Navigating the Financial Services Industry’s Compliance Priorities in 2025: Mid-Year Checkpoint

What did we miss?

We don’t think we missed any specific challenge. We did, however, underestimate the extent of change that would occur in just months. Today, we think it is fair to say that one of the most pressing compliance issues facing the global financial services industry is the increase in regulatory fragmentation. Different jurisdictions continue to adopt divergent approaches to issues like digital assets, data privacy, ESG and more, making cross-border compliance more complex.

For global institutions, this means higher compliance costs, operational complexity, and legal/regulatory uncertainty.

For anyone old enough to remember the formation of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in the mid-1970s with one of its stated goals being the harmonisation of global standards and all the work since then to achieve that goal, this seems to be a big step backward.

How are compliance departments managing?

Best-in-class compliance departments recognise that, although it may sound contradictory, they need to respond proactively during this period of uncertainty. They are stepping up their horizon scanning activities to track agency publications, speeches and government agendas to anticipate changes. They communicate more frequently with executive management and their boards of directors to ensure the institution is prepared to deal with multiple regulatory scenarios. They are using this time to invest in long-term sustainable improvements to their compliance programmes, leveraging AI and technology, and not just for quick fixes.