MiFID II Rules Set to Change as EU Bows to Criticism

The European Commission has suggested that it may tweak MiFID II market rules after an industry backlash criticising the regulation. Issues to be reviewed, according to the FT, include changes to the cost and distribution of market data, investor protection rules, and research for small companies. The FCA has also promised to conduct a sector-wide review of post-MiFID II research pricing, after a multi-firm review in September found that banks could be using their size to undercut independent houses and smaller brokerages.

Silent Eight Wins Funding From SC Ventures

AI-powered anti-money laundering start-up Silent Eight has raised $6.2 million in Series A funding from a group of investors including SC Ventures, the fintech and ventures unit of Standard Chartered Bank. Other investors included OTB Ventures and Wavemaker Partners. Standard Chartered is the largest client of Silent Eight, and has implemented the firm’s sanctions screening process across over 40 markets. Standard Chartered also recently confirmed a new partnership with Quantexa, a contextual decision intelligence software company, to use its big data analytics and AI platform for compliance investigations.

Ascent Achieves $19.3m in Funding Round

Chicago-based RegTech provider Ascent has won $19.3 million in Series B funding from a group of investors led by Wells Fargo and ING, with US venture capital firm Drive Capital and the University of Chicago also taking part. The fundraising follows a Series A round in 2018 which raised $6 million. The company will use the capital to recruit new talent, enhance its existing products, and increase brand awareness. Ascent provides an AI-powered compliance platform and is currently carrying out pilot testing with the Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN).

CFTE Launches RegTech Book, Online Course

The UK-based Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CFTE), a platform providing online learning for the FinTech space, has announced the launch of a targeted new online RegTech course providing a “thorough foundation of regulatory technologies” through eight hours of video content, curated readings and online assessment.

The announcement was made at the London launch of The RegTech Book, co-authored by CFTE Head of Entrepreneurship Janos Barberis and Douglas Arner, Professor in Law at Hong Kong University. The publication curates industry expertise into a single volume, which aims to serve as a reference point for the RegTech eco-system.

SteelEye Launches RegTech Glossary

London-based regulatory compliance and data analytics firm SteelEye has published a new RegTech glossary that aims to demystify the complex language of the RegTech sector. The online guide aims to assist professionals to navigate the most common terminology, abbreviations and jargon across the evolving regulatory landscape.

Charles Stanley Selects Red Deer for MiFID II Research Compliance

Charles Stanley, a UK wealth management firms with £24.4 billion AUM, has selected Red Deer’s Research Management solution to integrate MiFID II compliance across its investment process. The solution captures and attributes research consumption across all channels including email, chat and voice, while its Outlook plugin and mobile application achieves compliance quickly and with minimal disruption. ““With Red Deer we can now more efficiently and effectively track research consumption, manage the risk of inducements, monitor budgets, assess value and achieve compliance in Europe,” says Freddy Horn, Service & Product Lead at Charles Stanley.

Fenergo Launches Digital KYC

Fenergo today announced the launch of a new product enhancement, Digital KYC, a real-time, rules-driven, API-enabled KYC solution enabling financial institutions to automate and perpetuate KYC compliance reviews. The product works with existing client lifecycle management (CLM) solutions, automating continuous customer due diligence (CDD) reviews for low to medium-risk clients and reducing the need for repeated manual requests for client data.

US Regulators Join Global Financial Innovation Network

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have confirmed their membership of the Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN).

They join 46 other financial authorities, central banks, and other international organisations with the goal of fostering greater cooperation between financial authorities on a variety of innovation topics and regulatory approaches.

Glue42 Partners with RocketFin on Behaviour Mining for Regulatory Requirements

Desktop solutions provider Glue42 has formed an implementation partnership with RocketFin Consulting to help the former extend its capabilities from classic interop into the world of business analytics, insight and process optimization in the field of regulatory compliance, particularly around MiFID II and CAT. Joint customers can expect improved support for common financial procedures and regulations, and extended capabilities from the Glue42 Insights product suite.

FCA Authorises Bloomberg Index Services as a Regulated Benchmark Administrator

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has authorised Bloomberg Index Services Limited (BISL) as a regulated UK benchmark administrator under the European Union Benchmark Regulation. BISL has conducted index administration since 2014, including serving as the administrator of the Bloomberg Barclays fixed income indices. In addition, it administers the Bloomberg Commodity Index, the UBS Bloomberg CMCI index, the Bloomberg AusBond family, Bloomberg’s BFIX, the Bloomberg Currency Indices and a number of strategy and custom index offerings.