When regulatory pressure mounts and financial services firms need to respond, firms often make the mistake of assigning this responsibility solely to technical experts (people exclusively or predominantly from a regulatory, risk or compliance background). In our experience, the key to success is to apply a deal-driven mindset using a multidisciplinary team with strong regulatory expertise, as just one component.

We have developed this approach over time. It is predicated on the following differentiating features of financial services firms versus other sectors:

• Complicated front office organisation structure often with matrix reporting lines (functional/geographic/product etc.)
• Inconsistency in reporting data together with low levels of integration between front office and support functions (i.e., risk, finance, compliance)
• An under-appreciation of the rationale and limitations posed by regulations

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