for customers.

The Consumer Duty is the most transformative regulatory shift we've seen from the regulator over the past decade – and the focus on better customer treatment will be welcomed by the consumer.

Joe Norburn, CEO at Recordsure and TCC

FCA’s clarity on their expectations and firms’ focus on customers’ needs is expected to pay the way to more flexibility for firms to compete and innovate in the interests of consumers. 

FCA introduces challenging deadlines

Placing emphasis on accountability and transparency, the move is intended to put the consumers’ best interests at the heart of every decision that gets made within financial services – and fundamentally improve how firms serve consumers. And crucially, the guidance redefines firms’ obligations towards customers to recognise the growing number of risks posed by our increasingly digitised marketplace.

Hence fast action is required.

Along with the launch of the new Customer Duty rules, FCA announced very challenging timescales; here are the key dates for the financial industry:

  • 31 October 2022: Boards (or an equivalent management body) are required to have an implementation plan
  • 31 July 2023: new Consumer Duty rules come into force for new and existing products or services open to sales or renewals
  • 31 July 2024: rules come to force for closed products and services  

With the challenging deadlines, the financial industry has been put under pressure to deliver the implementation plans this October and follow through to the Consumer Duty implementation deadline of July 2022.

David Boyhan, Technical Director at TCC

As previously promoted, FCA is keen for firms to implement the new regulations as quickly as possible, and the rules will come to force at the end of July 2023 – a year away.

Yet a new deadline of 31 October 2022, announced today, is already looming with firms being required to have implementation plans in place – so as of this morning, the development of a compliance framework that’s fit for purpose has immediately become the top priority for business leaders.

The good news for firms is that consultancy specialists, such TCC, are already geared up to help them achieve the challenging deadlines of the implementation planning, oversight and delivery.

David Boyhan, Technical Director at TCC

A quick Consumer Duty recap

Setting the bar for consumer care higher than the existing Principle 6 and 7 of the FCA handbook, an overarching Consumer Principle underpins the legislation: ‘A firm must act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers.’

The Duty – as stated by FCA – will include requirements for firms to: 

  • end unfair charges and fees 
  • make it as easy to switch or cancel products as it was to take them out in the first place 
  • provide helpful and accessible customer support, not making people wait so long for an answer that they give up 
  • provide timely and clear information that people can understand about products and services so consumers can make good financial decisions, rather than burying key information in lengthy terms and conditions that few are inclined  to read 
  • provide timely and clear information that people can understand about products and services so consumers can make good financial decisions, rather than burying key information in lengthy terms and conditions that few are inclined to read  
  • provide products and services that are right for their customers 
  • focus on the real and diverse needs of their customers, including those in vulnerable circumstances, at every stage and in each interaction 

The final component of the Consumer Duty comprises four outcomes that firms must consistently strive to deliver:

  1. Consumer Understanding: Understandable, easy-to-follow communications that genuinely help customers make informed decisions
  2. Products and Services: User-friendly products and services that are designed to meet customers’ needs and offer fair value, taking behavioural biases into account
  3. Consumer Support: Offering support to the customer needs when they need it with Customer Service that works for all customers across all mediums and platforms, taking into account vulnerability
  4. Price and Value: Fairly priced products and services that deliver true value to customers

Now's the time for action

Whether your firm began planning at first notice or elected to await further instruction before embarking on such a major strategy realignment, with the final rules upon us, there’s no more time to wait: implementation planning starts now.

Your first port of call should be to map out how the Consumer Duty’s aims and conduct requirements will make sense with your own products and services. At the same time, it’s critical to begin preparing for the switch to a more outcomes-focused model of supervision – including assessing how your current outcomes testing and complaints handling processes can be retooled to fit the Cross-Cutting Rules and Four Outcomes.

And beyond that, the sheer scope of the new legislation means your entire product lifecycle will likely need an honest review. This means asking some fundamental questions, such as:

  • How do you demonstrate that your products are truly designed to meet customers’ needs? 
  • Can you be sure they offer value for money? 
  • How do your communications help customers – for instance, is your website user-friendly, and are there multiple channels of communication on offer? 
  • Could you be doing more to support consumers to realise their financial goals?

Futureproof your Consumer Duty compliance with RegTech

Whatever stage of planning you’re currently working on, it’s clear that ensuring a smooth transition will require considerable time, attention and resource from even the most well-prepared team.

We work with TCC’s subject matter experts who can provide you with an impartial, detailed health check of your approach to root out any inefficiencies or blind spots that prevent you from operating a well-oiled machine from day one – whilst ensuring your processes are flexible and robust enough to adapt to future regulatory directives. What’s more, they are well versed in implementation planning, delivery and oversight, providing you with a springboard for the successful delivery of the Consumer Duty.

What is more, RegTech is set to play a critical role in helping firms to ensure Consumer Duty’s compliance implementation. With invaluable tools like Recordsure Voice and Docs that monitor and review customer interactions and provide firms with actionable insights, you can be sure to introduce greater oversight for all customer-firm conversations and introduce vital audit trails, thus setting you up for a compliant future.

 

Get ready for a successful compliant future

Speak to our RegTech experts today! 

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Joanne Smith Recordsure - GRC Awards Judge

Women in Governance, Risk and Compliance: meet Recordsure and TCC’s Joanne Smith

by News

After being named Innovator of the Year in the Women in Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) Awards 2021, we're delighted that Recordsure and TCC's Founder and Executive Chair Joanne Smith has been confirmed as a judge for this year's event.

This much-anticipated event shines a light on the talented female leaders, mentors and advocates making their mark on the risk and compliance sector across 17 different award categories.

Ahead of the much-anticipated shortlist announcement in September, here’s everything you need to know about Women in GRC Awards judging panellist Joanne Smith and her award-winning journey so far.

Meet Joanne Smith

An accomplished and innovative entrepreneur with more than 30 years of experience in finance, compliance and technological development, Joanne Smith has garnered a reputation as one of the RegTech sector’s most well-respected and influential figures.

Joanne began her career working within some of the leading companies in finance and amassed hands-on knowledge of the inner workings of the regulatory sphere, as well as a deft understanding of the industry’s biggest challenges. Using the industry challenges as a catalyst, Joanne founded a specialised compliance consultancy TCC Group in 2001, followed by RegTech business Recordsure in 2012.

Joanne’s long and storied career has been rooted in solving the financial sector’s most enduring challenge: how can firms achieve efficient and effective risk management whilst delivering the best possible outcomes for customers at scale?

Joanne's businesses have achieved several industry firsts

Through TCC and Recordsure, Joanne has consistently led the way in the field of RegTech innovation, amassing a portfolio of ground-breaking compliance tools and accomplishing several significant milestones in the process.

Her development projects have given rise to:

  • The first face-to-face conversation recording solution that meets the security needs of financial regulators and information commissioners
  • The speech recognition system that achieves a high degree of accuracy with multi-party face-to-face conversations
  • The AI system that breaks financial conversations into component parts to streamline a variety of compliance, training, competency and customer insight reviews

Wider recognition and equality advocacy

Joanne’s trailblazing work has won her much industry recognition alongside several prestigious accolades – including 2021’s Innovator of the Year at the Women in GRC Awards, where she has been named Women in Compliance Awards’ Inspirational Woman of the Year.

As a prominent member of the female business community, Joanne has helped to fly the flag for women in tech at a number of forums such as Forward Ladies. Joanne is a passionate supporter of female founders and a serial investor in female-led technology businesses in an effort to address the 1% funding challenges of female entrepreneurs. She also regularly mentors female colleagues looking to develop their own innovative solutions and challenge the current status quo.

Away from her work with TCC and Recordsure, Joanne is also chair of the CBI SME council, passing on her considerable experience running two highly successful SME businesses to help other businesses prosper.