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.

IHS Markit Expands Global Dividend Forecasting Service

IHS Markit has doubled the number of companies covered by its Dividend Forecasting service. The expanded global service covers 28,000 stocks in more than 90 markets, providing up to five years of dividend forecast data for each stock covered and offering index providers, derivatives desks, asset managers and hedge funds with one of the broadest sets of dividend forecasts available. The model underpinning the expanded coverage was developed by the company’s data science team and includes machine learning, statistical modelling and time series analysis techniques that uncover patterns in multiple datasets and enable extended coverage of dividend forecasting.

TRG Screen Integrates Axon PEAR Information into FITS and INFOmatch

Following TRG Screen’s June 2019 acquisition of Axon and its PEAR (Policies, Explanations, Analytics, Repository) solution that consolidates exchange information including policies and pricing into a searchable online database, Axon says PEAR has reached coverage of over 250 markets and monitors over 650 documents and exchange notices daily. Over the past year, Axon has also added functionality to PEAR including vendor data notifications and comPEAR, which provides users with the ability to relate older versions of agreements with more recent iterations. TRG is working to integrate PEAR information into its FITS and INFOmatch spend management platforms.

ESMA Calls on NCAs to Improve Data Quality of Derivatives

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published the results of a 2018 peer review of supervisory actions of six European National Competent Authorities (NCAs), including the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), regarding approaches to enhancing the quality of derivative data reported under European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR). The report complements ESMA’s Data Quality Action Plan to improve the quality and usability of derivatives data. Its results are mixed, but on the data quality side, have led ESMA to suggest several initiatives to improve the supervision of EMIR data quality in the short and long term.

TickSmith Works with Nasdaq Canada to Provide Analytics for Nasdaq Basic Canada

In an effort to make Canadian markets more accessible and affordable, Nasdaq Canada is working with TickSmith and its Marketplace Advanced Insights to provide information on how Nasdaq Basic Canada is working in the marketplace. Nasdaq Basic Canada allows users to consume Level 1 market data from Nasdaq CXC, CX2 and CXD trading books in a single market data feed. TickSmith provides Nasdaq Basic Canada analytics that allow users to track market activity by firm, trading venue, instrument, or any combination to evaluate market liquidity and understand at a granular level how the product is helping them achieve their goals.

EU Considers Including FX Spot Trading Under MAR

The European Commission (EC) is reportedly considering a move to bring foreign exchange spot trading in scope of the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR). As part of a regulatory review, the EC has asked ESMA to consult with the industry on whether FX spot transactions should fall under the three-year old market abuse rules. The consultation, which includes other proposed changes to MAR, will run until November 29, 2019, with a final report presented to the EC in early 2020.

Continuity Acquires TraceRisk Enterprise Risk Management Platform

Continuity, a US-based provider of regulatory technology and compliance management systems (CMS) for financial services organisations, has acquired Ohio-based TraceRisk, a provider of cloud-based enterprise risk management (ERM) solutions. With technical integration efforts now underway, Continuity becomes the first provider to connect the strategic aspects of enterprise risk management to the tactical oversight of compliance management on a singular, unified platform. TraceRisk Enterprise Risk Management was launched in 2012 as an affordable, easy-to-use set of solutions, including 150+ tailored risk assessments plus thousands of key risk indicators, designed specifically for financial institutions. TraceRisk will now operate as Continuity Risk Management Solutions.