What is Regulatory Compliance?

Regulatory compliance is the process of making sure specific enterprises meet certain guidelines introduced by government bodies — such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the U.S. These guidelines seek to protect investors, ensure consumer confidence, facilitate the transparency, efficiency, and fairness of markets, and reduce financial crime and system risk. Financial services organizations are further subject to regulations governing customer communications, advertising, management of client assets, customer understanding and suitability, conflicts of interest, customer dealings, capital regulations, and more.