PwC’s Global Compliance Survey 2025

Moving faster: Reinventing compliance to speed up, not trip up

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  • Insight
  • 5 minute read
  • 10/04/25

Reinventing compliance to navigate complexity, build trust, and take risk intelligently to speed up – and stay in the race.

Winning through compliance innovation

Global regulation – driven by myriad macro forces and crises – is adding unprecedented complexity and cost to companies. Against a backdrop of commercial pressures, some have adapted and become ‘compliance pioneers’, evolving their processes, technology and talent model to mitigate risks, manage cost and offer new insights. For others, this complexity has diverted management attention and resources and undermined confidence, causing them to lose their balance and momentum in pursuing strategic and competitive goals.

But what if there was a different way? A way to reinvent compliance to navigate complexity, build trust, and take risk intelligently to speed up – and stay in the race.

71%

expect to undertake digital transformation initiatives over the next three years that require the support of Compliance.

41%

need support related to new business models.

Source: PwC’s Global Compliance Study 2025

PwC conducted a survey of executives to obtain their perspectives on compliance practices, challenges, and ways they are evolving to remain fit for the future. Our survey represents feedback from:

  • 1,802 executives in the first, second and third line, including business leaders (38%), Chief Compliance Officers (25%), Chief Risk Officers (14%), Chief Audit Executives (9%), and General Counsel/Heads of Legal (5%)
  • 63 territories, covering Europe (29%), North America (26%), Asia Pacific (22%), Latin America (15%), Middle East (6%) and Africa (2%)
  • A broad mix of industry sectors, including financial services (29%), industrial products and services (20%), technology, media and telecommunications (14%), consumer markets (14%), and health industries (10%)
  • Companies operating domestically and internationally. 54% have annual revenues greater than US$1 billion 

The insights shared in this report can help you to:

Compliance leaders

  • Optimise your compliance strategies and plan
  • Build an investment case for compliance transformation
  • Reposition compliance to have more effective stakeholder conversations
  • Develop future compliance talent
  • Reinforce the value of compliance to achieving company objectives 

Board and business leaders

  • Understand how compliance can support reinvention
  • Leverage compliance to move faster on new commercial initiatives
  • Address blind spots that undermine market trust
  • Increase speed-to-market for product innovation • Support measures to increase company resilience
  • Reinforce need for connected and reliable data 

Other second and third line leaders (e.g. risk, internal audit) 

  • Collaborate and align on compliance activities to improve efficiency
  • Consider new and emerging risk areas and threats
  • Generate ideas on where data and technology could be shared or co-developed
  • Reinforce messages on risk and compliance culture

Amongst the findings in our survey

  1. The compliance ecosystem is more complex and connected than ever before, driven by transformation, cross-industry reinvention and new business models. The common denominator is the focus on technology compliance risks, particularly cyber security and data privacy and protection – a top priority for 51% of respondents.
  2. A majority of respondents (77%) stated that their company had been negatively impacted to some or a great extent across several areas that drive growth. This creates an imperative for companies to evolve compliance to alleviate the commercial impact and unlock its upside potential for ‘value creation’.
  3. Companies have to tailor compliance models that are right for them, but ‘connected compliance’ is important for better decision-making, transparency and culture. 59% of respondents cited greater confidence in compliance decision-making because of better coordination.
  4. Compliance technology is already helping companies move faster, navigate complexity, and avoid hazards. For compliance, this includes better visibility of risks and risk management activities (64%), faster identification and proactive response to compliance issues (53%), higher quality/more insightful reporting (48%), and increased productivity and cost savings (43%).
  5. There is a sense of urgency and an opportunity to accelerate transformation and pioneer new approaches. Only 7% of respondents currently consider themselves to be leading in compliance, yet 38% aim to be leading within three years. 

PwC’s Global Compliance Survey 2025

Moving faster: Reinventing compliance to speed up, not trip up

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Gökhan Yılmaz

Gökhan Yılmaz

Forensic Services Leader, PwC Türkiye

Tel: +90 212 376 5302

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