As a London-based firm with a global presence, we understand the rapidly changing reporting challenges facing investment managers and insurance companies. The adoption of crypto-assets and algorithmic tools like robo-advisors is accelerating, driving a wave of regulatory transformation. Compliance today is no longer about meeting static rules—it’s about anticipating dynamic, multi-jurisdictional change.
From Speculative to Mainstream: The Regulatory Spotlight Intensifies
While digital asset investments and robo-advising platforms aren’t new, their mainstream institutional adoption as core components of portfolio construction has triggered new levels of scrutiny.
For investment managers, this shift means engaging with an increasingly complex and fragmented regulatory environment—one where authorities across the globe are embedding these innovations into regulated financial oversight structures demanding greater transparency, demonstrable investor protection, and a more holistic approach to governance and suitability.
The result is an intricate network of regulatory regimes that require not just compliance, but strategic foresight.
Foundations Already in Place: Investor Disclosure and Transparency
Long before crypto and AI-enhanced investing took center stage, regulators had already laid the groundwork for greater investor transparency and disclosure. At the product level, the EU’s PRIIPs Regulation, the UK’s UCITS Key Investor Information Documents (KIIDs), and the U.S.’s tailored shareholder reports aim to provide clients with standardized, digestible summaries of investment risks, costs, and performance. These documents are designed not merely for compliance, but to empower investors with information that is both comparable and decision-useful.
Alongside product transparency, institutional risk reporting has also matured. The EU’s AIFMD and the U.S. Form PF require asset managers—particularly those overseeing private or alternative funds—to disclose leverage, liquidity profiles, and systemic risk factors to regulators. These mechanisms are now being extended to cover crypto-assets, underscoring their growing relevance to financial system stability.
Cost transparency, too, has seen significant evolution to help investors better understand and benchmark fees and costs across asset classes. While the components of costs and how they apply to a product or investor vary widely across jurisdictions, there is a clear consensus that costs must be disclosed at an increasingly granular level.
Collectively, these efforts reflect a global trend: disclosure is no longer an afterthought. It is foundational to fiduciary duty and central to maintaining investor confidence in an increasingly digital and decentralized investment landscape.
A Global Patchwork of Oversight
While the direction of regulatory travel is clear, the route each jurisdiction is taking remains highly differentiated.
In the United States, the SEC is actively reconsidering how crypto fits into longstanding frameworks around custody, transparency, and fiduciary standards. Proposals such as monthly fund reporting and revised crypto custody rules suggest a move toward more frequent and granular oversight. The Department of Labor’s decision to withdraw its earlier warning on 401(k) crypto investments further signals a more open, albeit cautious, stance.
Europe, by contrast, is pushing forward with a more centralized and comprehensive approach. The Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA)—effective December 2024—will embed crypto-assets within the broader regulatory architecture, requiring suitability assessments, periodic updates, and formal client disclosures. Firms engaging in crypto activities must notify regulators in advance, detailing everything from AML procedures to IT infrastructure.
In the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority continues to emphasize the need for clear risk disclosures and robust client suitability assessments. Firms must also ensure operational resilience and strict AML compliance when offering crypto services.
Asia-Pacific jurisdictions—Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong in particular—are setting the pace in licensing, investor protection, and technological governance. In Singapore, the MAS regulates digital token providers under the Payment Services Act, layering in KYC and reporting obligations that apply equally to crypto and robo services. Hong Kong’s SFC and Japan’s FSA have taken similarly prescriptive stances, mandating comprehensive risk controls, suitability checks, and client education.
Our Platform: Designed for a Regulated, Real-Time World
One of the most profound consequences of this regulatory transformation is its impact on data. Firms must now be able to capture, manage, and report new types of information—including token classifications, algorithmic strategy inputs, investor knowledge assessments, and transaction-level disclosures across jurisdictions. What was once a static reporting process is now a dynamic, ongoing data lifecycle.
At the intersection of all these pressures lies an opportunity: those who respond fastest to regulatory change can lead the market. Our platform was purpose-built for this. It gives asset managers, insurers, and advisors the ability to manage their own data directly and adjust reporting on demand.
In today’s environment, flexibility is no longer a feature—it’s the gold standard. Our platform supports real-time evolution, with customized reporting capabilities that reflect emerging regulatory and distribution themes. It’s designed to scale as regulators push toward more dynamic, cross-border compliance.
Outlook: Complexity, But Also Clarity
Global convergence on crypto and robo regulation is unlikely in the near term. Just as we have seen with ESG and climate risk reporting, jurisdictions will pursue varied priorities, some focusing on pre-trade suitability, others on post-trade surveillance or advisor accountability. Navigating this divergence requires more than policy awareness; it requires infrastructure that can evolve in parallel with regulation.
At our core, we’re committed to helping our clients stay ahead—today and tomorrow.
Contact us to learn how we deliver the tools our clients need—before the market demands them.
