Ariadne, a regtech designer based in London, hopes to test innovative solutions with Armenian banks. It is planned that Armenian financial sector will try out a new and comprehensive regulatory and compliance platform. The platform has been designed by the UK specialists, but the lead in local regulatory expertise will be provided by Armenian colleagues from a series of institutions.
Regtech (a coinage from “regulatory technology”) is a branch of fintech that has been growing for the last few years, but there is still no “one stop shop” solution for the whole array of regulation. Ariadne wants to show the way out of the labyrinth (hence the company’s name), and give a single framework for all kinds of regulatory checks, both for national regulators, commercial banks and non-bank financial institutions.
This will allow banks’ staff to spend less time on searching through data, and more on a deeper analysis because the information is much more accessible and comprehensible. “We can make technology run all those routine checks and present results in visually interesting ways, so that both central and commercial bankers will be able to oversee and monitor business better than they can today. This will also make time for banks to carry out better due diligence, and for the regulator with to monitor banks’ activity and compliance”, Mr. Charles Brewer, the company’s CEO, told Armenian News – NEWS.am.
Management of Ariadne has already met with the Central Bank, as well as the Union of Banks of Armenia and several Yerevan-based consultancies, to see how new technologies may be introduced in an orderly way. “The UK’s financial market is one of the most extensive across the globe, so testing new technologies there need to consider a vast array of issues. That’s why Armenia could be a good ground for developing a model which can be exported globally. This will actually help the banks themselves, as they can develop greater expertise and insight into the issues which compliance is intended to address”, Mr. Brewer explained. New skills may also be exported to other countries as a valuable commodity.
