Preventing the Next Financial Crisis Through RegTech

Diana Paredes on how Suade provides technology to prevent the next financial crisis by disrupting the industry and challenging the status quo.

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times? 

Diana Paredes: We are all doing well, thank you. We have welcomed many new members to our Suade family, and we are all happy and healthy! The current situation has created challenges and affected people’s work and home life. However, we have worked hard to minimize the potential disruption to our team. 

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded Suade.

Diana Paredes: Prior to founding Suade, I had a successful career in investment banking at Barclays and Merrill Lynch. I saw first-hand the financial crisis in 2008 and the impact that this had on the world. The roles I carried out following this were exciting; however, I felt I lacked something, that was the ability to innovate and create something for the greater good of society. The regulation that followed the crisis had a huge impact on my decision to found Suade – with a mission to prevent the next financial crisis!

How does Suade innovate? 

Diana Paredes: There is a huge amount of opportunity for innovation within financial regulation, and we are the only ones doing it to the extent that we are. We are disrupting the industry and challenging the status quo by looking at the issue from a different angle from our competitors. Our innovative approach to data allows us to get to the source of solving regulatory challenges. This, combined with the use of emerging technologies such as AI, ML, and NLP, creates an efficient and truly unique approach to regulatory compliance. We also believe that to foster this innovation, we must work with the regulators and industry to develop an agile approach to regulation. Suade has contributed to many initiatives to make digital regulatory reporting a reality. 

How does the coronavirus pandemic affect your business finances?

Diana Paredes: Suade Labs has successfully been able to continue operating BAU due to our agility and technological skills, which have allowed us to adapt with minimum disruption to our clients and staff. The pandemic has highlighted to us, and the financial institutions using Suade, the true benefits of tech and how the adoption of this has enabled the continuation and the evolution of our working lives. We have increased our client base, developed our product offering and expanded our team considerably during the past 12 months, which we are extremely grateful for. 

Did you have to make difficult choices regarding human resources, and what are the lessons learned?

Diana Paredes: Fortunately, no, not at all. In fact, we have been pleased to be able to recruit and provide opportunities for ambitious individuals looking to work in RegTech. 

How did your customer relationship management evolve? Do you use any specific tools to be efficient? 

Diana Paredes: COVID has highlighted how efficient our customer relationship management was, which is precisely why we have been able to increase our client base. As with most other businesses, our team have had to adapt to remote working and the decrease in human interaction that we were all so used to. The sudden change from being able to meet with our clients and contacts face to face to not at all was a big one that had an impact on us all. However, I am super proud of the team for adapting so well and so quickly, and this agility certainly paid off. Our clients have commended us for not allowing the pandemic to affect the level of service we provide them with, even if we have had to use different/new channels of communication.  

Did you benefit from any government grants, and did that help keep your business afloat?

Diana Paredes: Again, no, fortunately, we have not needed them. 

Your final thoughts?

Diana Paredes: This pandemic has been challenging for us all, but it has shown us the power of the global community to collaborate and build partnerships for the greater good of society. We really hope this will serve as an example of the great things we can all accomplish in the future as we move forward and rebuild the world in this new normal. Here at Suade, we are looking forward to seeing the team and our clients again, and we wish you all to stay well and healthy. 

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