Using Architected Software for Regulatory Compliance Success

Banks are not and do not want to be in the business of building software and databases. Although at times, they tend to invest in building technology due to the urgency of meeting regulatory changes and compliance requirements, the non-existence of systems that would enable compliance as well as business objectives or the need to get through the issues at hand (such as too many manual tasks or lack of audit capabilities).

As the number and complexity of regulations continue to increase, banks will need to think about their approach differently and change the way they have solved compliance issues in the past. It does not make sense to solve each problem individually. Banks need to take the time to get the right foundation in place - a foundation that they believe not only solves the immediate need but is also something that they can build on in the future. In our opinion, this only happens if an investment is made in architecting the software platform. This is hard to do, not only because anticipating and designing for future change is difficult and internal bank teams are under constant pressure to deliver, but it is also very difficult to articulate and justify in today’s budget-conscious environment. The answer, in our opinion, if it is available, is to get the answer from the outside. The best case is that you can buy an architected platform that solves a large portion of your current problem out-of-the-box. For the pieces that are not directly solved for, you can build the extensions you need.

The benefits of using an architected system for a bank’s compliance needs include:

-- Lower overall cost of ownership of software (cost to build, maintain, upgrade and support)

-- Consistent information and much less painful integration

-- Flexibility where you need it and out-of-the-box where you don’t. Results in focusing the IT team on just providing what is different about their bank.

-- Improved process efficiency and control with the ability to easily scale up with future regulatory changes

Using an architected system helps provide for the short-term need while also setting the bank up to be able to respond quickly and cheaply to new regulatory change. In addition, there is less information- copying, hence, lower reconciliation and data quality issues and generally, more powerful reporting capabilities. It also enables multiple types of users – accounting, finance, risk, credit and reporting functions to utilize the same platform, making collaboration seamless and providing better control and audit capabilities.

[See Also: Staying Ahead of the Compliance Game]

By leveraging an architected software designed specifically for compliance needs, banks are able to reduce costs, increase ROI, ensure compliance and escape the software development business and get back to what they do best – banking