The 2016 Cost of Compliance Survey by Thomson Reuters has highlighted the regulatory overload felt by the financial industry. It found that almost seven out of 10 – 69 per cent – of financial firms expect regulators to publish even more information in the next year, with more than a quarter expecting significantly more. More than one-third of the firms spend at least an entire day each week keeping track of steadily rising regulatory change.

The vast majority – 83 per cent – of global systemically important financial institutions (G-SIFIs) expect the cost of compliance staff to rise this year.

The survey found that three-quarters of all firms surveyed expect the focus on managing regulatory risk to rise further in 2016. Thomson Reuters stated: “For G-SIFIs, the main influence driving their heightened focus is the impact of harsher regulatory penalties imposed upon them.”

Phil Cotter, managing director, Risk, Thomson Reuters, said: “The chaos that resulted from the financial crisis did have a silver lining of sorts – it raised the value proposition of the compliance function, especially a highly skilled and suitably resourced one.”

The following infographic sums up some of the survey's main points.

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CTMfile take: Rising costs and increasing burden for banks of course will have an effect on fees and the cost of services for corporate customers. However, this is price to pay for regulation that aims to increase security and minimise risks throughout the financial markets.