Legal Entity ID Working Paper Highlights Change in Regulatory Priorities and Potentially High Costs of Implementation
A recent working paper on the practicalities of establishing a legal entity identifier database highlights the tough challenges ahead and rather than promoting an extensive reference data collection exercise, it suggests that a ‘less is more’ approach is the only sensible way to proceed. The paper is a continuation of the research that was initially...
MSCI Expands Family of ESG Indices
MSCI, a leading provider of investment decision support tools worldwide, announced today the launch of 25 new MSCI ESG Indices, including: · MSCI Global ex Controversial Weapons Indices Nine new MSCI ESG Indices have been developed for use by institutional investors, including pension funds, and Universal Owners who wish to avoid investments in cluster bombs,...
UK FSA Highlights “Serious Weaknesses” Within Firms’ AML and Customer Data Management Practices
As part of its crackdown on the industry’s systems and controls around anti-money laundering (AML) data, especially for politically exposed persons (PEPs), which it stepped up last year, the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) has released the findings of a survey of these practices across the industry that highlights “serious weaknesses” in “many” firms. The...
CFTC Announces the 22 Members of Kirilenko’s Data Standardisation Subcommittee, Google Bags a Slot
Following the announcement last month that it would be establishing a data standardisation focused subcommittee, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has announced the selection of the 22 members of the team (out of the 52 that applied), which includes (interestingly) Google engineering research director Marc Donner. The other members, who will be led in...
Six Industry Associations Raise Concerns About Privacy of SIFI Data, Ask for More Time for Input on Requirements
The criteria surrounding regulatory assessments for firms that are to be considered systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs) have proved controversial over recent months, but the most recent industry furore seems to be about what happens to the data about these firms once it has been collected. This week, six industry associations wrote a letter to...
Reval’s Okochi and Trozzo Highlight Valuations and Data Impacts of US Swaps Market Reforms
It seems everyone’s talking about the data impacts of the Dodd Frank reforms at the moment. Last week, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) hosted a public roundtable on the subject of the new recordkeeping requirements and related standards efforts, and derivatives risk and valuations solution provider Reval also hosted its own webinar on the...
CFTC Roundtable on Unique Product IDs Highlights Mountain Yet to Climb in Terms of Setting Instrument Standards
This week’s Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) public roundtable on the technical aspects of the introduction of new unique product identifiers (UPIs) highlighted the mountain still yet to climb in terms of setting instrument identification standards. Much recent progress has been made on the legal entity identification front as a result of the combined work...
Markit Launches Markit iBoxx European Abs Index
Markit, a leading, global financial information services company, today announced the launch of the Markit iBoxx European ABS index, a cash bond index designed to track the performance of the European floating-rate asset backed securities (ABS) market. The Markit iBoxx European ABS index provides investors with a benchmark to assess returns available on European ABS...
Wholesale Market Brokers’ Association Publishes Repurchase Overnight Index Average (“Ronia”)
Wholesale Market Brokers’ Association (“WMBA”) today announces that it is publishing the Repurchase Overnight Index Average (“RONIA”), a new UK secured money market benchmark. The new index tracks actual market secured overnight funding rates in sterling and is compiled as a weighted average of transactions brokered in London, supplied by members of the WMBA between...
Fitch Launches Analytical Tools for EMEA and Asia-Pacific Corporates
Fitch Ratings has released tools designed to help investors better understand Fitch’s analytical approach, in particular the agency’s approach to computing credit metrics in IFRS jurisdictions, and its bespoke recovery analysis. “These new tools are a continuation of EMEA Corporates’ Clear Thinking programme, which is designed to make Fitch’s ratings more transparent and useful to...