Regulatory Compliance Tracker 1H06: How Difficult is it to Rule the Financial Services Sector?

This report analyzes the regulatory requirements financial institutions have to deal with, focusing on the most stringent, time consuming, and money hungry ? CRD/Basel II, MiFID, SEPA, and AML. The first half of 2006 represents a turning point for the European regulatory environment. European regulatory bodies have released new documents to better clarify the objectives of the different regulations as well as how they need to be approached by financial institutions.

According to Daniele Bonfanti, program manager, Financial Insights EMEA, "There are still some gray areas in the various regulations and this can create uncertainty, thus limiting IT investments. The next three quarters will be critical for IT companies as many of the opportunities offered by the existing regulations will completely materialize in this timeframe."