London-based ClauseMatch, an award-winning regulatory technology (RegTech) venture with a unique SaaS-based offering that automates compliance management for banks and financial institutions (FIs), is expanding into Asia Pacific (APAC) with the launch of operations in Singapore.

 

Founded by CEO Evgeny Likhoded, ClauseMatch solution is based on his experience working in legal and compliance roles at Morgan Stanley and Gazprom UK. Counting several top-tier FIs in London and Europe as clients, it recently announced a partnership with the digital bank Revolut, prior to Revolut's global expansion to Singapore, Australia, and the US.

 

Speaking on the matter, Likhoded stated: "Establishing a presence in Singapore is an important milestone for ClauseMatch. Many banks have done expansions by way of acquiring local banks. And integration of local entities into the group is often not done perfectly, so what we offer to banks in Asia is actually a way to manage their internal compliance in a central way and see where they have discrepancies with local processes in different countries in Asia.”

 

The company was first introduced to the market as part of the DIT Singapore mission. ClauseMatch joined industry discussions within the DIT events which helped to understand the specifics of the market much better. “Besides, from what we experienced, Singapore is very open to collaborating with innovative financial technology companies from Europe and rate of adoption of technology in Asia is much faster because there are fewer legacy systems in large financial institutions. We are eager to make our commitment to this market and help it perhaps even leapfrog other more established markets," he adds.

 

The decision to site its APAC HQ in Singapore and build out its footprint in Asian markets from the city-state is rooted in its status as a regional commercial centre. According to some experts, the recent internationalisation has also been spurred by the market volatility of Brexit, which saw Dyson relocate its corporate head office to Singapore in January 2019.  

 

Moreover, with APAC’s regulatory environment highly fragmented, Singapore - a former British colony - maintains a highly regulated market that possesses a great degree of affinity with the UK’s own regulations. This will reduce the friction of market entry for ClauseMatch, which is already poised to enter the market with a solution that can immediately help financial institutions to understand and align their compliance with recently published consultation on changes to the Technology Risk Management Guidelines released by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in March 2019.

 

Arathi Arul, VP for Business Development at ClauseMatch, will lead the rollout of the company’s service offerings in Asia Pacific from Singapore. Commenting on this development, Arathi said, “Singapore is one of the most challenging countries in Asia in terms of regulations: it is a very well-developed market but with that comes a high level and often complex array of regulations that FI's have to adhere to. Singapore understands that and with the push from the MAS, companies realise the importance of innovation in order to help overcome these challenges. So, we see them taking the lead in Asia in terms of adoption of RegTech.  This means it is the right time for ClauseMatch to enter this market in order to help companies streamline compliance processes. 2019 is set to be the year of RegTech in the region and we are extremely excited to be on this journey.”

 

As part of its international expansion, ClauseMatch has partnered with RegPac Revolution, the leading RegTech ecosystem platform in Singapore, to leverage its extensive professional connectivity in APAC markets.

 

Mona Zoet, Founder and CEO of RegPac, stated: "We are excited to welcome London-based ClauseMatch into our professional network. We know the need in the market for innovative regulatory technology exists. RegPac is dedicated to connecting the dots between cutting-edge financial technology companies and the market in the region and we are inspired to see transformations ClauseMatch can bring for financial institutions in Asia."

 

RegPac and ClauseMatch co-hosted a special event on March 22  that aimed to introduce regulatory technology solutions to the region.