No Ordinary Tech Buzzword

When Big 4 staple Deloitte comes out with a list of the top RegTech companies, it’s a sure sign that this emerging tech sector has arrived.

We may be wary of another tech buzzword given how much hype, and at times hyperbole, past buzzwords have received. But how many fads have been based on a topic so practical and operationally based like RegTech?

RegTech is like the buttoned-up accountant of the tech buzzword world.

So what exactly is RegTech? It stands for Regulatory Technology and was born out of a time that was far from regular: the Global Financial Crisis of 2007. As Dan Tammas-Hastings explains in The Exploding Popularity of RegTech, “Financial institutions, particularly the banks, have entered a new world of heavy regulations with heavy fines and penalties for non-compliance.

RegTech involves harnessing technology to meet regulatory requirements in a reliable, cost-effective, and powerful manner. From this foundation of compliance, RegTech has blossomed into much more and continues to innovate at a rapid pace.

One of the companies featured on the Deloitte list of top RegTech companies, BIGcontrols epitomizes RegTech innovation at its best. BIGcontrols provides a state of the art system of record with automated proactive compliance for business incentives, which includes real-time alerts on regulatory changes–so key in this dynamic industry. The company add even more value to its customers by providing business intelligence and lifecycle management for a customer’s entire business incentives portfolio. This illustrates the leap RegTech has taken–from simplifying compliance to now providing advanced data analytics for competitive advantage.

How big is the RegTech field? According to a recent report by Let’s Talk Payments, the market is expected to reach $119B by 2020. This number appears conservative. While technology enables companies to innovate and boldly try things that were unimaginable mere months ago, RegTech provides footing and balance on any ledge where a business might find itself.

The RegTech movement has even gone global with its own organization. The International RegTech Association (IRTA) launched in Switzerland in May, 2017 and is a nonprofit designed to innovate, advance, and influence the future of RegTech. Here again, BIGcontrols is at the forefront of the industry, as Scott Nelson, Founder & CEO of BIGcontrols, has been appointed as an Executive Board Member and San Francisco Chapter co-president of the IRTA.

The future of RegTech is wide open and companies like BIGcontrols have big ambitions. As CEO Nelson recently wrote: “RegTech has dreams of going beyond automation to become a predictive platform used to monetize new business opportunities.” Keep your eye on Nelson and firms like BIGcontrols; a predictive algorithm unlocking new business incentives revenue will be here as quickly as this once fledgling industry has become the real deal.