Financial Services Compliance in Real-Time: Regs & Eggs 2026

This year marks our ninth annual Regs & Eggs event. What began as a forum for candid conversations about regulatory challenges has become an essential moment of reflection before the industry turns to what comes next. 

This year’s theme, Future-Proofing Compliance: Designing for Volatility, Complexity, and Accountability, felt especially timely. Across the morning, one message came through clearly: the challenge is not regulatory complexity itself, but whether firms are structurally equipped to keep pace with it.

That marks a shift from last year’s focus on navigating regfulation. This year, the question is how firms operationalise change in real time.

Key Takeaways  

• Real-time, data-led supervision is now the expectation, not the aspiration

• Judgment is the constraint, not tooling

• Compliance must be embedded in strategic decision-making from the outset

• Culture and transparency are as critical as process

• Firms are in different stages of maturity, and speed of learning is becoming a key differentiator

Regulatory Change in Financial Services: From Navigation to Operational Execution

Uner Nabi from EY opened with a clear assessment: regulatory uncertainty is no longer peripheral, it is structural. Geopolitics, AI governance, crypto regulation and shifting data standards are creating continuous change rather than stability.

At the same time, regulators are moving beyond periodic reporting towards real-time, data-driven supervision, with ongoing visibility into data quality, governance decisions and control frameworks. Compliance is no longer separate from operations. It is becoming part of how firms run.

That shift fundamentally changes what compliance infrastructure needs to do.

Panel Discussion: The Operational Realities of Modern Compliance 

The panel, featuring Karl Lutzow of BIGTXN, James Hardie of LSEG  and Binnie Sacks of Oliver Wyman, moderated by Marili Anderson of Rabobank, grounded the discussion in operational reality. Across the market, the same challenges persist:

1. Data quality is existential

   Poor data does not just create noise in surveillance, it risks missed or misclassified activity. Many firms are applying advanced tools to data that was never designed for this level of scrutiny. Foundations must come first. 

2. Judgment is the real bottleneck

   Firms are investing in tools and talent, but interpretation remains the constraint. Knowing what to ask of a model, and when to challenge it, is still uneven across organisations. 

3. Speed is now a regulatory signal 

   Alert fatigue slows response times. Regulators are increasingly focused not just on detection, but on how quickly firms act once issues are flagged. 

4. Capacity is stretched

   AI governance, crypto regulation, sanctions complexity and existing frameworks such as MiFID II are converging. The challenge is no longer just keeping up, but prioritising effectively.
   
   

Embedding Compliance into Business Strategy and Decision-Making

Many firms are still working out how to operationalise real-time supervision, integrate AI governance and manage fragmented regulatory obligations.

This raises a more fundamental question: is compliance embedded in strategy, or treated as a downstream function?

Historically, compliance sat within risk and validated decisions after the fact. Leading firms are shifting it upstream, treating compliance as an input into investment, product and technology decisions from the outset.

This is not a structural preference. It is a requirement for adaptability. Firms that remain reactive are increasingly misaligned with how risk is created.

What Drives Effective Compliance: Data, Culture, and Judgment

 Despite the complexity, three consistent themes emerged: 

1. Data first, tools second

   Strong outcomes depend on clean, reliable data. Without it, even the most advanced systems are limited.

2. Culture beats process

   Governance matters less than whether people can challenge, question and escalate without friction. Psychological safety improves system performance.

3. Hire for judgment, not just credentials
   Technical capability is necessary but not enough on its own. The real differentiator is the ability to interpret, question and contextualise outputs. 

Financial Services Compliance Culture: Why Transparency and Challenge Matter

As the morning drew to a close, our keynote speaker Tom Hardin former hedge fund analyst turned whistleblower (“Tipper X”) and author of Wired on Wall Street, highlighted a simple but critical point: misconduct thrives in isolation.

Where decision-making lacks visibility and challenge, risk increases. Where firms build transparency and encourage structured challenge, resilience improves.

Practically, this means clear escalation paths, active senior engagement with outputs, and cultures where speaking up is expected, not discouraged.

Technology matters, but culture is decisive.

AI in Compliance: Why Human Judgment Still Drives Regulatory Outcomes 

As you might expect, AI featured heavily, but not as a standalone solution. It is an input, not a decision-maker.

Many firms are still applying models to data that has not been fully quality-assured. Models can surface patterns, but they cannot determine intent.

Human judgment remains essential in distinguishing between legitimate activity and manipulation. That responsibility does not disappear with automation.

Regulators remain clear: firms cannot be willfully blind. Outputs must be understood, challenged and explained.

The firms progressing fastest are not those with the most advanced models, but those building the strongest interpretative capability around them.

From Digitisation to Digital Transformation

Many firms are still learning how to operationalise change at the speed regulators now expect. That’s not a weakness, it’s the reality of a more complex environment.

Progress depends on getting the foundations right. Firms need structured, reliable data, clearer decision-making, and an embedded approach to compliance that moves beyond manual, reactive processes.

This is where purpose-built technology becomes critical. The right platform helps firms unify fragmented data, reduce noise, and standardise workflows, enabling faster, more consistent responses to regulatory change with greater control and confidence.

The regulatory environment is not getting simpler. But firms that invest in systems designed to operationalise compliance, not just manage it, will be better positioned to adapt and scale.

Closing Reflections from Regs & Eggs at the House of Commons

Thank you to our panellists and speakers for sharing their perspectives and helping to shape a rich and honest industry discussion.

Most of all, thank you to all our guests who joined us at the House of Commons. Your real-world experience, questions, and willingness to engage directly with these challenges is what makes Regs & Eggs such a valuable forum and a joy for us to host.

We’ll see you next year, if not before!