A lot of talk with little action. That's the feeling that some financial technology companies have expressed about regulators in the space.

During the Future of Fintech event, hosted by CB Insights in New York this week, representatives from companies expressed their concerns about when some much discussed fintech regulations and initiatives could take hold and a former regulator responded.

Hans Morris, managing partner with venture capital and advisory firm Nyca Partners, expressed his frustration with the regulatory process under which fintech companies operate.

Morris argued that despite a number of announcements about regulators opening innovation offices and establishing fintech initiatives, "less than one-quarter of a percent has actually changed."

He also said that regulators should be less document-driven and more data-focused.

"I don't think there's anyone I can think of who would stand up and say: 'I think the way we regulate things in the United States is a really good system,'" Morris said. "Everybody thinks it's got flaws."

Jeffrey Bandman, who announced he was stepping down from his role as fintech adviser with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission earlier this month to take a position in the private sector at an undisclosed company, doesn't disagree. But he gave his perspective as to why the relationship between regulators and fintech companies hasn't been perfect.

Bandman emphasized that regulation takes time to implement and that U.S. regulators are actively engaging and trying to learn from other countries' officials in terms of how to best regulate fintech companies.

"Regulators do not move at the pace of startups," Bandman said.

He said he recently received the question: "Why can't regulators write rules in a way that lets them fail fast, let them get 80 percent of it right and fix it later?"

Bandman's response, simply, is "it just can't work that way."

"There's a public trust and a public responsibility, and the public expects you to be careful," Bandman said, noting there are procedures and expectations of transparency with companies.

Bandman acknowledged that "things are moving slowly," but he defended projects such as the CFTC's recent fintech initiative, LabCFTC, and similar programs that encourage dialogue between entrepreneurs and regulators. LabCFTC, which was launched in May, included adding staffers at the CFTC to respond to questions and feedback from fintech firms. Through the initiative, the CFTC is also hoping to modernize some of its own technologies.