Corlytics riding the wave of the growth of the Payments industry

Corlytics, a global Regtech leader and pioneer in the regulatory analytics space, go live with a number of key global payment clients on their platform this year due to strong global growth in the global payment providers’ sector.
Fuelled by the continued exponential shift from bricks and mortar retail to online retailing, the payment’s sector is experiencing high growth coupled with accelerating regulatory challenges. The financial and payments regulators have become more active in monitoring and regulating these new services and it is these challenges that has seen Corlytics helping firms fulfil their regulatory obligations.
Corlytics, the global leader in regulatory monitoring, obligation management and regulatory risk analytics has grown its market reach from a strong customer base of traditional financial services firms to one that includes these newer payment providers, e-money firms, and FinTechs as their flexible, dynamic solution supports firms’ own regulatory engagement strategies.
There has been a notable increase in the legislative pressure experienced by the payments sector with new requirements to be implemented and acted on in an efficient manner in part due to the payments sector launching new products and services. These regulatory initiatives fall into two main types, those to protect the market and its participants, to avoid both systemic market failure and to provide customer protection, and those that enable innovation and increased competition. The failure of the German payment processor Wirecard, earlier this year, was a big warning to the regulators of potential problems within these types of firms.
The recent Schrems II decision, by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has caused additional, accelerated regulatory pressure with the new ruling covering the protection of personal data transferred from the EU to outside the EU. This will have widespread implications for firms handling the personal data of those within the EU, clearly an issue for firms in international payments.
The implementation of Corlytics regulatory monitoring solution, designed to provide real-time automated regulatory monitoring, including horizon scanning and a regulatory library, has the ability to shift the payments industry to a new paradigm achieving higher rates of regulatory compliance while also supporting the move into new product offerings. The incorporation of an impact assessment workflow, utilising AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (machine learning) technologies, offers a highly progressive step in the advancement of compliance for both traditional and more contemporary payments firms.
“Working with some of the leaders in the payments sector has been an exciting development for Corlytics. We see this emerging finance sector as on track to see substantial growth over the next few years and we’re delighted to be able to be a partner in that,” commented Mike O’Keeffe General Manager of Corlytics Solutions. “We’re committed to working with all our customers to help them achieve high levels of regulatory compliance and support their strategic initiatives.”
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Corlytics, CeADAR and Singlepoint to share in €65 million Government funding for disruptive technologies

John Byrne, CEO Corlytics with Heather Humphreys, Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation at the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund announcement, NovaUCD.
9 December 2019
An AI regulation platform has been revealed as one of the ground-breaking initiatives to receive €2m funding from the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund following a rigorous, highly competitive process.
Funded until 2023, the initiative will be led by a consortium of leading data scientists, SMEs and technology experts. The partnership is led by Corlytics, the world leader in regulatory risk intelligence with CeADAR, Ireland’s Centre for Applied AI and digital consultancy Singlepoint Solutions.
The trained AI platform for regulation combines human expertise with artificial intelligence to demystify laws and regulations enabling firms to deliver effective regulatory outcomes while protecting consumers. Transformative Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will automate the monitoring, interpretation and risk assessment of laws and regulations across multiple disciplines and jurisdictions.
Corlytics will provide deep domain expertise in regulatory technology. CeADAR will contribute its advanced text analysis and data science industrial research capabilities. Singlepoint brings a wealth of digital transformation experience. The three organisations have a proven track record in collaborating, including Corlytics and Singlepoint’s successful digitisation of the FCA handbook, the first commercially available intelligent regulation anywhere in the world.
John Byrne, CEO of Corlytics said:
“ The funding serves as both an endorsement of this transformation and of our leading edge credentials. Corlytics’ legal, financial and regulatory experts, combined with CeADAR’s and Singlepoint’s expertise enable us to deliver a much needed platform to disrupt and transform the global regulatory industry.”
Brian Seery, CTO of Singlepoint Solutions said:
“This partnership is a powerful combination. Corlytics unique understanding of global regulation and Singlepoint’s digital expertise and collaborative approach is truly unique in this space. Partnering with Corlytics will allow us to conceive, design and build the next generation of transformative enterprise and digital products and platforms.”
Dr. David Lillis, Principal Investigator of CeADAR said:
“This project is a huge opportunity for CeADAR to continue our mission to bridge the academic/industry gap by developing and deploying cutting-edge AI technologies to solve real business challenges that affect industry on a global scale. CeADAR, Corlytics and Singlepoint each bring diverse expertise to the consortium. The DTIF programme provides us with a unique opportunity to blend our skillsets to achieve a truly disruptive effect on the way regulatory compliance is addressed.”
Edward McDonnell, Director of CeADAR said:
“This project builds on an extensive body of expertise that we have built up in natural language processing particularly of legal documents. We have an established relationship with these two partner companies and we are delighted that we will be working together on this disruptive and innovative technology which leverages our expertise in LegalTech”
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Editors Notes
Click here for further information on the 16 funded projects.
Details of the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund are available at: dbei.gov.ie/DTIF
Previous releases
Corlytics appoints Neil Ryan to its executive team as Chief Operations Officer
20 January 2020
Corlytics, the global leader in regulatory risk rating and analytics has appointed Neil Ryan to its executive team as Chief Operations Officer.
Neil will be responsible for delivering Corlytics’ growth plan as the business expands globally due to strong demand for its AI regulatory risk platform. The appointment comes at a time of accelerated development following a significant research and development award from Ireland’s Disruptive Technology Innovation Fund.
Neil has 30 years’ senior level experience in global financial services spanning public and private sectors in Dublin, London and New York. He was appointed as Assistant Secretary General at the Department of Finance, Ireland, leading Troika workstreams at the height of the financial crisis. Neil held senior roles at UBS Investment Bank, Wells Fargo Bank International and IKB Credit Asset Management. He joins Corlytics from Quaternion Risk Management where he was COO.
Neil is the FinTech stream co-lead on the Financial Services Ireland/City of London dialogue, was Ireland’s representative at the FSB Regional Consultative Group for Europe, and a Board Member on both the Irish State’s Restructuring Board for Credit Unions and the Irish Association of Corporate Treasurers. Neil holds law degrees from Trinity College, Dublin and the London School of Economics and an MBA from London Business School.
Neil said, “I’m delighted to join this innovative, well-respected company with global perspective, an impressive and growing global client base and clear ambition. I’m looking forward to joining a world class executive team.”
John Byrne, CEO of Corlytics said, “Neil joins at an exciting stage in our growth. He brings deep experience, expert knowledge and a remarkable network in global finance and crucially a proven track record of delivery. I welcome Neil as COO to a great team.”
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Stacey English Joins Corlytics from Thomson Reuters
31 October 2019
Corlytics, the global leader in regulatory risk rating has appointed Stacey English to its executive team as Chief Digital Officer.
Stacey will lead Corlytics’ digital content, distribution and marketing strategy. She will also manage key customer and partnership relationships.
As the former head of regulatory intelligence at Thomson Reuters, Stacey is an established global authority. She has delivered world class regulatory insight and industry thought leadership to compliance and risk professionals worldwide for over a decade. Stacey was part of the innovative regtech start up Complinet, which was acquired by Thomson Reuters.
Stacey is a chartered certified accountant with over 20 years’ risk, compliance, audit and regtech experience. Her experience spans leading global financial services institutions as a regulator, practitioner and adviser.
She will be joining the Corlytics executive team with immediate effect. Stacey comments, “I’ve been endlessly impressed by the innovation, customer focus and pace of delivery by John and the Corlytics team, matched by a really great culture. It’s technology, expertise and content is transforming regulatory risk assessments. I’m thrilled to join Corlytics at such a pivotal point in the company’s growth.”
John Byrne, CEO of Corlytics said, “Stacey is joining our global leadership team at a very exciting stage of growth. She is a global force in the industry enriching our broader team of scientists and legal minds. She brings a proven track record as a regulatory heavyweight, adding to our real-life applications of data science tools and its adoption into global financial services and beyond.”
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Corlytics wins Deloitte Regtech Challenge 2019
The aim of the competition was to find the most innovative start-ups using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to solve regulatory problems, particularly in relation to Conduct Risk. Corlytics competed against 40 other businesses at the RegTech Challenge Pitch & Award Day, which took place at Deloitte Greenhouse in Milan earlier this month. The business was awarded with the accolade after showcasing how it is incorporating advanced AI modelling to provide regulatory risk ratings for financial institutions.
The competition success follows a number of major milestones for the business, including:
- The announcement in November 2018 that Corlytics is set to close a new €10m funding round
- Success in Allen & Overy’s Fuse programme, a tech innovation space to explore, develop and test legal, regulatory and deal-related solutions
- Cutting-edge innovative work with two new banking clients, introduced to the business by A&O
- Six successful global deals across 2018, with more new wins than competing emerging regtech companies
Kevin O’Leary, VP product management at Corlytics, comments, “The practical nature of Deloitte’s prize – which includes the opportunity to solve real business problems for their clients – makes this a brilliant win for the team. We were thrilled to compete against those doing some great work in the regulatory landscape.
He continues, “The accolade comes at a time when we are seeing real momentum in the regtech market. We’re now looking forward to delivering pilots and proof of concepts to help Deloitte’s partners understand the size, scope and root causes of regulatory risk.”
The Deloitte RegTech Challenge team declared: “We had the privilege to get in touch with some highly impressive start-ups throughout our RegTech Challenge and we want to congratulate Corlytics for the excellent result achieved. As Deloitte we are proud to create for Corlytics the opportunity to be a part of our innovation ecosystem that aims to solve real business problems and meet our clients’ needs.”
Tim Sweeney joins Corlytics as SVP in North America, 20 August 2018
Corlytics grow in A&O Fuse programme, 27 June 2018
Corlytics grow in A&O Fuse programme, 15 June 2018
Corlytics partners with Digital Reasoning to fight against trading fraud, 10 May 2018
Corlytics opens summer internship programme, 20th February 2018
Market conduct enforcement activity back on the rise, 29th December 2017
Corlytics to join next round of FCA sandbox, 8th December 2017
Regtech awards 2017, Corlytics delighted to announce win, 16th November 2017
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Tom Kenny joins Corlytics as chief financial officer, 2nd November 2017
TOM KENNY JOINS CORLYTICS AS CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
Corlytics, the world leader in regulatory risk intelligence, has announced an addition to its executive team with the appointment of Tom Kenny as chief financial officer.
Kenny will work closely with the team globally, to deliver on the company’s ambitious growth agenda. An experienced chartered accountant by trade, he has over 25 years’ experience. Having held a number of senior appointments in the international financial services sector, as well as a successful career at one of the top four accounting firms.
Kenny joined Corlytics in October 2017, having previously held the role of managing director with Canada Life International Assurance. He was part of the senior management team that led the successful sale of the business on behalf of Legal & General Group PLC. Prior to working in the financial services sector, Kenny worked at Deloitte for 13 years. He also holds a Masters in Management Practice from Trinity College and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.
Tom comments, “I am delighted to have joined John Byrne and the Corlytics team. Having followed the international regtech market over recent years, I was impressed by Corlytics’ unique market position. It already has impressive reach helping to support regulated firms, regulators and professional services executives to mitigate risk through regulatory risk intelligence. I am looking forward to being part of helping shape Corlytics’ offering in the multi-billion regtech industry globally.”
John Byrne, CEO of Corlytics added, “Tom has enormous experience garnered from many years working in the financial services sector. He is a highly effective manager, a great motivator and will play a pivotal role in continuing to grow Corlytics and our offering worldwide. We are enjoying a strong phase of growth and will benefit greatly from having someone with Tom’s international financial management and regulation expertise in the team.”
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Corlytics develops FCA’s intelligent handbook, 27th September 2017
Corlytics appoints Thompson Reuters Stacey English to the UK board, 18th September 2017
Corlytics data unveils European banks at mercy of US regulations, 11th September 2017
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- Global regulators have levied over USD $38.4bn in economic crime fines since Jan 2012
- 97% of all fines from US regulators
- UK, French, German and Swiss banks with branches in the US have paid almost 40% of the fines related to economic crime in the US
- Top 10 European banks have paid USD $13.25 billion to US regulators since 2012
- Average fine for European firms to US regulators is 10x the average of US firms
- Economic crime makes up 18% of all regulatory enforcement fines in the period: 927 cases
New data from Corlytics, the global leaders in regulatory risk intelligence, shows that European banks are under disproportional enforcement pressure from US regulators. Since 2012, of the $38.4bn levied in economic crime fines worldwide, 97 percent of all fines have come from US regulators. With the average fine for European banks being ten times the amount US banks have been served. The Corlytics Barometer, which this issue focuses on economic crime globally, reveals that enforcement action for sanctions and tax evasion are exclusively handed out by US regulators, whereas bribery and anti-money laundering AML are higher up the watch list for European and Asian regulators. Although the number of fines have increased over the last 12 months, the average value of each fine has decreased. This is due in some part to a few very large fines issued by the US regulators (predominantly the Office of Foreign Assets Control) in 2014. These were mainly for sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering and Banking Secrecy Act (AML/BSA) breaches.
US REGULATORS GETTING TOUGH WITH NON-US BANKS Corlytics uncovered a significant finding for banks operating outside of their originating jurisdiction. UK, French, German and Swiss banks with branches in the US have paid almost 40 percent of the fines related to economic crime in the US. IT’S GETTING PERSONAL Economic crime involves serious criminal acts committed both by senior individuals at institutions and the institutions themselves. Many regulators have focused on infringements by regulated individuals at firms, rather than just the firms themselves. This is especially true of European and Asian regulators. Enforcement involving criminal convictions, and imprisonment for individuals is very much on the increase in the UK, Hong Kong and Australia. CRIMINAL COST There is an emerging hierarchy of financial penalties for firms by regulatory category. Globally, crimes involving sanctions accounted for more than USD $1.77 in every USD $5 fined. This equated to over USD $13.5 billion for the period. It’s notable that this has decreased from USD $2 in every USD $5 from examined data since 2009, indicating that sanctions violations may be beginning to come under control. Sanctions was followed by AML/BSA at USD $8 billion, bribery at USD $7.7 billion, fraud at USD $4.4 billion, tax evasion at USD $2.8 billion, and misappropriation at USD $1.8 billion. CYBER INDICATIONS While cyber fraud has been an important part of economic crime, and there are several pending cases with regulators, there have been few associated fines in this period. However, this trend is expected to change for two reasons: firstly, the introduction of the cybersecurity regulations by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) which came into effect in March of this year, and secondly, the introduction of the GDPR which comes into effect in May 2018. PENALTIES FOR INDIVIDUALS Sticking with US regulators, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has the highest fines levied against individuals globally. Accounting for over USD $422 million over the period. Interestingly, for fines against individuals, the average size of a fine for an individual is over USD $6 million. In the UK, regulators prefer a different tack. Frequently demanding lengthy prison sentences for fraud that have associated confiscation orders. In the US, for senior individuals, settlements for economic crime frequently involve disgorgements (confiscation of assets gained) together with life-time bans from the industry. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) levies more individual fines than any other regulator globally, but the amount of these fines at an average of just over USD $15,000 pales into insignificance when compared to the CFTC fines. The Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (HK SFC) is also beginning to sharpen its claws with two huge fines against individuals in the past 10 months, one with a value of over USD $10 million and another with a value of over USD $11 million. PENALTIES BY JURISDICTION Corlytics has picked up different geographic behaviours from the regulators. In Australia, the UK and Hong Kong the enforcement activity is more focused on individuals. There have been 228 individual cases in total in these territories, versus 29 cases against firms. Although the US has brought the most cases against individuals to date – in the period, there were 110 individual cases – the focus remains on fining firms, with 444 actions brought during the same period. The average fine level for firms were higher than individuals, with every regulator, except in Australia. The United States is at the fore of punishing economic crime with fines. Responsible for almost 97 percent of total fines by value over the period. The most frequent violations were in Anti-Money Laundering or Bank Secrecy Act rules, with cases in all jurisdictions, except Australia. Australian regulators covered mostly fraud. The UK mainly covered fraud and bribery. The United States covered all six financial crime types, with sanctions violations accounting for 40 percent, followed by fraud at 36 percent, and both Anti-Money Laundering or Bank Secrecy Act and tax evasion at roughly 10 percent each by value. PENALTIES BY BANK ORIGIN The top 10 European banks have paid USD $13.25 billion in fines to US regulators since 2012. This means that since 2012, 10 European banks have paid 35 percent of all fines to US regulators. The average value of each fine is approaching USD $0.5 billion per fine; over 10 times the average that US firms pay to US regulators. LARGE FINES HAVE BEEN DECREASING, BUT THAT COULD ALL CHANGE John Byrne, CEO at Corlytics said, “What’s most noticeable across all regulatory categories is the extent to which large fines have decreased. Regulators are beginning to indicate that they are satisfied that financial institutions seem to be addressing economic crime and may have moved their focus to other regulatory categories for the time being.” However, this does not mean that regulatory scrutiny won’t return to this area in the future. Large European financial institutions with a presence in North America need to be extremely careful to ensure that they comply in the area of economic crime. There is clear evidence to suggest that they will be treated harshly if they do not. It looks like regulators are beginning to take a closer look at the senior managers who preside over compliance issues. Byrne continues, “Our data suggests the increased penalties, both financial and non-financial, ensure that senior managers of large financial institutions need to be in full control of the institution’s compliance posture. In relation to financial crime, the future area that organisations need to be most aware of is cybersecurity. “The NYDFS regulations have come into effect and this regulator, even though it’s a state regulator rather than a federal one, has been known to penalise heavily when its regulations are breached. Financial institutions need to ensure that they fully understand their risk exposures in this area.” -ENDS-
Corlytics welcomes Severine Cooper-Melis to the European leadership team, 5th September 2017
Corlytics named by Allen & Overy as Fuse partners, August 2017
Corlytics appoints international heavyweights to advisory board, August 2017
London-based Corlytics Solutions launched to provide greater regulatory risk intelligence for City firms, June 2017
Insurers held back by increase in asset and wealth management penalties, May 2017



Corlytics expands the leadership team in aggressive growth drive, March 2017
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