6 February 2026
How long a regulatory readiness audit really takes
Four to eight weeks is the usual window. What fills those weeks, and where delays usually start.
Clients often ask whether a regulatory readiness audit can finish in two weeks. For a licensed payment institution with multiple corridors, that timeline almost always compresses fieldwork into a shallow review. Depth suffers, and findings become generic.
Week one is scoping and document collection. Delays begin here when policy versions conflict or when control owners cannot locate the latest board pack. Naming a single document liaison cuts days off this stage.
Weeks two and three are fieldwork: interviews, sample testing, and walkthroughs of monitoring alerts. If interviewees cancel repeatedly, the calendar stretches. Block diaries early and treat audit meetings like settlement deadlines.
Week four validates issues with management and drafts the report. Severity debates are healthy; endless renegotiation of wording is not. Agree on a severity scale before fieldwork starts.
Larger groups or first-time licensees may need a second fieldwork pass. Budget that possibility when your last internal review is more than a year old.