What Is Regulatory Data?
Regulatory data refers to information about laws, rules, licenses, enforcement actions, and supervisory activity relevant to the operations of organisations in the financial ecosystem. This data is critical for staying compliant, managing risk, and supporting business growth.
While many associate regulatory data with the requirements imposed on their own organisation (like capital adequacy, consumer protection, or record-keeping), another equally vital dimension is the regulatory data about third-party organisations: customers, counterparties, business partners, and suppliers.
Why Is Regulatory Data Important?
The financial sector is subject to relentless regulatory change, especially as markets, technologies, and customer expectations evolve. Regulatory data enables institutions to:
- Stay compliant with evolving rules and avoid penalties
- Mitigate financial crime risk in onboarding and ongoing relationships
- Unlock new business opportunities, including in high-risk sectors
- Demonstrate due diligence to internal and external auditors
- Automate and streamline compliance workflows
Types of Regulatory Data: Internal vs. Third-Party Status
Internal Regulatory Data
- Capital requirements
- Reporting and disclosure obligations
- Operational conduct rules
- Prudential risk management standards
Third-Party Regulatory Status Data
- Licensing and registration records: Is the entity licensed/registered to provide its services?
- Supervisory actions: Has the organisation faced fines, restrictions, or regulatory scrutiny?
- Sanctions and watchlists: Is the entity (or its owners) on any international financial crime watchlists?
- Ongoing compliance events: Are there news or regulatory updates indicating a change in status or risk profile?
This type of third-party regulatory intelligence has grown critical for AML, KYC, onboarding, and ongoing due diligence processes.
How Third-Party Regulatory Data Supports Risk Management & Business Growth
Banks and fintechs live and die by the partners, customers, and businesses they work with. Expanding into new markets—especially with MSBs, TPPPs, crypto companies, or innovative fintechs—demands not just a one-time check, but ongoing monitoring of regulatory data that signals changing risk.
Key Use Cases
- Onboarding & KYC: Validate that high-risk MSBs, fintechs, or TPPs are licensed and in good regulatory standing.
- Ongoing Monitoring: Get alerts if a customer or partner loses licensure, faces enforcement, or is named in a regulatory bulletin.
- Market Expansion: Serve new customer types confidently by automating third-party regulatory checks—unlocking new segments safely.
- Auditor & Regulator Readiness: Document every check, review, and risk decision with audit-grade data, showing your commitment to compliance.
As shown in BankCheck’s article on turning high-risk MSBs and TPPPs into growth opportunities, banks with robust third-party regulatory data gain a competitive edge by serving challenging, high-growth sectors while keeping crime risk in check.
Common Challenges in Managing Regulatory Data
- Fragmented global sources: Licenses, sanctions, and enforcement actions are spread across many jurisdictions and languages
- Rapid change: Status can shift overnight—traditional, manual processes cannot keep pace
- Siloed systems: Different teams or business units may use inconsistent or outdated data
- High volume: With thousands of counterparties, staying current on each is a massive task
Best Practices for Harnessing Regulatory Data
- Centralise Third-Party Intelligence: Use a single system to track all relevant regulatory data on your customers and partners.
- Automate Monitoring: Leverage APIs or automated feeds for real-time alerts to material changes (license loss, enforcement, adverse news).
- Integrate With Existing Workflows: Deliver actionable regulatory data directly into onboarding, KYC, or transaction monitoring tools.
- Risk-Based Segmentation: Use regulatory standing—and changes therein—to focus enhanced due diligence where it’s most needed.
- Maintain Thorough Audit Trails: Record all decisions back to their data sources, supporting regulatory reviews and audits.
Regulatory Data & Future-Proof Compliance
The future of regulatory compliance is data-driven and dynamic. As the financial services ecosystem becomes more interconnected, regulators expect sophisticated, near real-time due diligence—not just for your own obligations, but for every entity you touch in your network.
Having a robust platform for monitoring third-party regulatory status isn’t just about avoiding risk: it’s about enabling faster onboarding, confident expansion, and sustained growth—even in high-risk markets.
How BankCheck Powers Compliance and Growth
At BankCheck, we specialise in delivering global regulatory status data for organisations such as banks, fintechs, and payment providers—streamlining onboarding, AML, and third-party risk management.
- Continually updated, global data on licenses, enforcement actions, sanctions, and risk events
- API-driven integration for instant onboarding and monitoring
- Comprehensive audit trails to evidence every decision
- Support for innovative business models—safely entering high-risk yet lucrative markets
Learn how BankCheck can help your organisation turn regulatory risk into a strategic advantage. Contact us today to try our platform and future-proof your compliance workflows.
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