GRI Calls for Strengthened Sustainability Reporting

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the provider of some of the most widely used sustainability reporting standards around the world, has called for strengthened financial reporting that complements sustainability reporting and takes account of the financial risks and opportunities related to a company’s sustainability impacts – with mandatory disclosure to ensure transparency on corporate contributions to global challenges.

The proposals are included in GRI’s response to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation consultation on its potential role in sustainability reporting standards.

Global Financial Institution Fines for AML, Data Privacy and MiFID Rise 26%

CLM specialist Fenergo has released its annual findings on global financial institution fines which show that for the year to date, penalties have totalled $10.4 billion for non-compliance with AML, KYC, data privacy and MiFID regulations. The total volume of fines levied to financial institutions for these breaches was 198, a year-on-year increase of 141%. The average value of enforcement actions against financial institutions for AML related compliance breaches is 44% lower than in 2019.

UK’s RegulAItion Wins Singapore FinTech Accelerator

UK-based data platform company RegulAItion has won the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) 2020 Global Fintech Hackcelerator, competing against over 270 submissions from across more than 40 countries. To secure the win, RegulAItion successfully demonstrated how its ground-breaking AIR platform can enable the financial sector to respond to two of its most pressing global challenges today – COVID-19 and climate change. The AIR platform blends privacy enhancing techniques, blockchain and AI in order to transform the way in which regulated organisations across the globe share data.

“We are absolutely honoured to have won this prestigious award. The MAS Global Fintech accelerator is the Oscars of financial services” commented RegulAItion CEO, Sally Sfeir-Tait.

Know Your Customer Partners with Refinitiv on AML/KYC Solution

RegTech provider Know Your Customer has confirmed a new partnership with Refinitiv, to integrate Refinitiv’s World-Check risk intelligence data into its own client onboarding solutions. The partnership will enable clients to leverage both Refinitiv’s and Know Your Customer’s solutions through one integrated interface. Compliance professionals will now be able to access Refinitiv’s world-leading financial crime information in World-Check from within the Know Your Customer platform.

“We are delighted to announce this strategic partnership with Refinitiv, which further strengthens our unique offering based on live connections to company registries,” says Claus Christensen, CEO & Co-Founder of Know Your Customer.

Kyckr Launches Company Watch

San Francisco-based RegTech firm Kyckr this week launched the international rollout of its new SaaS technology platform, Company Watch, which gives clients notification of material changes at a frequency that suits them, enabling them to move from periodic to perpetual, event-driven KYC and remove unnecessary customer interaction.

The launch expands the firm’s KYC solutions suite from point in time, manual, one off authentication of customers to real time, automated, ongoing monitoring. Late-stage commercial discussions with several major financial institutions in Europe are currently underway and follow on from the on-boarding of Kyckr’s first client, a European Tier 1 bank.

DSB Calls for Product Committee Members from the Middle East and Asia

The Derivatives Service Bureau (DSB) is calling for new members for its Product Committee. Applications close on 13th January 2021. Existing membership includes representatives from the buy-side, sell-side, custodians, data vendors, trading venues and trade associations, and has been chosen based on asset class and workflow expertise, as well as geographical representation. The committee is well represented from the North American and European regions, but wants to expand membership from the Middle East and Asia to broaden industry collaboration. The committee will begin its third term in February 2021 and will include work on the Unique Product Identifier (UPI).

Kompany Joins TruNarrative App Store

RegTech platform TruNarrative has partnered with business verification & KYC specialist kompany to add the Austrian RegTech’s digital onboarding solutions to the TruNarrative App Store.TruNarrative’s partnership with the kompany data network means its customers can now access entity information directly from the primary source, reducing manual KYB processes and enabling a low friction digital onboarding journey for new clients.

Compliance.ai Closes $3m Funding Round

Regtech firm Compliance.ai has raised raised $3 million in a Series A funding round led by Cota Capital, an existing investor in the company. The funding round brings Compliance.ai’s total funding to $10 million.

FCA: One Month to Go till LIBOR Ends

FTSE Russell Adds Reference Price Files for Digital Asset Market

FTSE Russell, a multi-asset index, analytics and data provider, has released reference price files for the digital asset market in partnership with Digital Asset Research (DAR). The so-called FTSE DAR Reference Price – Benchmark Assets are designed to meet investor needs for accurate price discovery, transparency and consistency in the digital asset market, as well as the requirements of the EU Benchmarks Regulation. There are 182 blockchain-based benchmark and non-benchmark assets included in the FTSE DAR Reference Price files. They are listed across 12 fully vetted and 19 watchlist digital asset exchanges representing about $400 billion in market capitalisation.