Interview: Business Compliance Trends And Challenges in 2023

Stefan Wichtl, Head of ICE Business Compliance at RBI, answered our questions about upcoming challenges, trends 2023 and his team. Find out more how he managed 2022’s turbulent environment, his outlook for 2023 and his team members.

RBI has a very strong compliance competence. What helped you manage 2022’s turbulent environment?

The year 2022 was a very demanding year, caused by the volatile geopolitical environment. As we are a bank that is active with international clients and are offering various product lines, we are immediately affected by this changing environment.

RBI Group has a very solid basis when it comes to compliance procedures and systems. And we are crisis-proof. We help each other and think and act way beyond respective department responsibilities to support our clients.

Which trends do you see happening in 2023?

The industry is at the end of an s-curve when it comes to compliance technology in wholesale banking. Scenario based pattern-identification and lengthy manual research and interventions are already used in the most efficient way, though the scalability is limited due to the nature of these systems. That opens the door for disruptors to find new ways on how to create more efficiency and effectiveness in the identification of risk, and to release more time to determine the compliance risk appetite of respective institutions.

FinTech companies using ‘new’ technology such as machine learning, robotics and artificial intelligence that support quick and data driven decisions are ready to contribute to many compliance-related areas. Old monolith solutions that are difficult to customize and take a long time for adaptations become more and more difficult to defend.

Thus, it is also important for our clients and partners to invest into new technology, assuring to stay ahead of the curve. The more objectivized, the more data driven and the quicker decisions on the compliance side can be taken, the safer the entire financial industry will become.

What are the challenges ahead?

The geopolitical environment will remain unstable in the foreseeable future. This brings many challenges, as the monitoring and screening of transactions has become far more complex. Therefore, it is necessary to invest in proper technology to identify transactions outside each institutions’ risk appetite and have the opportunity to stop them in real-time.

We at RBI Group want to be as transparent as possible with all our clients and partners concerning our risk appetite and expectations, but this is not a one-way street. We also expect and encourage our clients and partners to be as transparent as possible with us to strengthen our long-lasting relationships.

RBI’s Group KYC as part of the compliance know-how: What are the benefits?

Reflecting on many client meetings and surveys, KYC is one of the major areas of potential improvement that we have identified within the RBI Group. We have taken that feedback seriously and have introduced a group-wide project called Group KYC. In the course of that project, we have identified several transformation levers to improve the convenience for all of our clients.

Thus, RBI Group will collect all documents and information that is available in publicly available sources or at our KYC partners upfront to only request the minimum of documents from our clients in the future. Additionally, we harmonize respective KYC due dates in case our clients have more relationships within RBI Group and request KYC documents and information at once for all respective units. This will allow all our clients to have a one-stop shop concerning the KYC update with RBI Group in the future.

Meet the Business Compliance team members

Irina Lorenz and Sladjana Peulic support all clients that are covered in the Institutional Clients East department.

If you have any questions regarding business compliance topics around adverse media, RBI Group’s compliance risk appetite, the Business Compliance Framework, single transaction releases, etc., don’t hesitate to reach out to the respective colleagues.