For too long, financial institutions have been playing a reactive game with regulatory change. The fragmented landscape is not just messy, it’s actively undermining our ability to build resilient operations. TaskUs’ Global Head of Financial Crimes and Compliance Pragya Agarwal says, “We need to stop reacting to the latest fine or mandate and start building for what’s next.”
That constant reaction cycle is compounded by rising complexity.
“The more complicated the rules get, the harder it becomes for organizations to know what’s expected and to deliver on it every time,” says Pragya.
Complexity, however, doesn’t have to mean chaos. Compliance strategies must be flexible and adaptive enough to turn regulatory friction into competitive edge.
Fragmented regulatory landscape
Global rules like Basel III or the Financial Action Task Force’s anti-money-laundering (AML) standards set the baseline, but there’s friction happening regionally.
In the United States, agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) overlap. Firms also juggle Regulation E and Regulation Z.
Europe is rolling out new regimes like the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) and the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). APAC is no different. Regulators set their own pace. Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) pushes cyber-resilience, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) tightens governance while the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has its own standards.
So how can firms build resilience and meet regulatory compliance? Pragya says to start with the following three steps.
Stop treating compliance as a fire drill
Most organizations treat compliance as a box-ticking exercise to pass audits and avoid penalties.
But Pragya warns, “With constant change and such fragmentation, reactive compliance isn’t enough. To stay ahead and be resilient, firms must embed compliance into the core of their operations.”
That means building compliance into everyday workflows like product design, customer onboarding and transaction monitoring to strengthen resilience and trust from the start. Violations are less likely to happen when compliance becomes part of the system’s DNA.
Don’t just automate, unleash the full power of AI
Compliance depends on information, yet much of it is still handled manually. A KPMG study found that while nearly 90% of executives plan to increase automation, more than half of compliance leaders haven’t started. This is a first step towards efficiency and risk prevention.
Regulatory technology (Regtech) streamlines compliance and reduces human error. Teams can perform tasks like AML checks, ID verification and transaction monitoring smoothly across markets instead of getting stuck in paperwork. Reporting becomes easier and more accurate too.
But that’s just the start for AI power.
Prayga explains, “Large language models (LLMs), the engines behind GenAI, can track regulatory changes across jurisdictions in real time, giving an early warning system to update internal policies before a new rule even takes effect.”
Harness the cloud for agility and scale
Another core piece of the compliance tech stack is that the cloud is now standard, but increasingly constrained by data privacy, sovereignty and cyber mandates. That makes it risky to depend on one provider and is why more firms are shifting to multi-cloud and hybrid models that let them comply with local rules while still scaling globally.
Data is also a strategic asset in compliance. With predictive analytics and modeling, firms can anticipate regulatory shifts, allocate resources more effectively and keep business priorities on track.
“By analyzing historical compliance data, market trends and emerging regulations, firms can forecast potential changes and their operational impact,” according to Pragya.
Building regulatory resilience
Regulatory demands will continue to multiply and intensify. Embedding compliance into daily operations, leveraging AI and adopting flexible cloud and data strategies are essential but few companies can implement everything on their own.
Compliance outsourcing partners can take on tasks, monitor changes and provide targeted team training, letting firms focus on growth while staying ahead of regulations. Combining in-house oversight with external expertise gives full coverage, flexibility and the ability to respond quickly as rules evolve.
Looking to strengthen compliance in your operations? Our experts can help.
