Chapter 7: Regulatory Technology (RegTech) for Compliance A Trilateral Perspective (US, UK, South Africa)

Abstract

Regulatory technology (RegTech) – the use of technology to facilitate compliance with financial regulations – has transformed anti‑money laundering, fraud detection, and reporting in developed markets. The United States leads in AI‑driven transaction monitoring and automated SAR filing. The United Kingdom has pioneered regulatory sandboxes and open‑banking based compliance solutions. South Africa, despite having a sophisticated banking sector, lags in RegTech adoption due to cost, legacy systems, and regulatory uncertainty. This chapter compares RegTech adoption across the three countries, focusing on AML compliance, automated reporting, and regulatory sandboxes. We find that the US and UK have active RegTech ecosystems with hundreds of vendors, while South Africa has fewer than ten indigenous RegTech firms. Barriers include high implementation costs, lack of standardised data formats, and limited regulatory guidance. Bridging strategies include open‑source RegTech for smaller banks, a trilateral RegTech sandbox, and data standard harmonisation. The chapter concludes that RegTech can democratise compliance, but only if regulators actively facilitate adoption.