First-of-its-kind collaboration between a leading reg-tech enterprise and a third-party consultant will revolutionize the branch exam landscape
SANTA FE, N.M., April 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Essential Edge Compliance Outsourcing Services, LLC (Essential Edge), which provides third-party outsourced compliance services for broker-dealers and registered investment advisers and RegEd, the leading provider of compliance solutions for financial services firms today announced a partnership that will provide an end-to-end outsourced solution for conducting branch exams.
Since its inception in 2005, RegEd’s industry-leading Audit Management solution has enabled in-house audit teams to preempt incidents of operational, regulatory, and reputational risks, while streamlining the branch audit process. Using RegEd’s innovative technology solution, firms have been able to fully plan, schedule, conduct, resolve and report on more than 1.6 million exams.
Essential Edge consultants will complement RegEd’s offering by providing on-the-ground subject matter expertise in managing inspections for clients who opt for both services. If a firm participates in FINRA’s pilot program, the Essential Edge team can perform remote exams. If a firm has chosen to opt out of the program, the Essential Edge team will visit branch locations nationwide to conduct the on-site audit, as well as the pre- and post-audits.
“Our new strategic alliance with RegEd marries the people who created and operate the best technology platform for branch exams in the business with our experienced team of experts who will conduct physical audits nationwide,” said Sander Ressler, the firm’s Co-Owner and Managing Partner. “The industry has recognized that maintaining an internal branch exam function can be expensive and inefficient for firms, especially now that FINRA has expanded the definition of what constitutes a branch office to include non-sales associated persons. By leveraging RegEd technology and outsourcing branch inspections to our highly experienced and skilled licensed individuals, broker-dealers likely save money and can reallocate their limited resources to more proactive, growth-oriented activities.
This new complete branch audit solution is perfect for wirehouses, regionals, independent broker-dealers and asset management companies with offices in multiple locations. Essential Edge has staff across the country and can scale its operations to meet the exam needs of any firm, whether they have five or 5,000 branches.
“RegEd conducted a survey of financial services firms and found that the greatest challenges around branch exam programs were adding and retaining branch examiners, along with scheduling and travel costs,” said Adam Schaub, VP of Product Management for RegEd. “As the leading provider of these services, Essential Edge can help our clients resolve those challenges and maintain a level of consistency in their examination programs while leveraging our best-of-breed branch audit solution.”
The new partnership will be detailed at the RegEd Engage Annual Client Conference, taking place from April 23 to 25. The Essential Edge team will be onsite with RegEd management to discuss the partnership in detail. Sander Ressler will be a featured panel speaker on April 25, titled “Branch Inspections: Regulatory Developments and Best Practices.” Marco Fuentes, also from Essential Edge, will speak on April 24 as part of a panel titled “Tech-Enabling Supervision Best Practices.”
RegEd Engage is RegEd’s annual client conference that is shaped by the input of clients – compliance and operations professionals from the nation’s leading financial services firms – and imparts need-to-know information and best practices to enable attendees to gain the most possible value from their RegEd partnership.
About Essential Edge Compliance Outsourcing Services, LLC
Essential Edge Compliance Outsourcing Services, LLC (“Essential Edge”) is a strategic consultancy specializing in compliance and regulatory affairs. Headquartered in Santa Fe, NM and encompassing 25+ seasoned compliance supervision professionals across the country, Essential Edge delivers outsourced branch inspections to Offices of Supervisory Jurisdiction (OSJs) and independent financial advisor practices affiliated with broker-dealers throughout the country.
Essential Edge’s service offerings are designed to rapidly identify and resolve compliance issues in branch office sales and operations for independent broker-dealers before they escalate into expensive and time-consuming issues. For more information, please visit www.eeoutsourcing.com.
About RegEd
RegEd is the market-leading provider of RegTech enterprise solutions with relationships with more than 200 enterprise clients, including 80% of the top 25 financial services firms.
Established in 2000 by former regulators, the company is recognized for continuous regulatory technology innovation with solutions hallmarked by workflow-directed processes, data integration, regulatory intelligence, automated validations, business process automation and compliance dashboards. The aggregate drives the highest levels of operational efficiency and enables our clients to cost-effectively comply with regulations and continuously mitigate risk.
Trusted by the nation’s top financial services firms, RegEd’s proven, holistic approach to RegTech meets firms where they are on the compliance and risk management continuum, scaling as their needs evolve and amplifying the value proposition delivered to clients. For more information, please visit www.reged.com.
Media Contact:
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Haven Tower Group
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SOURCE Essential Edge Compliance Outsourcing Services, LLC
