LexisNexis Closes Emailage Acquisition

LexisNexis Risk Solutions has acquired Arizona-based Emailage, a fraud prevention and risk management solutions provider that provides fraud risk scoring solutions based on email intelligence. Its fraud prevention solutions assess fraud risks by utilizing email address metadata, a differentiated global contributory network, and machine learning algorithms. Emailage, which has established market presence in the US, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific, will form part of the Business Services Group of LexisNexis. The two firms already have an established commercial partnership offering email risk assessment to global clients.

CFTC Issues COVID-19 Relief

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has relaxed rules around voice and telephone recording for swap execution facilities up until the end of June, along with relief to designated contract markets regarding audit trail and related requirements over the same period. The spread of coronavirus has caused compliance with certain CFTC requirements to be particularly challenging or impossible because of displacement of personnel from normal business sites due to social distancing and other measures.

“These prudent, targeted, and temporary actions will help facilitate orderly trading and liquidity in our derivatives markets,” said CFTC Chairman Heath P. Tarbert.

REGIS-TR Joins with GLMX on SFTR Delegated Reporting services

The European trade repository REGIS-TR will collaborate with GLMX, provider of pre- and post-trade technology solutions for repurchase agreements and secured lending, to provide an interoperable, full-service reporting solution for SFTR requirements. Together, they will offer a hosted solution that leverages existing industry data workflows to lower cost and operational burden of SFTR. GLMX has been testing with REGIS-TR and market participants to design a straight-through processing reporting solution, and clients will be able to use GLMX’s pre- and post-trade platform services and then delegate their reporting to GLMX to report their securities finance transactions to REGIS-TR under SFTR.

PRA Appoints PwC to Investigate Goldman Sachs’ Regulatory Reporting

The UK’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) is believed to have appointed PwC to undertake a “skilled person’s report” on Goldman Sachs to scrutinise the quality of its regulatory reporting out of its London offices. The move comes in response to concerns around its lack of oversight, and the quality of information being supplied to the PRA. Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Merrill Lynch are also being assessed, while Citi was fined a record £44 million recently for inadequate internal controls and governance arrangements relating to regulatory reporting obligations.

Singapore Bank Selects NICE Actimize’s AML Essentials to Launch Digital Platform

TONIK, a Singapore-based pure play licensed digital bank, has selected the Essentials Anti-Money Laundering solutions suite from NICE Actimize to support the development of a secure banking environment for its new customer base following approval to establish a regulated bank in the Philippines. One of the first digital-only banks in the region in the Southeast Asian region, TONIK will use AML Essentials (a cloud-based offering that is built upon NICE Actimize’s end-to-end anti-money laundering platform) to address the challenges of digital transformation. The product suite includes Transaction Monitoring, Customer Due Diligence, and Sanctions Screening capabilities.

HKMA Invites RegTech Tenders

The HKMA (Hong Kong Monetary Authority) is inviting tenders for the provision of professional services to help it facilitate the adoption of RegTech by the banking industry, with services expected to commence in May 2020. Submission details can be found in the tender document, which can be obtained upon request by email to regtech@hkma.gov.hk.

ESMA Consults on New MiFIR and MiFID II Regimes for Third-Country Firms

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets’ regulator, has launched a consultation on draft technical standards on the provision of investment services and activities in the European Union (EU) by third-country firms under MiFIR and MiFID II, which will specify the information that third-country firms must provide to ESMA for the registration of third-country firms and for the information that third-country firms have to report annually. The closing date for responses from stakeholders is 31 March 2020.

BearingPoint Expands Business in Sweden

BearingPoint RegTech has won Stockholm-based GCC Capital AB (GCC) as a new customer for its Abacus360 Banking solution, a Regulatory-as-a-Service (RaaS) model. GCC will use Abacus360 Banking to fulfil its EBA reporting. In addition to RaaS, the solution for GCC also includes professional services covering the use of a cloud-based data management solution as well as the implementation of the Abacus software. It will be built by BearingPoint RegTech based on the Abacus data model and collecting data from various source systems and files.

ESMA Launches Supervisory Action On MiFID II Suitability Rules

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, is launching a common supervisory action (CSA) with national competent authorities on the application of MiFID II suitability rules across the EU, to be conducted during 2020. The CSA will focus on the application of the MiFID II requirements on the assessment of suitability. The regulator will evaluate the progress made by intermediaries in the application of the requirement, and analyse whether, and how, the costs of investment products are taken into account by firms when recommending an investment product to a client.

Pelican Expands in South Korea

Pelican, a global provider of AI-powered payments and financial crime compliance solutions for banks and corporates, has expanded its global sales reach through a partnership with CMSoft Co in South Korea. The new strategic partnership will enable the company to bring its PelicanSecure Trade Compliance solution to the financial services industry in South Korea. “We see a growing need from banks for technology that can automate and streamline their trade processing and compliance functions,” says CMSoft CEO Jong Hoon Lee.