George Dessing, SVP Treasury & Risk, on managing impact of regulatory change

From GDPR to PSD2, the challenges of regulatory change extend far beyond the numerous acronyms. Which regulations should treasurers be focusing on in 2019 and how can treasurers best manage the implications of the changes? George Dessing, SVP Treasury & Risk, gives his view on how Wolters Kluwer approaches regulatory change when it comes to the treasury function.

For corporate treasurers, the importance of managing regulatory change may be nothing new – but in recent years, the high volume of new regulation has pushed this topic higher up the priority list than ever before.

Consequently, it should come as no surprise that research published by the Economist Intelligence Unit in 2018 found that 35% of respondents identified regulation as a driver of change. The impact of regulatory changes can affect many different areas of treasury.

He explains how the company approaches regulatory change in the context of treasury:

• Be prompt and stay on the ball, otherwise, you will simply be too late.
• Be proactive and speak with your peers, advisors, auditors, and banks. In other words, get more intel out of your treasury network.
• Be a team player – as treasurer you need many departments (eg tax, accounting, legal) to stay compliant, so you need to have enough airtime with each of them.
• Be mindful, but arrange enough resources to achieve regulatory compliance – technology could be one of the solutions.
• Finally, this all could be an opportunity. Determine if the regulatory change can lead to benefits for the company – often this can be a better catalyst for keeping up with regulatory change than just the reactive ‘we do it because we are required to do so’.

Read more on the importance of managing regulatory change for corporate treasures in - the partly paywalled - Treasury Today article.