Compliance Is Vast
In a recent session with the Technology Association of Oregon (TAO), we discussed quite a few compliance topics which inspired us to introduce a series of blogs on transforming compliance infrastructure and introducing more automation in each segment.
I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Dana Lawrence, Senior Director of Fintech Compliance and TAO Board Member, about how we approach building compliance technology and other general trends within the regulatory environment. There are fundamental data challenges when it comes to how institutions can approach risk management, regulatory oversight, and operational efficiency but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Compliance programs at financial institutions aren’t limited to a single problem with a simple solution. It's a complex web of intertwined challenges, each deserving careful examination and thoughtful solutions. From the technical hurdles of data integration to the human dynamics of cross-functional collaboration, from the strategic implications of regulatory evolution to the practical realities of vendor management—every aspect influences the others.
Rather than barely scratching the surface in a single discussion, we want to expand our coverage and launch a comprehensive series that will explore some of the most critical aspects of modern compliance management systems. Over the coming weeks, we'll dive deep into the themes that emerged from our conversation, providing more detailed analysis and practical insights that each deserves.
The Landscape We'll Explore
Breaking Down the Communication Gap
We'll start by examining why product teams and compliance officers desperately need a common language. Despite both working toward successful financial products, these groups often operate in parallel universes—developers focused on user experience and scalability, compliance professionals concerned with regulatory requirements and risk management. We'll explore practical frameworks for bridging this divide and creating true collaboration rather than adversarial checkpoint relationships.
The Vendor Fatigue
The compliance technology landscape has exploded with specialized point solutions, creating an unexpected problem: vendor fatigue and integration nightmares. We'll dive deep into how too many disparate RegTech tools are actually hurting compliance programs rather than helping them. More importantly, we'll examine emerging approaches for managing multiple AI and automation providers through orchestration layers that eliminate integration complexity while preserving best-in-class capabilities.
From Excel Hell to Automation
Why are compliance teams still drowning in spreadsheets when technology should be liberating them? We'll explore the hidden costs of manual compliance processes and examine how forward-thinking institutions are transforming compliance from a cost center into a genuine competitive advantage. This is about fundamentally rethinking how compliance can enable top line growth.
The Data Structure Problem
Before any analysis can happen—whether human or AI-powered—compliance data needs proper structure and organization. We'll tackle the ontology challenge: how do you transform disparate operational data into machine-readable compliance information? This technical deep-dive will explore why data modeling is the foundation of effective compliance monitoring and how to build systems that can actually understand regulatory requirements.
What Regulators Really Want
Beyond policies and procedures, what does modern regulatory oversight actually demand? We'll examine the evolution toward data-intensive examination approaches and what it takes to build comprehensive compliance management systems that demonstrate real-time operational compliance. The days of showing documentation during exams are giving way to demands for concrete, data-backed evidence of compliance performance.
Building Industry Standards Together
Finally, we'll look beyond individual institutions to explore how the financial services industry can collaborate on shared standards and common frameworks. From data sharing protocols to vendor interoperability standards, we'll examine how industry associations and collaborative initiatives can solve challenges that no single institution can address alone. This includes practical approaches to breaking down the data silos that make vendor switching difficult and compliance monitoring fragmented.
A Series Built for Practitioners
Each article in this series will balance strategic insight with practical implementation guidance. We'll draw from real-world experience—the challenges faced by compliance officers managing fintech partnerships and the perspectives of engineering teams building compliance tools.
Our goal is both to identify problems and provide actionable frameworks for addressing them. Whether you're a compliance officer seeking to modernize your monitoring capabilities, an engineering lead building infrastructure, or an executive trying to understand how compliance excellence can drive scale and growth, we hope this series will have takeaways for all stakeholders involved.
In the next several weeks, we'll publish detailed explorations of each theme identified here. Some will be more technical and focus on data architecture and system integration. Others will focus on organizational design and management. We’ll stay grounded in practical realities of operating in highly regulated environments while pursuing innovation and growth.
