What does it take to build a compliance-first culture with RegTech?

What does it take to build a compliance-first culture with RegTech? As regulatory pressures mount, RegTech is emerging as a key linchpin, bringing  compliance front-and-center into the heart of the business strategy Through automation and real-time risk management, it redefines adherence. Not as a burden, but more as a cornerstone of resilience and competitive edge.

As organisations respond to a barrage of regulatory changes and shifting market economics, Supradeep Appikonda – co-founder and COO of 4crisk.ai – believes that teams must be thorough in ensuring that any new or changed requirement is properly addressed anywhere it is relevant across their business environment.

He explained, “RegTech tools and AI Agents assist by scanning the external environment for changes, mapping processes to one another throughout the organization, and identifying all the areas where attention should be paid. Leveraging AI-powered RegTech is becoming the breakthrough that organizations need to manage changes to their regulatory and compliance obligations effectively and efficiently, providing technologies that slash the time taken to deliver results from weeks to hours. Organizations need to leverage AI to ensure that no information is missed or forgotten, and the impact of changes is thoroughly and accurately understood. “

RegTech has the ability to scan and monitor thousands of regulatory bodies globally and quickly notify the relevant regulatory, legal and compliance teams of changes impacting their business.

“RegTech powered by AI can quickly process massive amounts of regulatory data while extracting critical information and identifying fundamental changes that impact the organization specifically, in terms of processes, policies, procedures, controls as well as emerging risks,” said Appikonda. “This gives much earlier warning signals, allowing the organization to act long before the regulatory risks become an examination finding.”

For Appikonda, AI-powered RegTech with deep learning capabilities has the ability to map the impact of change with a high degree of accuracy, reading a volume of information in minutes, parsing, categorizing and mapping information in laws, rules and regulations to an organization’s business processes, policies and controls, among other elements.

“Without technology to crunch through this analysis, individuals responsible for keeping up with the regulatory change can miss critical information as they scan thousands of pages of regulations and legal updates,” he said.

What are some of the steps leaders can take to promote a culture of compliance using tech? On this point, one of the fastest-growing ways leaders can do this is by using AI Co-pilots, trained on regulatory and compliance data, and using the organization’s compliance documents supported by a specialized language model.

He added, “First-line business operations, as well as second-line compliance and risk professionals, risk analysts, policy owners and authors, among many others, use Co-Pilots to refer to documents such as policies and procedures with simple queries.”

Co-Pilots, Appikonda outlines, enhance team productivity and self-sufficiency with intuitive and easy-to-use interfaces for retrieving information, to serve customers, partners and colleagues.  Subject Matter Expert time is optimized by automating responses to common inquiries.

“As a result, team members are freed to focus on more strategic tasks and complex problem-solving, helping organizations improve and grow. Through analytics gathered from user queries, organizations can identify gaps in knowledge, areas for policy or procedure improvement, as well as training needs – ultimately enhancing overall effectiveness and reinforcing a culture of compliance,” he remarked.

Simply providing explainable and transparent answers fosters trust and acceptance amongst employees, customers and partners, says Appikonda, and co-pilots are ‘amazingly’ cost-effective, he claims.

He said, “Think about an area in your business where questions are asked by colleagues, partners or customers, and you don’t have an immediate answer. Perhaps it’s a question that requires further digging, research, and clarification from another expert in a different department. That can take hours or even, in some cases, days to return a concise, accurate, vetted answer. With a Co-Pilot you could get that answer in seconds. For example, if 10% of queries result in a clarification loop to the other experts and it takes on average 8 hrs for that to come back, you can assume that you are saving 90% of the time you would have taken to answer those questions.”

How is RegTech able to help prevent compliance issues before they happen? Here, Appikonda waxes that RegTechcan help detect compliance issues across diverse sources, so that organizations never miss a change that could really impact their business. “The sheer volume and scope of data sources across the globe and within today’s organizations pose significant challenges in detecting compliance issues,” he said.

However, RegTech tools – especially those that leverage AI – excel in identifying patterns and deviations from established compliance standards.

Appikonda remarked, “By leveraging a more proactive approach with RegTech, organizations can safeguard themselves more effectively against emerging risks and non-compliance by delivering timely intervention and mitigation. Powering compliance teams with regulatory intelligence gives the organization the potential for not just compliance but resilience, innovation, and a proactive stance in the face of an ever-evolving world.”

The main challenges when introducing RegTech, Appikonda believes, typically resolve around ensuring the right use cases are defined with a compelling business case and getting key stakeholders and teams onboard and excited about the value new technologies can bring to their organizations.

He said, “To meet these challenges, successful leaders assemble teams with the mandate to look at possibilities for RegTech to deliver regulatory intelligence, and more, usually across multiple business units.  For example, if the legal profession is being transformed through AI in contract management, how could the procurement process be re-invented?

“It’s important to involve the right stakeholders and imagineers from R&D, along with ROI talent from finance and on-the-ground practical process thinkers from operations. These teams can define scenarios best suited to Regulatory Intelligence and bubble up use cases that provide the most value. They can evaluate solutions through pilots, while developing criteria, governance processes and continuous improvements that make sense to your business.”

He concluded, “As projects are initiated, successful leaders choose the right stakeholders to oversee, manage and participate during the right phases, allocating resources with an equal mix of experienced, proven and new, to ensure mentorship and growth so that their teams emerge stronger, smarter and faster at the end of each initiative.”

Shift in mindset

Sean Devine, account executive at ViClarity, stressed that in today’s regulatory envirionment, ticking boxes is not enough. What is needed more than ever in a true compliance-first culture is a shift in mindset, where compliance isn’t a department but a shared responsibility across the organisation.

He said, “RegTech plays a critical role in enabling this transformation, but the real value emerges when it’s combined with leadership buy-in, process alignment, and clear communication.”

Devine detailed that RegTech is able to simplify and strengthen compliance by automating manual, error-prone tasks such as risk assessments, audit trails, reporting and monitoring obligations.

He went on, “This not only reduces operational risk but also increases transparency and consistency – two foundational pillars of a strong compliance culture. With real-time dashboards, automated alerts, and integrated workflows, RegTech tools bring compliance to the forefront of daily operations. It makes it easier for employees to do the right thing, because compliance becomes embedded – rather than bolted on.”

For Devine, one of the most powerful features of RegTech is its ability to be proactive rather than reactive.

He explained, “By identifying trends, flagging anomalies, and mapping risks in real time, RegTech helps organisations anticipate issues before they escalate. Whether it’s a policy breach, overdue training, or an emerging third-party risk, early warnings give companies a crucial head start.

“A compliance-first culture is built when technology, people, and purpose align. RegTech offers the tools but leadership must provide the vision. When executed well, RegTech doesn’t just make compliance easier – it makes it a competitive advantage,” Devine concluded.

Increasingly dependent

As technological innovation races ahead, today’s regulatory landscape is undoubtedly becoming more dependent on RegTech to meet changing needs.

For Emil Kongelys, CTO at Muinmos, compliance is increasingly dependent on RegTech, and cannot remain compliant without it. “These technologies automate processes, monitor trading activity, and manage regulatory reporting – making them essential for maintaining compliance at scale.”

He went on, “At Muinmos, we prevent issues proactively. For example, Muinmos’ client onboarding platform ensures that clients are correctly onboarded and classified in relation to the services and products they are eligible for, effectively preventing mis-selling before it occurs. This could have prevented, for example, the $66.4 M fine Hang Seng Bank Limited received this January.”

Some of the main challenges that exist when introducing RegTech into a firm’s compliance processes for Kongelys center around managing change.

He explained, “The primary challenge in adopting RegTech is managing change. Implementation often requires reordering existing workflows or replacing manual tools like spreadsheets.

“One way to mitigate this could be for businesses to develop a clear implementation plan and involve key stakeholders early in the process. Another way to mitigate this is to adopt tools which do not require long bespoke processes – like the Muinmos client onboarding platform, which is a ready-made SaaS solution that can easily be no-code configured to allow very quick implementation.”

Transformed compliance approach

To prevent compliance issues before they arise, this hinges firmly on early detection and proactive action. According to Opoint chief sales officer Toby Cook, RegTech solutions that integrate real-time, global news data – especially from non-English and local sources -provide organisations with the foresight needed to identify potential risks ahead of time.

He gave the example of local media reports that can reveal early signs of litigation, controversies, or market changes long before they become mainstream headlines. “By tapping into these global data streams, businesses gain a panoramic view essential for complying with regulations across various jurisdictions,” said Cook.

The sheer volume of information available today can be overwhelming, stresses Cook, and advanced RegTech platforms are able to address this by structuring and filtering data, supporting compliance teams to focus on actionable insights rather than sifting throughout irrelevant content. Cook said, “This not only streamlines the compliance process but also ensures that critical threats are identified and addressed promptly.”

He went on, “In essence, by leveraging real-time data and intelligent filtering, organisations can transform their compliance approach from reactive to proactive, embedding a culture of vigilance and responsiveness that is crucial in today’s dynamic regulatory landscape. By providing that clarity, RegTech solutions can not only help embed the culture in the organisation it can provide the evidence of its adoption.”

The power of RegTech

At its core, building a compliance-first culture is’t just about having the right policies in place, its also about making those policies real, relevant and enforceable across the business. This is the view of Paul Burleton, head of product at Corlytics.

He continued, “That’s where regulatory technology becomes essential. Solutions like Corlytics help bridge the gap between regulatory change and internal adoption, turning abstract obligations into operational practice and actionable intelligence.

“By integrating regulatory intelligence with policy management and control frameworks, organisations can ensure their people know what “good” looks like, and are supported in doing the right thing every time. However, the biggest challenge is not the tech – it’s embedding that mindset from the top down. Culture needs leadership, and leadership needs clarity. That’s what RegTech delivers.”

Through the providing of this clarity, Burleton outlined that RegTech solutions can not only help embed the culture in the organisation, it can also provide evidence of its adoption.

Everyday workflows

Joseph Ibitola, head of demand generation at Flagright, made his view clear that RegTech tools work at their optimum when they’re part of everyday workflows, flagging risks before they become crises and creating audit trails without the extra effort.

He said, “Leaders set the tone by training teams hands-on, celebrating quick issue reporting and reviewing compliance dashboards in regular meetings. Predictive alerts and real-time monitoring catch missteps the moment they happen.

“The biggest hurdles are old systems, change fatigue and trust in automated alerts. Overcome them with clear communication, phased launches and strong executive support,” concluded Ibitola.

Similarly, Anthony Quinn, founder of Arctic Intelligence, believes that RegTech empowers firms to stay ahead of compliance obligations by embedding regulatory intelligence into everyday workflows, reducing manual errors and enabling scalable, evidence-based decision making.

He stated, “One of the biggest hurdles in adopting RegTech solutions is not technical but cultural – basically bridging the gap between legacy mindsets and digital transformation requires strong executive buy-in and a long-term vision that places compliance at the heart of business resilience.

“In many businesses continuous compliance assurance is more of an afterthought that becomes a priority only after something’s gone wrong, then the focus becomes on reactive remediation resulting from past failings rather than a proactive mindset of doing things differently and frankly a whole lot better in the first place”.

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