Hi Suptech Community,
Welcome to the Cambridge Suptech Lab bi-weekly LinkedIn Newsletter, a source for updates on recent innovations, research breakthroughs and upcoming events in the field of suptech and news from the SupTech Lab team. In this first edition, we bring you a recap of the exciting events and noteworthy news that have taken place over the past month.
If you would like to bring to our attention any items for inclusion in the next newsletter, please email us at cambridgesuptechlab@jbs.cam.ac.uk. If you would like to receive via email the SupTech Lab’s monthly newsletter, subscribe here.
Highlighted
- The Federal Reserve Board announces the results from the review of the supervision and regulation of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), led by Vice Chair for Supervision Barr. The board found that the collapse of SVB was due to the failure of its management to control risks as well as shortcomings in the bank’s oversight by Federal Reserve supervisors. The report sheds light on strengthening the supervisory framework by improving the speed, force and agility of supervision as risks in the financial sector continue to evolve. Financial supervision needs a paradigm shift, a radical cultural evolution, and deep digital transformation to empower supervisors to act in the face of uncertainty. Read more here.
Suptech Innovations
Bank of Ghana uses EMTECH’s Regulatory Platform for risk monitoring of fintechs. The BoG has gone live on EMTECH’s solutions open platform, which digitises access to central banking services starting with the Digital Regulatory Sandbox and Regulatory Reporting. Driving this new adoption was the BoG’s desire to harness the potential of technology to develop an efficient and inclusive financial service industry without risking financial stability. Read more here. Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Singapore Exchange Group (SGX Group) Launch ESGenome Disclosure Portal to Streamline Sustainability Reporting and Enhance Investor Access to ESG Data. MAS and SGX Group have jointly introduced ESGenome, a digital disclosure portal for financial institutions to report ESG data in an efficient and structured way, and for investors to access such information in a consistent and comparable format. Read more here.
Research Spotlight
- Crypto, tokens and DeFi: navigating the regulatory landscape. This new publication by the Bank of International Settlement (BIS) provides an overview of policy measures undertaken by 19 financial jurisdictions to address risks associated with activities that incorporate crypto assets and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) programmability capabilities in financial services. It includes supervisory considerations. Read more here.
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) launches digital tool SabiMoni to drive financial inclusion. Just recently the CBN launched a Financial Literacy e-learning platform dubbed SabiMoni to train individuals and experts on financial knowledge. Promoting financial literacy in Nigeria (currently at 64.1%) has been a priority for CBN as it is a catalyst for financial inclusion. Read more here.
Industry News
- Regnology acquires Metadata Technology. Regnology, a software platform offering regulatory reporting solutions, recently announced the acquisition of Metadata, a UK-based provider of Statistical Data and Metadata exchange (SDMX) solutions for central banks and national statistics agencies. With this latest acquisition, Regnology has added SDMX solutions for financial and statistical authorities to its technology portfolio for regulators. Read more here. Italy’s largest bank Intesa embraces AI to tame “information overload” in bank supervision. Intesa Sanpaolo has successfully designed and launched Lisa (Linguistic Intelligence for Supervisory Awareness), which is an artificial intelligence tool that aids in reading and quickly processing thousands of publications on banking supervision. Lisa employs language processing algorithms to spot patterns and correlations that help predict future trends. Read more here.
Opportunities
- GFIN launches techsprint to combat greenwashing. The Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN) is set to host the first ever virtual greenwashing techsprint on the FCA’s digital sandbox from 5th June. The 3-month techsprint seeks to develop technological solutions that can effectively tackle greenwashing risks in the financial services sector. Specifically, the problem statements seek to address: 1) the application of technology including AI and Machine Learning by financial authorities to verify that ESG-related claims to retail consumers are complete and accurate; 2) how technology can help to monitor, collate and identify examples of greenwashing from websites and social platforms. 13 financial authorities are participating in the techsprint and will collaborate with the participants in the design of the solutions. Read more here.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) & Bank for International Settlements – BIS (BIS) G20 TechSprint initiative. The RBI and the BIS have jointly launched the 4th G20 techsprint aimed at improving cross-border payments. The techsprint seeks technological solutions for multilateral cross-border central bank digital platforms, foreign exchange and liquidity and to reduce illicit finance around AML/CFT. Developers worldwide are welcomed to join the competition. Read more here.
In case you missed it
- Big Data, AI and the FTC: Navigating the Complex Regulatory Landscape and Implications for Future Decisions. This article highlights a timeline of indicators that the author suggests indicates that The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is concerned about the impact of AI on competition and consumer protection. The agency acknowledges the challenge of striking a balance between fostering innovation and implementing regulations to ensure responsible AI development while mitigating associated risks. Read more here.
- Trinity of Big Data, Regtech, Suptech: Is it panacea or a problem for financial regulators? Financial policymakers see the potential of Big Data, Regtech and Suptech in shaping regulatory frameworks and policies, but they are also concerned about the potential risks posed by these solutions. Read more here.
- Detecting Anomalous Cryptocurrency Transactions: an AML/CFT Application of Machine Learning-based Forensics. As the private sector and law enforcement authorities apply forensics to track crypto transfers across ecosystems that are socio-technical, this publication offers contextualized insights into the application of machine learning and transaction graph analysis in this domain. Read more here.
- The data-driven supervisory authority of the future. In order to keep pace with rapidly evolving financial markets, supervisory authorities must become data-driven. However, becoming a data-driven institution is more than just investing in new suptech tools. Being fit for the future requires a balanced approach across the entire organization, as well as a data-savy culture. What does this mean? Read more here.
Upcoming Upcoming Events
- Data Innovation for Future of Regulation (DiFoR) Conference held at the FCA’s London office (25 & 26 May). The goal of this conference is to connect with other innovators working on developments in data science in the suptech space. It also seeks to identify areas of collaboration and harmonies with the SupTech Lab’s existing, as well as prospective, digital tools, capacity building, and Launchpad offerings. Read more here.
- Global Government Fintech/Global Government Forum – Seeing through the hype: what potential does the metaverse hold for governments? This webinar hosted by the Global Government Forum was held on 23rd May 2023 and it sought to explore if it is right for public authorities to consider metaverse and what opportunities metaverse offers as well as how best to tap them. Read more here.
Regtech Africa Conference 2023. Happening between 24-26th May 2023, this conference covers regulatory services innovation with a focus on Africa. It will bring together regulators, regulated entities and key industry stakeholders to network and share knowledge around new technologies and practices that support better regulations. Cambridge Suptech Lab’s Senior Suptech Specialist, Juliet Ongwae, PhD, will be sharing insights from the State of SupTech Report 2022 and evaluating how financial supervision in Africa is evolving to keep pace with the innovation happening in the sector. Read more here.
