Fintech North talks with Charlotte from Enforcd, mostly about the best names for Fish and Chip shops.
Hi Charlotte, well done on being one of the winners in the PIMFA competition, could you take a few moments and let us know more about what it is enforcd.com does?
Hi Bird, it is great to hear from a fellow Northerner! We are delighted to have been selected for the competition and are really looking forward to the PIMFA Fintech conference on 12th September. We are a London-based regtech start-up that is transforming behavior in financial services through our Regulatory Intelligence Platform – a pretty big task following the financial crisis.
We’re making regulatory compliance training sticky, easy and engaging via our platform. We have created an expert community by partnering with over 20 leading law firms worldwide that give us really high-quality insight, we have fabulous UX on our platform, and thirdly, we have a mobile app. The app is one of the most revolutionary things we are working on. People aren’t used to getting regulatory information on their phone, so regulated firms can easily send digestible regulatory updates directly to their staff and satisfy the regulator that they are taking steps to encourage awareness and good behaviors.
That all sounds rather progressive and nicely useful. And what does this mean for your lovely customers?
The key word for our clients is ‘auditable’. These days with regulators, if you can’t prove it then it didn’t happen. In terms of the circulation of our information, we have the Enforcd Teamwork platform where compliance teams can run a report and prove who has read what, which is really compelling evidence that a firm is doing all it can to improve conduct. We are also firm believers in the carrot approach when it comes to regulation. Putting complex regulatory matters into bite-size pieces for busy city workers works better than a slap on the wrist; tackling misconduct at its source by improving understanding.
We are also of the view that regulation can be really interesting and worth talking about (for good reason – fines from the FSA/FCA since 2002 amount to over £3.7 billion). One of our favourite cases was brought against an individual who got drunk at a lunch do and ‘forgot’ that they were a director of a regulated firm, then engaged in insider dealing. It’s interesting stuff.
Oh dear. The worst thing I ever did whilst drunk was… no, let’s not go there. What kind of companies are your customers, by the way? Banks? Fish and chip shops?
The great thing about Enforcd is that it is useful for any regulated firm in financial services, from asset managers to banks to insurers. Jane Walshe, our CEO, worked for 17 years as a regulatory barrister and spent time in the FCA’s enforcement division and JP Morgan, so she has seen the need for an industry-wide case database that breaks down breaches and actions into intelligent categories. Of course, each industry has its own regulatory regimes, and that’s what we are all about. Our content is customisable down to the finest detail according to themes and functions within a firm, so if a firm is worried about the Senior Manager’s Regime then we can keep its employees up-to-date with expert analysis on the topic. We are also now tracking 30 regulators from across the world, so it’s not just UK-based firms that we can help. I’m sure fish and chip shops could do with a regulation platform but unfortunately the Food Standards Agency isn’t on our list!
Aw I was hoping your platform would ensure the fish and chips shops are correctly using puns in their names. Jimmy’s Plaice is my local. Although I hear The Cod Father is quite tasty. What’s the best thing enforcd.com has accomplished this year, excluding the PIMFA awards?
Apart from our fantastic first year, when we won the backing of the Bank of England, 2018 has been our busiest yet. As more clients have come on board we have expanded our team two-fold, taken up residence in the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s Innovation Lab, spent 3 fantastic months with Hong Kong’s Fintech Supercharger sponsored by Standard Chartered and Fidelity, and have welcomed Seismic Foundry on-board in our latest seed round.
And what does the next 12 months have in store for you guys, do you think?
We have some exciting cases, clients and partnerships in the pipeline but the details are under wraps I’m afraid, follow us on Twitter to find out.
Brilliant. And if you had a fish and chip shop, what would you call it? Mine would be The FinTekAway. Perhaps yours could be The Codpliance?
Hmm I think I would have to mullet over…Thanks Bird!
