Operational Taxes for Investment Firms 2025 Conference Takeaways

Operational Taxes for Investment Firms London Conference

On Wednesday, October 22nd, TAINA was proud to sponsor and attend the Operational Taxes for Investment Firms 2025 Conference in London. The event brought together global leaders from the asset management, banking, and technology sectors to explore the shifting landscape of operational taxes, from FASTER implementation and Tax Transparent Funds to AI-driven compliance transformation.

The conference reinforced how the tax function is evolving beyond regulatory adherence, becoming a strategic enabler powered by technology, automation, and cross-jurisdictional collaboration.

Conference Key Takeaways

• Harnessing AI in Tax Operations
• The Evolving Landscape of CRS 2.0 and CARF
• Data Governance and Global Connectivity
• The Road to FASTER: Readiness and Resilience

Harnessing AI in Tax Operations

In one of the day’s most forward-looking panels, “Harnessing AI Technology to Address Rising Regulatory Tax Obligations”, Rich Kent (CTO, TAINA Technology) joined Maarten Van Der Hoeven (abrdn) and Robert Welzel (WTS Germany) to discuss how artificial intelligence is reshaping compliance and operational efficiency.

Key insights included:

• Automation as necessity: With ever-expanding reporting obligations, automation is no longer a luxury, but a requirement for scalability and precision. Strategically identifying costly manual processes and replacing with machine learning AI or automation with API data feeds benefits firms and their customers.
• From remediation to real-time: AI can enable near-instant validation of tax forms and withholding statements, along with remediation and providing customer support, thus freeing teams from repetitive checks and accelerating onboarding.
• Cultural transformation: Firms must adopt and foster a culture of commuincation and collaboration between tax and technology functions to fully realize digital compliance. This has always been an issue, but now is the time to address it.
• Responsible innovation: As AI adoption grows, clear governance frameworks are vital to ensure transparency, privacy, and data integrity. There is hesitation and concern from customers, but also data privacy regulations which require a lot of diligence on any build and implementation of a technology solution.

The Evolving Landscape of CRS 2.0 and CARF

Discussions around the upcoming CRS 2.0 and Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) continued to dominate this year’s agenda. Panelists from HMRC, BlackRock, and Citi emphasized that these frameworks will fundamentally reshape tax transparency, expanding data requirements and accountability across the industry.

Key points included:

• CRS 2.0 introduces broader account classifications, enhanced reporting, and more granular data on joint and pre-existing accounts. All of these points were rasied by the OECD as being beneficial to tax authorities having a better understanding of the type of accounts their taxpayers held.
• CARF brings digital assets into mainstream tax reporting, requiring firms to rethink onboarding, validation, and audit readiness. While there is overlap for onboarding requirements with the CRS, CARF is uniquely trying to identify crypto asset related account/transaction activity.
• Technology will play a pivotal role in aligning data models, ensuring interoperability between FATCA, CRS, and CARF. This includes API feeds between firms and reporting vendor solutions, minimizing manual loads and poor data quality.

With January 2026 as the go-live horizon for many jurisdictions adopting these new regulations, proactive preparation and system automation are critical for seamless transition.

Data Governance and Global Connectivity

Strong data governance remains at the core of effective compliance. Sessions highlighted how robust frameworks enable firms to unify tax, AML, and KYC data, ensuring end-to-end traceability and auditability.

Key insights included:

• Consistent data validation and cleansing reduce downstream reporting errors.
• API-driven integrations allow firms to connect disparate systems, creating a single source of truth across entities and jurisdictions.
• Early alignment with vendors and partners supports readiness for increased global data sharing under CRS 2.0 and CARF.

The Road to FASTER: Readiness and Resilience

The final session, “Benchmarking FASTER Implementation Amongst Investment Funds”, explored how the EU’s FASTER initiative will reshape withholding tax processes and refund timelines.

Speakers including Chris Hewitt (Investment Association), Florian Herzberg (BlackRock), and Ali Kazimi (WTS Hansuke) underscored that digital standardization is key to improving efficiency and transparency across borders.

The message was clear: building resilience through technology and proactive engagement with tax authorities is essential to future-proofing operations.

How Can TAINA Help?

As global regulations evolve, operational tax teams face mounting pressure to deliver accurate, transparent, and timely reporting.

TAINA’s award-winning FATCA & CRS Validation Platform empowers firms to:

• Automate the validation and remediation of tax forms and self-certifications (including for CARF onboarding).
• Integrate compliance seamlessly within onboarding and KYC workflows.
• Leverage AI and APIs for enhanced data quality, accuracy, and audit readiness.
• Maintain a continuously updated, globally aligned rule set that evolves with regulation.

By embracing automation, firms can move beyond compliance to strategic advantage, creating faster, smarter, and more resilient tax operations.

We would love to talk to you more about your current documentation validation process and how our award-winning FATCA and CRS Validation platform may add value to your organisation.

For more information on how our fully automated FATCA and CRS Validation platform can add value to your business, get in touch or request a demo to see it in action.