From online lenders to digital payment platforms, fintech companies aim to make financial transactions more accessible, faster and easier. With that ambitious goal comes constant pressure—to compete, they must innovate quickly, but global oversight frameworks can shift just as new products are coming to market.Fintech leaders are responding with strategies that embed compliance into the innovation process, improve collaboration across teams and strengthen engagement with regulators. Below, members of Forbes Technology Council share approaches designed to help companies maintain both agility and compliance. 1. Adopt A Regulatory Sandbox Grid Adopt a regulatory sandbox grid with AI co-governance. Let AI systems simulate and flag regulatory risks in real time across product life cycles. This structural shift empowers fintechs to innovate responsibly while educating regulators, building an adaptive, resilient and future-proof financial ecosystem. – Anusha Nerella 2. Conduct A Thorough, Balanced Risk Evaluation A proper thorough and balanced risk evaluation is essential. Risk is extremely difficult to quantify, so bringing together expertise in IT, innovation and compliance—and maintaining a strategic vision—can help chart a safe course between Scylla and Charybdis. A highly competent expert panel will help, with the active participation of visionaries and top management. – Serge Gladkoff, Logrus Global 3. Embed Regulations Early In Development Balance innovation and compliance by embedding regulations early in development. Involve quality assurance and compliance in requirements, use risk-based prioritization to protect high-impact areas, and test new ideas in safe sandboxes. Automate compliance checks in CI/CD to maintain speed without sacrificing oversight, ensuring compliance doesn’t block innovation. – Dzmitry Lubneuski, a1qa 4. Refer To Regulations When Setting Experiment Scope Innovation does not need to conflict with strong regulatory compliance—in fact, innovation can and ought to be in support of it. The scope of every experiment has to be defined by reference to the applicable compliance regulations, and real, sensitive data must be safeguarded during R&D stages. – Maria Scott, TAINA Technology 5. Make Risk Management A Cornerstone Of Development Risk management should be a cornerstone of production development. Regulations shift like weather patterns, and catching a moving target is never easy. Build your foundation with risk management as a fundamental pillar in your software development life cycle. – Ramesh Jitta, CAPITAL ONE 6. Establish Advisory Councils Embed regulatory requirements into the product development process from the very beginning. Establish an advisory council comprising legal, product and engineering leaders who meet regularly to assess upcoming regulatory changes. This ensures the team can adapt early, maintain compliance and continue driving innovation without compromising product readiness in a shifting regulatory landscape. – Sandeep Shivam, Tavant 7. Adopt A Compliance-By-Design Framework Adopting a compliance-by-design framework is a key structural decision. By embedding legal and regulatory experts directly into product development teams, fintech companies can proactively build solutions that meet all requirements. This approach avoids costly retrofitting, speeds time to market and fosters a culture where innovation and compliance are mutually reinforcing. – Ambika Saklani Bhardwaj, Walmart Inc. 8. Make Regulation A Design Driver Fintechs can efficiently balance speed and compliance by embedding “compliance by design” directly into product development. Machine-readable rules update in real time, automated checks run in CI/CD and cross-functional teams test in controlled sandboxes. This makes regulation a design driver, enabling swift, secure and compliant product innovation. – Yuriy Gnatyuk, Kindgeek 9. Hold Compliance Design Reviews Alongside Sprints Embed compliance into the innovation process from day one, not as an afterthought. This means holding cross-functional “compliance design reviews” alongside product sprints, where legal, risk and product teams collaborate in real time. It reduces rework, speeds approvals and ensures new ideas are built with regulatory resilience baked in. – Bhushan Parikh, Get Digital Velocity, LLC 10. Use A Two-Speed API Setup To Reduce Risk Adopt a two-speed setup with governed APIs. Keep core risk services—such as Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML), ledger and limits—stable, versioned and backed by service-level agreements. New ideas should be plugged into them, rather than rebuilding them from scratch. A policy engine can then route activity by jurisdiction and automatically time-box pilots. This cuts the blast radius, keeps audits simple and speeds both partner integrations and cleaner deprecations. – Amit Samsukha, Emizen Tech 11. Leverage RegTech For Scalable Compliance Driven by zero-trust models, fintech firms are highly restrictive when it comes to data sharing. To stay agile and compliant, they must adopt regulatory technology strategies that merge tech with regulations. Leveraging AI enhances compliance and risk management. Looking ahead, decentralized AI projects like MIT’s NANDA offer a trusted path to scalable innovation. – Hari Sonnenahalli, NTT Data Business Solutions 12. Build A Cross-Disciplinary Team From Day One A fintech can set up a team with people from its compliance, legal, product and technology teams who work together from day one on new projects. This way, rules are followed from the start, avoiding costly changes later, and innovation can keep moving without big delays. – Jay Krishnan, NAIB IT Consultancy Solutions WLL 13. Define Risk Appetite And Track Key Indicators It’s essential for fintech leaders to clearly define their risk appetite, thresholds for various types of risks and key risk indicators to track adherence. Then, they can utilize a structured enterprise risk and compliance program supported by AI-powered governance, risk and compliance tooling. – Anubhav Sharma, Infotech Research Group 14. Participate In An Industry Council Establishing a fintech council that comprises pioneering companies to work directly with regulatory bodies in the policymaking process can bring great benefits to the industry as a whole. Involvement of fintech pioneers upstream in the process can ensure that innovation and integrity are at the bedrock of policymaking. – Akhil Gupta, Green Dot 15. Align AI Adoption With Trust-By-Design Principles Fintechs adopting AI should align it with regulatory requirements from the outset, embedding real-time transparency, explainability and auditability into every decision pipeline. This trust-by-design approach turns compliance into a competitive advantage, enabling firms to adapt instantly to evolving rules without slowing innovation. – Ashok Reddy, KX 16. Use A Design, Build And Implement Approach Design modular