Executive Summary

RegTech has evolved from fewer than 100 largely UK- and US based point solutions in 2016 into a global, multi-billion-dollar industry of thousands of elite technologists.

The compliance function is beginning to evolve beyond its traditional remit. Necessarily so, as rising regulatory pressure increased expectations while competition constrained budgets, forcing risk and compliance teams to innovate to survive.

Technological advancements are not only reshaping the solution landscape but redefining the role of risk and compliance itself. By virtue of their position, risk and compliance functions have a uniquely comprehensive view of the business, combining enterprise-wide visibility with deep, data intensive oversight of processes and systems. The function is beginning to evolve beyond its traditional remit, with perceptions shifting from enforcer to strategic adviser, guiding the organisation on how decisions shape risk, which risks to take, and ultimately how to scale safely.

Vendors are not only leaning into this shift but, in many cases, driving it with solutions that extend beyond compliance into efficiency, intelligence, and growth. As the ecosystem matures and incorporates responsible AI, risk and compliance are increasingly positioned as catalysts for smarter, faster, and more confident growth.

95% of fnancial institutions (FIs) report scaled enterprise use in at least one regulatory domain.Five Key Findings: Institutions

  1. 95% of financial institutions (FIs) report scaled enterprise use in at least one regulatory domain. Financial Crime scores highest in our RegTech Adoption Index (page 10).
  2. 62.7% of FIs plan to increase spending on RegTech in 2026, with 48.3% looking to implement new vendor solutions.
  3. 53% of firms still rely on word of mouth for discovering new RegTech solutions, and only 37% conduct deliberate online research.
  4. 44.3% of FIs expect AI agents to be among the most heavily invested in technologies within risk and compliance in 2026.
  5. We estimate a conservative 2026 global RegTech TAM of $245.4bn for FIs with 50+ employees. Read more

$5bn was raised by RegTech vendors in 2025 across 216 deals.Five Key Findings: Vendors

  1. $5bn was raised by RegTech vendors in 2025 across 216 deals.
  2. 28.3% of vendors expect institutions’ technology spend to significantly increase in 2026 (20% or more).
  3. 60% of vendors expect AI agents to see the greatest investment within financial institutions’ risk and compliance environments in 2026.
  4. Regulatory interpretation as machine-executable code is emerging as the next frontier of RegTech, underpinning the safe deployment of these AI agents.
  5. 21.4% of vendors believe closer collaboration between industry and regulators is the most effective way to support RegTech adoption.

 

 

 

Source: to the survey results:  fintech.global