OakNorth says it has become the “first cloud-based bank” in the UK, eight months after launching. The bank, which provides loans of between £1 million to £15 million to “entrepreneurs and fast-growth” businesses, has been working with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for six months on policies related to […]
We are now in a new era of global tax reporting, with more regulations around tax transparency than ever before. To pull together a full picture on the market’s readiness for the Common Reporting Standards (CRS) and approach to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), Thomson Reuters has gathered industry views from a global […]
Advanced Payment Solutions (trading as APS Financial) has secured a credit licence from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This development allows APS to carry out consumer credit lending (including high-cost short-term credit lending) to its customer base of micro SMEs, sole traders and consumers. Rich Wagner, CEO and founder, APS Financial, says: “This credit […]
US investment management firm Pimco has selected Kyc.com and Markit for its due diligence and onboarding requirements. Pimco has opted for Counterparty Manager, Tax Utility, kyc.com and the “entire regulatory and compliance ecosystem”. Kyc.com and Markit say their “ecosystem” provides buy- and sell-side firms, and corporates with a solution for onboarding, KYC (Know Your Customer), […]
Bloomberg has applied to the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) to become a local operating unit (LOU) of the Global LEI System (GLEIS). By submitting this application, Bloomberg moves to the candidate stage of the LOU accreditation process and joins an existing network of LOU’s monitored by GLEIF. Peter Warms, senior manager of fixed […]
The European Banking Federation (EBF), the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA) and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) are planning global policy measures on cybersecurity, data and technology through a new set of common principles. In its paper, “International Cybersecurity, Data and Technology Principles”, the organisations want to create a “starting point for dialogue […]
Sapient Global Markets, a technology and consulting services firm, has launched RegRecon for reconciliation and regulatory reporting accuracy. RegRecon offers automated trade matching and reconciliation, break management and resolution workflow. It is available as a standalone solution and managed service, or within Sapient’s CMRS (compliance management reporting system) platform. Arun Karur, vice-president at Sapient, says […]
AxiomSL is implementing its flagship regulatory reporting platform at US-based PNC Financial Services. PNC, one of the largest banks in the US, will use the solution for its reg reporting needs in the domestic market, plus Canada and the Bahamas. Alex Tsigutkin, CEO at AxiomSL, says the vendor is “proud to have been chosen by […]
With MiFID II now confirmed and MAR just around the corner, Dave Tolladay of Alerts4 Financial Markets examines the key questions facing financial institutions having to increase trade surveillance monitoring spend while reducing costs. Between €500 and €700 million – that’s the estimated one-off compliance cost to be imposed on financial firms carrying out a […]
Paris-based Sopra Steria has been selected by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to deliver a new digital regulatory market data processing platform in an “exclusive” six-year contract. The new platform will support the FCA’s on-going regulation of firms, as well as encompassing new requirements under the forthcoming Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II). […]
Bolivia’s banking community has connected to Swift’s Know Your Customer (KYC) Registry, a centralised repository which maintains a standardised set of information about financial institutions required for KYC compliance. Since December 2014, the KYC Registry has been adopted by more than 2,350 financial institutions globally to “complement” existing compliance programmes. In Latin America, the Registry […]
The European Commission (EC) wants to update the fourth Anti-Money Laundering directive so that it also covers virtual currencies, such as Bitcoin. In the UK, the Treasury has followed suit by announcing plans to subject virtual currency exchanges to the same regulations as banks. This isn’t surprising. Gunnar Nordseth, CEO and co-founder of Signicat, muses over the possible […]
Eventus Systems, a US-based provider of data processing and analysis solutions, has signed PDQ ATS for its flagship Validus risk and surveillance platform. PDQ ATS, an independent alternative trading system for equity market participants, will use Eventus’ Validus platform for a centralised look at trading, operations, surveillance, compliance and risk management information for both buy- […]
Swift will launch Payments Data Quality, a reporting and data analytics service to help financial institutions comply with new international requirements for originator and beneficiary information in payments messages. The service will be available in Q3 2016 and Swift says it will help banks monitor their compliance with the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) Recommendation […]
NICE Actimize hopes to muscle into the mid-tier banking sector with the launch of AML Essentials, an anti-money laundering cloud-based platform. It will be delivered on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud. The solution offers transaction monitoring, CDD (customer due diligence) and KYC (know your customer), and watch list filtering to reporting and SAR (suspicious […]
Here’s a round-up of yesterday’s (5 April) panel discussions at Money 20/20 in Copenhagen. In “Knowing me, knowing you: Streamlining KYC, ID and customer onboarding” the issues of identity and how service providers are using new technologies for verification were examined. A question to the audience as to whether ID-based payments are dead received a […]
With the new era in global tax reporting, Thomson Reuters is conducting a survey to gauge the level of the industry’s readiness for FATCA and CRS. Evolving global regulations around tax transparency are challenging organisations around the world to implement new procedures. Are you ready? We are calling on you to help us create a […]
Commerzbank is now live with an integrated set of finance and risk solutions powered by the SAP HANA platform. SAP says the bank has more than 70% of its balance sheet running on SAP Bank Analyzer and SAP Accounting for Financial Instruments. It adds that Commerzbank is able to close its monthly books “significantly faster”, […]
MiFID II is delayed yet again as the European Commission (EC) asks the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) for a “rethink”. ESMA has received a letter from EC concerning certain parts of the regulation draft. EC wants a rewrite of three technical standards that govern trading on commodities, exemptions for companies providing support market […]
Poland-based Bank Pocztowy is implementing a new risk management system, OneSumX, supplied by Wolters Kluwer. The solution will support the following areas: asset and liability management (ALM), market risk, liquidity risk, and credit risk (for the Basel III capital charges calculation). The bank will also use Wolters Kluwer to provide funds transfer pricing (FTP) analysis […]
The introduction of the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB) requires a rethink when it comes to risk architecture and data requirements. Xavier Dubois, Wolters Kluwer’s senior risk and finance specialist for EMEA, outlines the key points. There is an area of complete agreement when it comes to examining the potential impact of FRTB – […]
Finland-based Aktia Bank is implementing Accuity’s Global WatchList to provide regulatory sanctions and other compliance data. The solution covers politically exposed persons (PEPs), companies, vessels, goods, countries and payment information. Accuity says that Aktia’s decision to sign for the Global WatchList was driven by the compliance needs and the need to improve the efficiency of […]
Equiniti Group has completed the purchase of Risk Factor and KYCnet. The acquisitions are part of Equiniti’s strategy of buying specialist technology platforms to provide regulation driven services for its clients. Last year it bought Transglobal Payment Solutions, while back in 2012 it acquired investment system supplier Peterevans. It also purchased a UK-based lending software […]
Make a note, 5th September 2017 has been unveiled as the industry target for the US to move from a T+3 to a T+2 settlement cycle. The decision on this has been reached by the US T+2 Industry Steering Committee (T+2 ISC), organised by The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and co-chaired by the […]
There are many uses of big data analytics by financial organisations to meet evolving regulatory and compliance requirements, Swift Institute reveals in its recent paper, “The Role of Big Data in Governance: a regulatory and legal perspective of analytics in global financial services”. The paper cites two case studies as examples of how these analytical […]
Financial institutions need to determine how to comply with the least disruption and cost in the short time frames provided. Image courtesy of Datameer. Click on picture to enlarge or use zoom feature within browser. Or you can read the PDF here.
As financial institutions across the board gear up for 2016, the year ahead poses some notably regulatory challenges. Not least among these is the impending Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) from the European Commission; there will also be further progress on MiFID II. On 3 July this year, an event will take place which will mark […]
London-based Calastone, the global funds transaction network, has launched Data Services, a market intelligence solution for fund managers. Calastone says that MiFID II, the European regulatory framework designed to “improve the transparency and oversight of financial markets”, is moving responsibility to understand the distribution chain from distributors and platform providers to fund managers. Rob Swan, […]
Kyc.com, a joint venture between Markit and Genpact, has announced the expansion of its Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance and diligence service to Hong Kong and Singapore. This roll out is in addition to jurisdictional coverage in the US, UK and Australia which it launched in 2014. A number of banks are already signed up […]
The European Commission has put markets out of their suffering by finally confirming a one year extension to the entry into application of the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, or MiFID II. The extension has been made to overcome technical implementation challenges faced by both regulators and market participants. The new deadline is 3 […]
If 2015 was all about how the financial sector continued its post 2008 crisis transformation, 2016 looks set to promise even more developments in the same vein across the EMEA region. The ongoing change continues to be remarkable in its depth and scope impacting financial institutions and technology firms like Wolters Kluwer Financial Services who exist to enable banks and others to navigate risk and regulatory complexity
Buy-side block trading venue Liquidnet has released a set of EMEA trading algorithms, which it says will help market participants to find liquidity ahead of the European Commission’s upcoming MiFID II legislation, which introduces important changes for dark pools.
The European Commission has acknowledged that further delay to MiFID II may be ‘necessary’, following a letter from ESMA which said it would not be possible to implement the legislation in time. The delay follows an earlier setback in May and means the new rules could be delayed until January 2018.
UK regulator the Financial Conduct Authority is planning to launch a ‘regulatory sandbox’ that will allow businesses to test out new products and services without ‘incurring the normal regulatory consequences’. The move is part of the FCA’s year-old Project Innovate, which aims to boost competition and growth in financial services.
Chrisol Correia, Head of Global Anti-Money Laundering Solutions, LexisNexis Risk Solutions
MiFID II comes into effect in January 2017, which might seem a long way off, but you need to start preparations now if your institution is really going to benefit
Five years on from the Dodd-Frank Act being signed into law in the US, a number of outstanding issues for derivatives reform need to be resolved, according to a new paper by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association.
As the European Commission’s MiFID II legislation moved towards implementation of technical standards, some of Europe’s national regulators are seriously worried that mandatory open access to CCPs may not be such a good idea. Concerns about the ability to manage risk and the ability to effectively handle data were highlighted by speakers at the IDX FIA conference in London yesterday.
Regulatory compliance might be a fact of life for every financial institution, but it can be very challenging when competitive pressures come in to play. Software-based services are often now the primary means of contact between a company and its customers; IT is no longer a back-office support function
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority’s study into competition in investment and corporate banking will focus on choice, transparency, bundling and cross-subsidisation in debt and equity capital markets, mergers and acquisitions and acquisition financing. It will also consider links between competition in these primary market services and related activities such as corporate lending and broking, and ancillary services.
