Charles Potts: How the Regtech Revolution Represents Banking Today

In many ways, ICBA’s core pillars—advocacy, education and innovation—define today’s community bank priorities. Extending those areas to the products and services driving bank investments, regulatory technology (regtech) solutions emerge as a major player. Not only do regtech offerings simplify regulatory compliance measures; they also bridge technological innovation with a greater line of sight into compliance. In short, they help community banks meet today’s compliance demands. 

That help comes at a good time. While we have seen a degree of regulatory relief this year—thanks, in large part, to community banks’ advocacy efforts with ICBA—the financial services industry remains one of the most highly regulated in the nation. As technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and stablecoins continue to gain government attention, new requirements are certain to emerge for community banks. 

Fortunately, this is where regtech solutions shine. From real-time monitoring to back-office solutions, AI is growing in importance and primacy to address compliance burdens. The natural promise of AI and AI-adjacent tools brings with it efficiencies for some of those redundant, repetitive tasks in risk management and compliance, leading to cost savings. 

ICBA’s Corporate Members, Preferred Service Providers and ThinkTECH Accelerator alumni demonstrate tangible evidence of this point. Consider Risk Scout, which addresses Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and anti-money laundering (AML) compliance. Or Finosec, which has an information security and cybersecurity governance platform to save banks time and enhance exam preparedness. Or look at Coverbase, providing a product that automates 90% of third-party risk assessments, allowing banks to focus on improving security and compliance. All these solutions address compliance demands with thoughtful technological tools. Best of all? These solutions are developed with community bank needs in mind.

In addition, these regtech solutions tackle compliance and risk, because today’s banking infrastructure requires a holistic approach to both. It’s for this reason that regtech solutions serve as one key topic in our forthcoming Innovation Academy. Built to educate and empower bankers with practical knowledge about emerging technology, ICBA’s Innovation Academy will support community bankers in putting innovation theory into practice. When the Innovation Academy rolls out more fully in 2026, expect regtech to be a key theme of the curriculum. 

As community banks seek to address evolving regulatory needs, regtech solutions offer a path to aligning bank innovation, advocacy and education under one product umbrella. In that way, regtech serves as an example of applied banking today, addressing technology, business and product strategy in one fell swoop.