Survival of the Nimblest

As the plans for regulatory reform in the financial sector evolve, one thing is certain - it will be a work in progress for some time to come.  The companies that are well prepared and nimble in addressing the regulatory demands will certainly have a competitive advantage over others.  Here is what an article in Bank Systems & Technology magazine had to offer in light of the upcoming changes.

Predicting precisely how a new administration and Congress will address the financial crisis is difficult over the long term, but the early returns are instructive. Banks that participate in TARP will be subject to a range of new reporting requirements that go above and beyond the existing regulatory requirements—combining the needs of the SEC, the Federal Reserve, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. But with new regulations and uncertainty come added burdens, and building a competitive advantage will require having insight into the infrastructure (systems and data) required to get ahead of regulatory pressures and minimize the millions of dollars required for compliance through careful planning and investment—rather than issuing knee-jerk responses to each new change in regulations.

U.S. banks can borrow from the lessons of others. European banks have been managing a more active regulatory environment for some time, and have successfully used SWAT-team-like functions to meet this challenge. For instance, Barclays PLC created a nimble central organization to actively manage new regulations and to act as the single point of contact between all business units and critical group functions. However, it first needed the technology infrastructure in place to meet these goals.

Wheelhouse Advisors is uniquely equipped to help companies build the infrastructure needed to address regulatory demands in a cost-effective and practical manner.  Visit www.WheelhouseAdvisors.com to learn more.