THE REAL DEAL Embracing compliance
Compliance: the key component of trust
Effective compliance is vital for the future of the digital assets industry, says BCB’s Kym Routledge, both for service providers and their clients.
T he digital assets market is maturing at a rapid pace. Once regarded as a ‘wild west’ of finance, the sector is being embraced by mainstream institutions and integrated into regulatory frameworks. Rather than being seen as an intrusion, these developments are being welcomed by responsible service providers as an aid to risk management and a boon to businesses. None of which is to say there are no challenges in adapting to changing regulations, not least the fact that rules are evolving at different speeds in different markets. BCB Group has adopted a straightforward approach to the wide variety of standards across the world’s market – always taking the highest regulatory standard as the base level for compliance. “There are obviously individual nuances that we need to meet in specific markets, but we absolutely always go to the highest regulatory level,” says Kym Routledge, BCB Group’s Head of Compliance. “If you consider onboarding, we have clients onboarding for our UK entity, our Swiss and EU entities and/or for other services and we will always adhere to the highest standard in each case, whichever regulator’s standard that might be.”
Building a trusted platform The fast-moving nature of the digital asset world and fintech in general means some organisations try to run before they can walk – at least when it comes to compliance. “We often see fintechs and startups that are aiming to make money very quickly, although this can be at a risk of long-term reputational cost. When you’re going to go for the quickest win or solution it often becomes a tick-box mentality towards regulation, applying or setting up where there is little to no regulation. Now that is ‘possible’ for short-term success and growth but reputable providers like BCB Group will not entertain these kind of lax controls. We are faced with multiple strict audits from banking partners, regulators and those we impose on ourselves, and I can only imagine the reports if we started allowing a tick-box mentality to breach our standards!” Routledge says. Having superior compliance in place is vital to BCB’s risk management but also helps all clients in the BCB ecosystem. One of BCB’s objectives is to create a network of clients that can benefit from being part of that ecosystem, for example by using its fee-free instant payments system BLINC. For that system to work and continue to be a trusted success, all clients need to know that everyone else in the system has been through robust due diligence. →
We have clients onboarding for our UK entity, our Swiss and EU entities and/or for other services and we will always adhere to the highest standard in each case, whichever regulator’s standard that might be. Kym Routledge
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