Compliance software is used by many businesses to monitor and audit their crucial operations. The software ensures that these business processes are aligned with the legal industry and security requirements, consumer standards, and organizational policies.
Modern compliance tools (powered by artificial intelligence) cover industry-specific regulations and standards (such as ISO and OSHA), suitable use policies, and corporate ethics policies.
Since each organization has different guidelines and standards to which it must adhere, it has unique requirements. The financial sector, in particular, is always under additional external scrutiny in its transparency efforts and requires a robust contract process and policy for additional checks and balances.
Below, we have gathered some of the best banking and financial services compliance software programs that help businesses establish a streamlined, consistent approach to minimize risk and promote transparency.
Table of Contents
10. LexisNexis
Best for: Payment services and financial crime screening
LexisNexis provides various innovative solutions for payments and compliance professionals, from comprehensive data and tools that manage risk and compliance to flexible applications that optimize payment pathways.
The company helps businesses identify criminal and fraudulent activities. It has deep expertise and industry-leading, data-enabled solutions to deliver protection for both individual and organizational reputations.
Pros
- Expertise on a global scale
- Improve efficiency, auditing, and reporting
- Detect illicit financial activities
- Has been delivering solutions to banks for 180 years
Cons
- Online screening for KYC compliance can be improved
Accuity has accumulated huge amounts of data from over 125,000 US financial institutions and 750,000 global institutions.
Bankers Almanac, one of the most trusted and comprehensive resources, helps validate payment codes, reduce processing cycles, improve the certainty of a settlement, evaluate the potential risk of onboarding new partners, and ensure compliance.
9. Compliance.AI
Best for: Automatically enforcing regulatory change management policy
This platform aims to improve compliance processes for both regulators and regulated entities. It provides regulatory change management solutions developed specifically for the banking, financial services, and insurance industry.
Compliance.ai uses machine learning methods to enforce regulatory change management policy, and thus reduce risk and costs. It allows you to form a centralized regulatory change management command system and automate and manage standardized processes for the whole business.
The platform is capable of scanning and analyzing large volumes of regulatory and compliance activities. It effectively reduces the chance of missing an obligation or other regulatory requirements.
Pros
- Scans and analyzes regulatory and compliance activities
- Eliminates manual line-by-line analysis of regulatory documents
- Highlights potential issues and delivers personal insights
- Eliminates duplicate work
Cons
- Vague pricing model
Using an intuitive dashboard, you can automate the compliance process and assign compliance tasks to the right people across your business. The software ensures quick completion of audit tasks and provides third-party-certified reports for assurance of the compliance program. Analysts can review history without further preparation by the compliance team.
8. Sapiens
Best for: Insurance companies
Sapiens is a cloud-based General Data Protection Regulation-compliant insurance management platform built for medium and large businesses. It has more than three decades of experience in managing the challenges of different types of insurance companies.
Their products include advanced reporting tools, analysis systems, and many different types of services tailored to handle insurers’ cash, statutory & GAAP reporting requirements.
Sapiens FinancialPro, for example, is an accounting tool designed for insurers to meet their unique requirements for cash and GAAP reporting. It can efficiently handle multi-basis accounting, inter-business transactions, and facilitate the speed and accuracy of financial reporting.
Pros
- Easy to use platform with clear instructions for each business process
- Web-based maintenance ensures real-time support
- Multilingual and multi-currency support
- Includes tons of educational resources
Cons
- Reporting can be improved
The platform also features differential rating that enables users to calculate performance ratings of a fund or investment based on various factors.
In addition to technology, Sapiens offers valuable educational resources for statutory accountants. The company employs insurance professionals to provide direct customer assistance and training seminars during the filing season.
7. NameScan
Best for: Optimizing KYC processes (with real-time access to over 180 company registries)
NameScan assists businesses with their KYC (Know Your Customer) processes through PEP and Sanction screening services.
PEP (Politically Exposed Person) is an individual who holds a prominent public position. He/she may be more susceptible to corruption, bribery, or other money laundering offenses. Such people are of high risk to financial institutions and non-financial businesses and professions.
NameScan uses trusted data sources to identify an individual or entity as a PEP. The company provides users with the option to choose which database they would like to screen people against to ensure they are not a risk to their business.
Pros
- Helps you fight against money laundering and terrorism financing
- Screen customers’ data against the comprehensive global sanctions data
- Reliable and up-to-date data sources
- Provides excellent value for money
Cons
- First and Last names work well for Western names, but Asian name formats are quite different
That’s how NameScan’s PEP and sanction screening service helps you reach your compliance requirement. It provides detailed scanned reports with in-depth information about the potential risk to your company.
The company updates the information on a daily basis to deliver the latest, relevant data.
6. FIS Data Analytics Solutions
Best for: Automating decision-making processes and reducing operational costs
FIS compliance suite allows you to solve numerous regulatory challenges, including communications surveillance and anti-money laundering. It utilizes machine learning methods to help you stay ahead of regulations.
With FIS data analytics, you get a 360-degree view of your enterprise compliance and risk profile. It gives you valuable insights to minimize risk and stay compliant with global regulations.
Its most popular product, named FIS AML Compliance Manager, is equipped with advanced tools that automate the decision-making process while reducing operational costs and manually intensive tasks.
Pros
- Efficiently identifies and mitigates financial crime risk
- Tax compliance and reporting
- Provides actionable insights
- Has more than 20,000 clients across the world
Cons
- Vague pricing model
This cloud-based platform also has a case management system that gives a detailed view of customers, alerts, and cases across the customer life cycle. It helps you continuously monitor risk and detect complicated suspicious activities.
5. Tyler Technologies
Best for: State financial regulators
Tyler Technologies is the largest software and management solutions provider to the US public sector, focusing on local governments. It operates through the Enterprise software and Appraisal and Tax segments.
The Tyler Financial Regulatory Compliance (FRC) software handles everything from initial application and registration to examination and enforcement. It brings all regulatory oversight capabilities together in a single case management application, helping you analyze interrelated data and quickly act upon it.
The FRC can be configured to regulate various financial entities, ranging from savings banks and holding companies to mortgage loan brokers and financial instruments such as bonds, stocks, and mutual funds.
Pros
- Can be configured to regulate a wide range of financial entities
- Provides a better view of finances
- Allows you to manage the full lifecycle of enforcement activities
- Streamlines everyday tasks
Cons
- The interface can be improved
- Steep learning curve
The software makes day-to-day transactions and reporting easier. Financial regulators can customize interfaces to generate detailed reports for each agency to perform specific tasks. Standard interfaces to FDIC, BlueExpress, EFD, NMLS, and other major systems eliminate duplicate data entry while simplifying data-sharing and analysis.
The company also offers advanced regulatory software programs to navigate the licensing landscape and complex regulatory enforcement across state and federal agencies.
Tyler software plays a crucial role in the state of Florida, where it is utilized by four distinct agencies to oversee 500+ license types and cater to the needs of 3 million+ license holders. Moreover, Tyler’s regulatory solution extends its reach across the nation, providing essential support to over 20 banking and securities agencies and 17 state health departments.
4. Verint
Best for: Recording, storing, and monitoring regulated interactions
Verint provides intelligent tools that automatically record and capture regulated interactions via Microsoft Teams Voice, Teams, Chats, Teams Video, and Teams Meetings.
Captured data is stored in a secure, searchable archive, which can be easily monitored and analyzed via a single dashboard.
Pros
- Offers reliable compliance recording of your regulated Microsoft Teams collaboration
- Easy-to-use dashboards to address compliance issues proactively
- Robust Data Governance
- Search, transcribe, categorize, and analyze interactions
Cons
- Doesn’t work with all unified communication and collaboration tools
Verint is actively involved in the Teams Compliance Recording Certification initiative. It integrates business-ready recording functions into your Teams collaboration environment, making it easier to record peer-to-peer data exchange, shared content, and group interactions.
In simple terms, Verint can help you improve compliance audits, investigations, and governance.
The company boasts a remarkable presence with 14 offices worldwide. It serves over 9,800 blue-chip clients in 175+ countries, including more than 85% of Fortune 100 companies. This success is underscored by their annual revenue exceeding $900 million.
3. IBM RegTech
Best for: Infusing intelligent workflows to fight fraud
RegTech (short for Regulatory Technology) utilizes artificial intelligence and machine learning methods to help financial institutions improve their reporting, compliance, risk management, and regulatory governance.
In simple terms, RegTech is the digitization of manual reporting and compliance processes. It leverages cognitive computing to achieve efficiencies that weren’t previously possible. For instance. true cognitive systems can process as many as 800 million pages per second in natural language.
Pros
- Offers insights to comply with evolving regulatory requirements
- Automate risk and compliance
- Identifies parameters to prevent financial crimes
- Cuts false positives and prioritizes high-risk alerts
Cons
- It can get expensive for large businesses
RegTech delivers integrated end-to-end solutions that allow businesses to connect internal GRC (governance, risk management, and compliance) policies and practices to the external regulatory environment. These proven solutions and valuable insights increase the effectiveness of payment fraud detection, laundering compliance, and insurance claims investigation programs.
2. Vertex
Best for: Preparing and filing tax returns
Vertex Inc. has more than four decades of experience in developing tax compliance software and services. It can automate compliance and reporting for your business, maximizing process efficiency and minimizing audit risk.
The platform gives you options to choose from multiple solutions to effectively automate and streamline indirect tax compliance worldwide, including sales tax and VAT (value-added tax).
Pros
- Massive database of tax rules for 19,000+ jurisdictions across the world
- Reduces the cost and burden of continuous tax research
- Easy to configure and maintain by country
- Outsourcing options
- Support documentation is top-notch
Cons
- The process of writing tax assist rules can be made easier
You can utilize scalable compliance solutions to cut down manual errors and streamline the entire audit process. The software significantly reduces the time and manpower that goes into analyzing and filing returns. If any issue occurs, it is reported clearly and consistently to facilitate manual interpretation and follow-up.
1. Zycus Financial Compliance & Audit Control
Best for: Small firms that are looking for deep value for money service
Zycus has been developing compliant tools for more than two decades. It helps companies minimize risks, increase savings, and boost compliance through an intuitive, easy-to-use dashboard.
Its financial software gives you a centralized view of entire business processes and allows you to adapt to rapidly changing conditions, enhance process efficiency, and grow over a solid financial compliance core.
The software seamlessly integrates with Enterprise resource planning tools and functional modules such as Contract Management and Supplier Information Management, bringing all essential data to one place for better monitoring and control of purchase operations.
Pros
- Identify all kinds of risks in transactions
- Everything can be monitored and controlled from a single dashboard
- Integrate seamlessly with any ERP and functional module
- Integrates with Microsoft Office and DocuSign for a better user experience
Cons
- Lacks quick reference guides
Zycus simplifies multiple legal and government regulatory systems by providing template libraries, clause libraries with preapproved clauses, and wizard-driven contract authoring. It also facilitates version management and side-by-side comparison during negotiation.
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Other Equally Good Compliance Platforms for the Finance Sector
11. SAI360
Best for assessing compliance risks and generating comprehensive reports
SAI360 is like a Swiss Army knife built for the financial industry. It makes it easy for financial firms to deal with the complex mix of money, technology, government rules, and policies that affect their business.
More specifically, it offers tools for monitoring regulatory changes and managing policies related to areas like fraud and corruption. These tools simplify the process of staying compliant with evolving regulations while ensuring that policies are effectively enforced and followed within the company.
For example, you can use SAI360 to automate the KYC process, monitor transactions for suspicious activity, monitor insider trading, and comply with the FCA’s principles.
The platform seamlessly integrates risk management throughout the company, making it easy to implement risk assessment and mitigation strategies.
You can access detailed dashboards to visualize compliance gaps and key metrics and get actionable insights. Identify short-term trends and opportunities, create custom reports, and leverage the platform’s natural language processing capabilities to rectify data gaps and improve data quality.
12. Chef
Best for enforcing security policies and compliance standards across the company’s IT infrastructure
Chef offers continuous compliance assessment, allowing financial companies to proactively detect policy breaces and address them efficiently. This helps in maintaining compliance readiness both before and during audits.
The platform is integrated with compliance automation solutions, which are said to provide numerous benefits, including up to a 90% reduction in audit time.
It also features predefined profiles for regulatory standards (like PCI-DSS, DISA STIG, FFIEC, and CIS benchmarks), which make it easier for companies to implement automated policies.
Furthermore, Chef continuously checks IT resources against predefined states, automatically rectifying configuration drifts and applying corrective measures. This ensures that the entire infrastructure remains in a desired, compliant state.
13. Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
Best for navigating complex financial regulations and reporting requirements efficiently
Wolters Kluwer specializes in providing compliance and regulatory solutions to financial institutions and organizations. It helps businesses manage their regulatory and compliance requirements effectively, given the complex and ever-evolving nature of financial regulations.
They offer a range of tools and software solutions to help you stay compliant with various financial regulations, including those related to banking, securities, insurance, and more. They have also developed solutions to identify, evaluate, and minimize risks, ensuring that businesses can operate within acceptable risk tolerances.
The other key solutions include
- Automated regulatory reporting
- Anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) solutions
- Financial crime prevention tools
- Compliance training and educational resources
Wolters Kluwer has a significant presence across the world, with operations in more than 40 countries and a workforce of approximately 20,000 employees.
In 2022, the company reported $5.75 billion in annual revenues, reflecting its substantial presence and success in the financial and information technology sectors.
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More to Know
Why is compliance important in financial services?
Compliance is essential to ensure the proper functioning of the business. In general, it ensures the safety of customers’ money. Compliance departments work relentlessly to meet key regulatory objectives and reduce financial crime and system risk.
After the 2008 global financial crisis, banking and non-banking financial institutions started adopting a strong compliance culture in order to save customers’ funds, protect employees, and maintain the public’s trust in the banking system and capital markets.
What is regulatory compliance?
Irrespective of the business size, all companies must adhere to certain laws, policies, and regulations as part of operations. Regulatory compliance deals with a set of rules and guidelines that the law requires companies to follow.
For example, PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) is the information security standard created to reduce credit card fraud. Validation of PCI compliance is performed annually or quarterly. Violations of such regulatory compliance can result in legal punishment.
What are the key components of a compliance tool?
The five most important elements of a good compliance tool are:
- Regulatory Intelligence: Track data and alerts published by standards bodies and government agencies
- Risk Assessment: Identify all potential risks involved in the business and categorize them as per their impact.
- Internal Controls Review: Evaluate policies, procedures, and processes
- Audit: Conduct independent, third-party audits/tests in the system
- Learning Resources: Online courses or guidelines should be available for training employees on how to comply with policies
What is the average cost range for financial services compliance software?
The cost of financial compliance solutions varies significantly depending on several factors, such as the size of your business, the complexity of your compliance needs, and certain features and capabilities of the compliance software. However, I can provide a general overview:
Entry-level software costs between $1,000 and $5,000 per year.
Mid-range software platforms are suited for more complex compliance requirements, and they usually cost between between $5,000 and $20,000 per annum.
Enterprise-level compliance solutions are suited for large financial institutions operating in highly regulated sectors. They range from $20,000 to several hundred thousand dollars per year.
Are there any hidden fees to be aware of?
Yes. There are some common hidden fees you should be aware of.
- Implementation costs
- Data storage fees
- User license costs (some providers charge on a per-user basis)
- Customization fees
- Annual maintenance fees
- Cost of integrating compliance software with other systems in your organization
Also, read the cancellation terms and contract length carefully. Some providers require you to commit to a multi-year agreement.
What is the future of compliance software?
According to the Industry ARC report, the governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC) software market is projected to reach $52.5 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 13% from 2020 to 2025.
The increasing demand for more secure and integrated tools for storing financial records (such as blockchain) is likely to drive market growth. So far, cloud-based deployment has dominated the market owing to its cost-effectiveness and upsurge in cloud deployment by millions of businesses worldwide.
GRC software (for several different applications) has been adopted by major end-users like the government sector, banking, financial services, insurance, construction, and real estate industries.
Emerging trends in the field
The field of financial services compliance is continually evolving to address new challenges and opportunities. In recent years, I have observed an increasing prevalence of the following trends:
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning to analyze massive volumes of data for compliance purposes.
- The rise of Regulatory Technology (RegTech) solutions that focus on streamlining compliance processes and offering more cost-effective solutions.
- Integration of cybersecurity systems to ensure compliance with data protection regulations.
- More focus on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) compliance.
- Exploration of blockchain technology for immutable record-keeping and transparency in compliance processes.
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