Hi SupTech Community,
Welcome to the 41st issue of the Cambridge SupTech Lab bi-weekly LinkedIn newsletter, a source for updates on recent innovations, breakthroughs, opportunities, upcoming events in the suptech field, and news from the Cambridge SupTech Lab team.
If you would like to flag any items for inclusion in the next newsletter, please email us at cambridgesuptechlab@jbs.cam.ac.uk. Occasionally, we email our global community of supervisors, data scientists, vendors, and suptech experts to share event invites, news, or new courses—subscribe here.
This edition includes news from the Alliance for Innovative Regulation, Bank of Namibia, Bank for International Settlements, European Central Bank, Financial Conduct Authority, FinCoNet, Financial Services Agency, Japan, Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Regulation Asia, Securities and Exchange Commission Philippines, The World Bank, and others.
Suptech Innovations
Philippine’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launches artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot for multilingual public inquiries. The Philippines SEC has launched “SEC AInnovation,” an AI-powered chatbot providing real-time assistance on regulatory queries in English, Filipino, and Bisaya. The platform synthesises legal information from key legislation enforced by the SEC, alongside other implementing rules, guidelines, memorandum circulars, and advisories, reducing the need for manual research and physical visits. Featuring natural language processing and multi-modal interaction capabilities, including voice capture, the chatbot aims to enhance accessibility and user-friendliness. Read more here.
Namibia’s citizens to receive AI assistance and complaints resolution through multi-agency initiative. Suptech vendor Proto has launched a shared AI system project in partnership with the Bank of Namibia, the Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority, the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia, and the Cambridge SupTech Lab, with Gates Foundation support of USD 1.8 million. The system automates cross-agency complaint handling while providing multilingual support for underserved languages such as Oshiwambo, seamless citizen access via WhatsApp, SMS, and Messenger, and real-time supervisory insights into trends, risks, and regulatory performance. This initiative aims to shift from reactive to proactive consumer protection, enhance trust in digital financial services, and streamline complaint resolution across multiple regulatory sectors through a unified platform. Read more here.
Central Banking & Technology
Project Hertha demonstrates AI’s potential to identify financial crime patterns in real-time payment systems. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub’s Project Hertha, conducted with the Bank of England, demonstrated how AI could identify financial crime patterns in retail payment systems while preserving privacy. Using a simulated synthetic dataset of 1.8 million bank accounts and 308 million transactions, the project found that payment system analytics helped banks identify 12% more illicit accounts than traditional methods, with a 26% improvement in spotting novel criminal behaviours. While showing promise for detecting complex criminal networks across institutions, the project highlights significant practical, legal, and regulatory challenges requiring further consideration. Read more here.
South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) revises its cross-sectoral conduct of business return (OMNI-CBR) roll-out following digital transformation strategy. The FSCA has announced significant changes to its OMNI-CBR implementation following the adoption of a new digital transformation strategy and procurement of an Integrated Regulatory Solution (IRS) suptech platform. The original OMNI-CBR format will be replaced with a phased approach, beginning with an OMNI-Risk Return to support an automated risk model that will provide standardised risk scoring across all supervised entities. The FSCA has advised financial institutions to suspend any internal OMNI-CBR-related system development until further guidance on the IRS roll-out and revised reporting requirements is provided in the third quarter of 2025. Read more here.
United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) launches supercharged sandbox for AI experimentation. Through a new collaboration, announced on 9 June, firms will have the opportunity to experiment safely with AI using NVIDIA accelerated computing and AI enterprise software. The initiative provides firms with enhanced data access, technical expertise, and regulatory support to accelerate AI innovation, targeting those in the discovery and experimentation phase while complementing the existing AI Live Testing service for more advanced users. Applications are now open through the FCA’s website, with successful applicants able to begin experimenting from October 2025. Read more here.
Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) releases discussion paper on promoting sound AI utilisation in financial sector. The document outlines preliminary points for promoting responsible AI use across the financial sector. It also highlights the FSA’s own AI initiatives, including machine learning for credit risk prediction, neural networks for trading analysis, and text processing for regulatory documents, while acknowledging challenges around model accountability and data security. The agency emphasises public-private collaboration to address implementation challenges, particularly for smaller institutions, and commits to supporting sound AI adoption through continued stakeholder dialogue. Read more here.
Cross-border anti-fraud platform Frontier+ nets 1,800 arrests and USD 20M in major operation. The Frontier+ collaboration platform enabled authorities from 10 countries and regions to arrest over 1,800 suspects and seize approximately USD 20 million in fraudulent funds during a month-long operation from 28 April to 28 May. The platform, launched in October 2024 by various anti-scam centres, facilitated the freezing of more than 32,000 bank accounts and dismantling of multiple fraud networks spanning online shopping scams, investment fraud, and fake job schemes. Hong Kong police alone arrested over 330 suspects linked to crimes totalling about HKD 475 million, demonstrating the platform’s effectiveness in transforming transnational scam-fighting strategies through enhanced intelligence sharing and cross-border asset recovery. Read more here.
Financial Stability Institute (FSI) brief examines generative AI applications in financial supervision. The brief, authored by FSI’s principal advisor Jermy Prenio, reveals that many financial authorities are experimenting with generative AI for supervisory purposes, primarily in basic document processing, knowledge management, and document review. While authorities seek to leverage the technology for efficient information retrieval, implementation faces limitations and challenges, including outdated IT infrastructure, data security concerns, technical skills gaps, user acceptance issues, and information inaccuracies expected to intensify with more complex applications. Read more here.
New white paper examines suptech implementation beyond pilots and sandboxes. The Alliance for Innovative Regulation and Amazon Web Services have published this paper exploring how regulators can harness suptech to enhance financial oversight. Drawing on case studies and proof-of-concept projects, the publication provides practical guidance on implementation best practices and key capabilities for modernising regulation while balancing innovation with resilience, offering strategies for data-driven decision-making to seize digital transformation opportunities while mitigating risks. Read more here.
India’s International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) issues request for proposal (RFP) for digital regulatory reporting (DRR) system. IFSCA has issued an RFP to implement a comprehensive DRR system aimed at enhancing the ease of doing business and reducing compliance costs for supervised entities. The state-of-the-art suptech platform will cover administrative, compliance, supervision, and enforcement frameworks for its regulated entities, positioning IFSCA as a progressive regulator with best-in-class suptech capabilities. Detailed specifications are available on the e-Procurement portal. Read more here.
World Bank launches first open source software tool under new institutional licensing framework. The World Bank has released its inaugural open source software tool, the Metadata Editor, under an MIT License framework that enables institutions to adopt and adapt the statistical metadata application for their own systems. This milestone establishes a repeatable model for future releases, with the Bank’s new open source program office coordinating technical reviews to support reproducible research and digital capacity building in data-poor environments, marking a significant shift towards sharing development-focused technology as public goods. Read more here.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) expert emphasises the critical role of cyber supervision in financial protection. In this video, Emran Islam from the IMF highlights the urgent need for robust cyber supervision as financial systems become increasingly digitalised. Effective supervision requires combining continuous off-site monitoring, including data collection, risk profiling, and analysis, with direct on-site inspections to ensure institutions maintain strong cybersecurity practices and regulatory compliance, safeguarding the financial system amid escalating digital threats. Watch more here.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) launches chief AI officers’ training programme to strengthen tech leadership. This two-week executive programme, delivered through collaboration between the Office of Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications and the University of Birmingham in Dubai, aims to upskill AI leaders across federal government entities. Combining academic theory with practical experience, participants engage in intensive modules covering AI governance, generative AI, machine learning, big data, and sector-specific applications in fields such as cybersecurity and government services. The initiative aligns with the UAE Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031 and supports the nation’s vision to become a global leader in AI and digital transformation. Read more here.
Events
Basel Committee, European Central Bank (ECB), and Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) issue call for papers on technology innovation in banking. The Research Group of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, ECB, and CEPR have issued a call for papers for their joint Banking Supervision Research Conference on 9-10 December 2025 in Frankfurt. The conference will examine technological innovations’ risks and opportunities in financial markets. Researchers are invited to submit empirical and theoretical contributions by 30 June 2025 providing new insights into emerging trends in financial markets and the accompanying risks and their management by financial institutions and regulatory and supervisory agencies. Read more here.
Regnology to host 32nd RegTech Convention focusing on straight-through-reporting. The 32nd RegTech Convention will take place from 17-20 November 2025, hosted by Regnology in a hybrid format across Frankfurt and Zurich with online streaming. Focusing on “Straight-Through-Reporting (STR): Entering a New Era of Regulatory Intelligence,” the event will explore data-driven regulatory transformation through suptech day for regulators (17 November), the main conference (18-19 November), and tax day (20 November), addressing geopolitical shifts, digital assets, data quality and risk management, operational resilience and disclosure, and initiatives like the Integrated Reporting Framework. Read more here.
Structured Finance Hackathon 2025 returns to Barcelona with AI-powered fintech challenges. The Structured Finance Hackathon returned with a demo day on June 12th at Barcelona’s former Stock Exchange, bringing together developers, data scientists, and finance professionals to tackle AI automation, disaster risk modelling, and payment optimisation challenges. The hybrid event started online May 30th and concluded with prototype demos judged by industry leaders, offering cash prizes for solutions that modernise finance’s manual processes. Read more here.
European Central Bank (ECB) hosts Supervisory Reporting Conference focusing on data quality and risk reporting. The ECB held its Supervisory Reporting Conference 2025 on 15 May in Frankfurt, bringing together banking supervisors, central bankers and market practitioners to discuss developments in risk data aggregation and risk reporting (RDARR). The event covered the impact of CRR III/CRD VI on data quality assessment, resubmission framework updates, data quality indicator usage, and ECB initiatives to reduce reporting burden for significant institutions while emphasising RDARR’s strategic importance in banking supervision. Read more here.
FinCoNet publishes seminar report on product oversight and suptech for quality financial products. The report examines how market conduct oversight and suptech can support the provision of quality financial products, based on discussions held during its Annual General Meeting in Lima, Peru in November 2024. The report features insights from senior leaders across global regulators covering product governance roles in ensuring fair consumer products, fostering responsible financial services, and the latest suptech innovations for enhancing regulatory oversight and consumer protection. Read more here.
Caribbean banking supervisors conclude XLII annual conference in Grand Cayman. The Caribbean Group of Banking Supervisors held its XLII Annual Conference from 4-7 June 2025 in the Cayman Islands, themed “Financial Supervision: Strengthening Fundamentals in the Digital Age.” The forum addressed critical topics including corporate governance and risk management in the digital era, crisis management, consumer protection, and cross-border supervisory collaboration. Sessions also covered the role of suptech in strengthening supervision, from core requirements and optimal features to real-world implementation, highlighting the critical role of innovation in maintaining resilient financial systems. Read more here.
Financial crime experts call for breaking down data silos to combat converging threats. Financial crime experts at a Quantexa and Regulation Asia roundtable, held on the sidelines of the Fraud and Financial Crime Asia 2025 forum, emphasised that traditional distinctions between anti-money laundering (AML) and fraud efforts no longer exist, as criminal typologies increasingly converge through mule accounts, scams, and ML networks. Participants highlighted the urgent need to dismantle data silos, foster secure intelligence sharing across institutions, and transition from reactive transaction monitoring to proactive, real-time surveillance. Read more here.
India’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) hosts national cybersecurity auditing conference SAMVAAD 2025. The three-day ‘CERT-In SAMVAAD 2025’ conference was held from 19 May in Tamil Nadu, marking the first global event designed specifically for the cybersecurity auditing community. Bringing together over 300 representatives from empanelled auditing organisations and regulators, the conference featured over 70 presentations across management and technical tracks covering AI, blockchain security, automated audit tools, and governance frameworks to strengthen India’s cybersecurity audit ecosystem against evolving threats. AI-driven suptech was also discussed. Read more here.
DSCI FINSEC Conclave 2025 addresses evolving financial security and privacy challenges in Mumbai. The seventh edition of the DSCI FINSEC Conclave took place on 4-5 June 2025 in Mumbai, bringing together leaders, practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and innovators to address evolving financial security and privacy challenges. The event covered pressing themes including transaction security, payment innovation, large language model operations, quantum computing blueprints, resilient financial infrastructure, privacy operations, next-generation digital crime, suptech and compliance, ESG integration, and multi-cloud security architecture as organisations enhance defence strategies against evolving cyber risks. Read more here.
