SINGAPORE - Financial institutions in Asia Pacific are increasingly concerned with the rising expectations and costs associated with cross-border and domestic regulatory change, according to a new survey by Thomson Reuters. Survey findings will be elaborated at Thomson Reuters fourth Pan-Asian Regulatory Summit to be held in Singapore on 25 and 26 September. The event will provide a platform for regulators and financial professionals in the region to discuss the regional and global regulatory landscape as it relates to Asia and Ravi Menon, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, will deliver the keynote speech as part of the welcome address.

From February to June of this year, Thomson Reuters Governance, Risk & Compliance division surveyed more than 400 compliance practitioners, including heads of compliance and chief executives of financial services firms, including banks, brokers, insurers and asset managers around Asia to solicit their views of the main regulatory challenges they expected to face during the year ahead.

• 97 percent of respondents believed regulatory pressure would persist and become higher in the coming years. Some 40 percent expected the regulatory pressure to be “significantly higher” over the next year.
• 92 percent of respondents noted their institutions’ costs of compliance had risen in the past two years, with nearly 39 percent saying the increase had been significant.
• 50 percent of respondents said that their compliance function relied on technology for more than half of their daily tasks, while 37 percent said technology was used in 25 - 50 percent of the compliance functions.
• 43 percent of respondents said they expected FATCA compliance to be one of the biggest challenges facing their institutions in 2013 while 38 percent of respondents were concerned about anti-money laundering (AML) regulations.
• 20 percent of respondents ranked preparations for dealing with cross-border impact as one of the most important developments affecting their financial institutions this year.
• More than 52 percent of respondents found their industry sector overregulated, while 41 percent said the level of regulations was “just right.”
• More than 60 percent thought Asian regulators could do more to coordinate the regulatory response to the financial crisis with US and EU counterparts.

“The results of the survey highlight the complex nature of the challenges faced by financial institutions looking to keep up with the ongoing changes in regulatory issues,” said Leas Bachatene, managing director, Governance, Risk & Compliance, Asia Pacific, Thomson Reuters. “The Pan-Asian Regulatory Summit continues to provide a platform for a meaningful dialogue among the regulators and leading experts in the industry.”

The Summit will deliver a comprehensive programme that comprises a series of presentations, panel discussions and debates, providing a platform for regulators and industry experts to examine the outlook on key issues facing Asian markets and whether the region has a unified voice in addressing global regulatory matters. The summit also offers an opportunity for participants to discuss the market view on regulatory reform and whether the pace of change is increasing and overloading institutions; the impact of regulation, compliance and risk on business operations from an enterprise-wide perspective including cost management issues; culture, conduct and behaviour; global private banking trends and industry behaviour; risk and technology; enforcement and supervision trends; ASEAN risk & opportunity; the G20 reform process including Basel III and the OTC derivatives clearing process; AML issues and extra-territorial regulation including FATCA and cross border co-operation.

Over 500 senior executives are expected to attend the Summit from key financial regulatory bodies, exchanges, associations and authorities, including the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, China Banking Regulatory Commission, the People’s Bank of China, International Monetary Fund and Transparency International.

The Summit will adopt a holistic approach to examine the impact of regulation, governance, risk and compliance from an enterprise-wide perspective and how the market can address the key business challenges of driving down costs while maximising performance and effectively managing risk. This year supporting partners include Allen & Overy, Moody’s Investors Service, Barclay Simpson, CFA Institute, State Street, the Institute of Banking & Finance Singapore, Association of Banks Singapore and ASIFMA.

“Internationally, the financial regulatory environment continues to change; similarly there are new local regulatory requirements that are being introduced. How these international trends and local developments knit into the day-to-day operations of an institution remains a key challenge,” said Alan Ewins, head of APAC Regulatory Group, Allen & Overy. “As we anticipate the likely effects of the evolving regulatory landscape, Allen & Overy is delighted to be partnering with Thomson Reuters for the fourth year, to share our views concerning the various evolving regulatory and enforcement concepts across international boundaries.”

Thomson Reuters

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