On Thursday 21st July, the Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC) hosted an event looking at the findings of an independent report commissioned by the JFSC on the barriers to adoption of Regulatory Technology (RegTech) in Jersey.
The report conducted by RT Associates employed deep-dive qualitative interviews following a quantitative survey to assess how local financial services businesses viewed RegTech adoption.
The report focused on five areas:
- levels of RegTech awareness
- attitudes towards RegTech
- the use of RegTech
- perceived barriers to greater RegTech adoption
- measures that would be most helpful in addressing these barriers.
Dr Sian Lewin from RT Associates commented: “It is a privilege to work so closely with regulators such as the JFSC and provide much needed empirical evidence of not only the need for RegTech, but ways in which regulators and other stakeholders can act to speed up the adoption to benefit the financial sector and ultimately society.
The report demonstrates that financial services firms in Jersey are positive about RegTech, with 78% of firms agreeing that RegTech tools are increasingly necessary for achieving compliance. However, the report highlighted that there is still room for growth with 42.2% of firms not yet using RegTech to address their compliance challenges.”
To support the joint ambitions with Industry, the JFSC intend to accelerate its internal capabilities and external support of RegTech adoption.
This will consist of:
- Increasing investment in their Innovation Hub supporting FinTech, SupTech and RegTech
- Providing greater clarity on our regulatory expectations through expanded outreach and engagement
- Collaborating with other agencies on skills development to support enlarged capability for JFSC, government and Industry
- Clarifying and simplifying the regulatory framework to enable the digitalisation of regulatory content
- Developing regulatory submissions so that they are 100% ‘digital by design’ by January 2024.
Jill Britton (pictured), Director General at the Jersey Financial Services Commission added: “The successful adoption of Reglatory technology will support innovation and growth for Jersey. Our ambition is for Jersey to reach a level of RegTech maturity by the end of 2024 that is evidenced by high adoption rates, and results in cost efficiencies, improved compliance, and management of regulatory complexity.
“As a regulator, we also believe that the adoption of RegTech and SupTech can facilitate high standards of business integrity, and upskilling our own team at JFSC will support our goal to be a high performing organisation. We look forward to working with Industry to ensure that Jersey maintains the highest standards”.
