What is a Financial Services Regulatory Consultant?

For many years, management consultants have carried out strategic reviews of financial services businesses and have advised on the future focus of activities.  This has involved work on change management programmes, IT and other design and implementation exercises, cost-reduction and other strategic reviews and solution planning.  Regulation is part of that work, but it isn’t the thrust of it.

Increasingly, financial institutions need to respond quickly to an array of new regulation.  Any proposed new business or strategy review needs to include regulation to a much greater extent than it used to.  Regulatory breaches clearly need a regulatory response from the financial institution, but they require a strategic response as well.

Regulation is at the heart of a financial institution’s activities and all of its strategic planning needs to have regulation woven into it – seamlessly.

This is the work of the financial services regulatory consultant.  Financial services regulation and strategic planning go hand in hand.

Here are some examples of the types of work carried out by a financial services regulatory consultant.

• Advising financial institutions on their strategic response to new regulation, the implementation of that strategy, meeting the regulatory requirements and achieving compliance

• Carrying out strategic reviews and planning of new businesses and advising on the establishment of those businesses

• Advising financial institutions on implementation of regulatory requirements

• Preparing financial institutions for ARROW and other regulatory reviews

• Devising organisational and governance structures to implement regulatory requirements

• Advising financial institutions on risk identification and risk management to meet regulatory requirements

• Carrying out regulatory reviews of financial services businesses

• Advising on the development and launch of new products

• Advising on efficient capital management

• Advising on regulatory breaches – dealing with the regulator and remedial action

• Providing bespoke services – eg carrying out a review of brands within a group (required, historically, for regulatory purposes) to rationalise the group structure and to reduce costs and capital.

The information contained in this website does not provide, or purport to provide, specific advice relevant to particular circumstances and Ruth Finch accepts no liability for any loss or damage that may be suffered or incurred as a result of any person relying on any such information.

© Ruth Finch 2009