Commonwealth Bank of Australia and ING have carried out a RegTech pilot which saw them use AI to simplify the processing of regulatory information.
Using MiFID II as their test case, the pair worked with fintech outfit Ascent Technologies and law firm Pinsent Masons to tap natural language processing and AI to interpret and convert 1.5 million paragraphs of regulation into a series of bitesize, actionable tasks appropriate for the banks.
Ascent's technology helped the banks quickly identify items in the regulation that could be reviewed and dealt with, which, say the partners, saved hundreds of hours in manual processing.
The UK's Financial Conduct Authority was onboard with the experiment as an observer, giving its backing to banks looking to work together on industry solutions using new technologies to help meet compliance obligations.
Supun King-Jayawardana, head, London Innovation Lab, CBA, says: "When RegTech meets financial services, we create opportunities for banks, start-ups and regulators to collaborate and solve industry-wide challenges.
"By working together, we can share best practice in due diligence, experimentation costs, business knowledge and resources - ultimately driving great outcomes for all parties."