UK-based regtech Suade has committed USD 20 mIn in a bid to expand its footprint in the US and Canada. News of the investment comes as banks struggle with the rollout of Basel 3.1 and the reverberation caused by recent banking failures.

According to the official press release, the choice to expand to US and Canada was prompted by the demand for reporting systems, especially in light of the upcoming Basel 3.1 framework. Moreover, the company explained its decision as part of an effort to support North American banks amid new challenges. The wider context Basel  is an international regulatory accord that institutes a set of reforms intended to improve aspects such as the regulation, supervision, and risk management of the banking sector.

Basel 3 was initially introduced by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision immediately after the financial crisis of 2008, at a time when many banks found themselves overleveraged and undercapitalised in spite of previous reforms. The new reiteration, Basel 3.1, further focuses on the implementation of post-crisis regulatory reforms. According to the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME), this new framework seeks to reduce the variability of risk-weighted assets (RWA). Basel 3.1 intends to additionally tackle aspects related to the output floor, which reportedly establishes the minimum amount of capital a bank can draw through internal models-based approaches to 72.5% of the capital mandated under the standardised approach.

Moreover, the new proposal will purportedly also include changes brought to the Credit risk and Operational risk framework and will introduce reforms related to market and CVA risk. The timeline for the implementation of the Basel 3.1 framework is January 2025. What does Suade bring to the table? Suade’s solution, which addresses the need for advanced reporting systems, answers the pain point that banks currently face, as financial institutions are expected to adhere to clear reporting standards, whilst ensuring their operational efficiency.

More precisely, the company provides Regulation-as-a-Service services that can enable financial institutions to automate regulatory reporting and compliance. Suade’s offering purportedly takes a data-driven approach to regulation and leverages technologies such as natural language processing and machine learning. The regtech extends its products to financial institutions all around the world and has a network of offices across the UK, North America, and Asia.

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