Less That Does More
The financial services industry expects dramatically more from the technology that supports it. Once paper-based, systems are now a single application with a frictionless experience for users. The best licensing and registration operations have the ability to aggregate real-time data from multiple sources, provide straight-through processing for a host of functions, and support multiple channels.
Intuitive and Interactive
Just five years ago, firms said agents were resistant to technology and still preferred paper. Today, that has completely changed. Agents and advisers want interactive systems that have to be online, intuitive, and completely frictionless. They have a magnitude of compliance obligations, and the more time it takes to fulfill them, the less time the agent has to engage with clients and develop business. When they look to associate themselves with insurance companies, broker-dealers and brokers that have invested in compliance technology and have well-honed operational processes so that compliance doesn’t present a hurdle to their success.
They also want everything in one place. Gone are the days of going into LIMRA for AML training, carrier sites for product training, and taking CE for state-mandated training. Everything, including training and education, must be through a single point of access. Firms now expect extremely high levels of efficiency. They look to reduce data-entry points, eliminate human interactions, and embed compliant automation as much as possible in every part of credentialing and licensing today.
Multi-Channel Complexity
Insurance distribution channels have broadened considerably, especially in the past few years. As a result, the industry’s requirements for licensing technology has become vastly more complex, especially for multi- and omni-channel distribution. The ability to accommodate multiple data sources to support the company’s distribution channels fully has become critical. These include third-party appointment aggregators, such as DTCC for life and health carriers; RegEd’s own Xchange, a data source in itself; company websites; and inevitable manual inputs.
Those That Do It Best: Data Sourcing and STP
The most efficient licensing operations are able to source and aggregate data from other sources in real time. For onboarding and building agent profiles, FINRA and PDB are the key resources, combined with internal HR and recruiting systems. The less manual keying in, the more efficient, comprehensive, and reliable the entire process will be. They also employ smart capabilities that reduce human intervention. Automatic transactions based on key events such as license renewals, name changes, or address changes are good examples.
Especially important is straight-through processing, enabling transactions that are in good order never having to be touched by a staff member. Some firms still use manual, paper-based processes, and these tend to have high error and noncompliance rates. Smart technology largely corrects this. For example, a group of RegEd clients was able to reach over 90% straight-through processing for appointments and PDB updates and over 70% for license renewals with our smart appointments and NIPR alerts. These actions all went straight to state systems without having to be touched. Another important feature is management by exception. For example, if during the onboarding process a rep has a questionable record, the technology should be able to route the information directly to compliance for review. It should also be able to document any exceptions. A single such closed system can provide a complete audit trail—avoiding manual combing through emails and retrieving documents—in one place.
Also, insurers and broker-dealers that sell variable products look for a unified solution is capable of supporting insurance and securities transactions and provides a seamless user experience. Bottom line, the best systems are based on a single platform that shares data across the application to identify and manage outliers and improve compliance decision-making.
About RegEd
RegEd is the market-leading provider of RegTech enterprise solutions with relationships with more than 200 enterprise clients, including 80% of the top 25 financial services firms.
Established in 2000 by former regulators, the company is recognized for continuous regulatory technology innovation with solutions hallmarked by workflow-directed processes, data integration, regulatory intelligence, automated validations, business process automation and compliance dashboards. The aggregate drives the highest levels of operational efficiency and enables our clients to cost-effectively comply with regulations and continuously mitigate risk.
Trusted by the nation’s top financial services firms, RegEd’s proven, holistic approach to RegTech meets firms where they are on the compliance and risk management continuum, scaling as their needs evolve and amplifying the value proposition delivered to clients. For more information, please visit www.reged.com.