Encompass Receives £2m Grant for AI Project

RegTech Encompass has been awarded a £2 million grant from Scottish Enterprise to develop an AI engine to accompany its KYC product offering. The funding, part of a £4.9, project, will help customers to accurately find risk relevant information about their organisations and investments, from a wide-ranging pool of data. “We have a long-standing relationship with Encompass, having supported the development of its initial KYC product. It’s great to see it now branching out into this new area of AI with its adverse news screening tool – for which there is a strong and immediate market demand,” says Scottish Enterprise.

Swiss Indices Endorsed Under the EU Benchmarks Regulation

SIX has received the approval by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority that its major Swiss Indices are compliant with the EU Benchmarks Regulation. The approval was granted for a total of 39 equity, fixed income and money market indices. The flagship indices SMI and SARON (the Swiss franc reference rate) are also included.

The aim of the endorsement application was to ensure that all indices that serve today as underlying for financial products in the EU can be continued to be used as benchmarks under the BMR. The endorsed benchmarks include the flagship equity indices, several bond indices, and the widely used Swiss Reference Rates.

Nasdaq Acquires OneReport to Accelerate ESG Reporting and Workflow Solution

Nasdaq has acquired OneReport, a privately-held provider of corporate responsibility and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data management and reporting services. OneReport will accelerate the delivery of Nasdaq’s recently announced ESG reporting and workflow solution, to be named Nasdaq OneReport. The platform is available to companies as part of the suite of solutions offered by Nasdaq’s Corporate Services business. Since 2003, OneReport’s software platform has helped organisations navigate corporate responsibility frameworks, pilot the information capture and response process, and deliver ESG data to ratings agencies and other stakeholders.

RMA Issues SFTR Reporting Contract Template

Following the January release of the final SFTR report by ESMA, the US-based Risk Management Association has issued a new standard legal agreement to address mandatory reporting obligations for SFTR, ahead of its initial go-live date of April 11. The template follows in the footsteps of the Master Regulatory Reporting Framework launched by the International Securities Lending Association (ISLA) and a number of other industry associations back in December, which is applicable to both EMIR and the first phase of SFTR. According to ISLA, the agreement has been designed to remain effective even after the UK leaves the EU.

ESMA Announces MiFID Scheduled Publication Dates for 2020

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published its 2020 calendar of MiFID II/MiFIR relevant publications for the transparency regime and systematic internalisers’ tests, to assist market participants planning for the next 12 months. The calendar covers non-daily publications (excluding daily reference data and transparency calculations for recently-listed instruments). Double volume cap data will also be released on the fifth working day of each month.

From April onwards, ESMA for the first time plans to publish transparency and systemic internalisers calculations for derivatives. These were not included in 2019 due to data quality issues.

ComplySci Launches London Office

Automated compliance management solutions provider ComplySci has expanded its global presence with a new London office, housing 13 full-time staff led by Kyri Yiannakis, Managing Director and Head of EMEA. The move follows the firm’s October 2019 expansion into a new 18,000 square foot headquarters in New York.

ComplySci is backed by Vista Equity Partners, a specialist investment firm exclusively focused on enterprise software, data and technology-enabled organizations.

Basel Committee Launches Consolidated Basel Framework

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) has launched a new consolidated framework, bringing together all of its 14 global standards for the regulation and supervision of banks and financial institutions for the first time on a new section of its website. The framework is the finalised version following the incorporation of feedback submitted against a draft published in April 2019.

SteelEye Extends Reach with Office in Paris

SteelEye, a compliance technology and data analytics firm, has taken the next step in its international expansion with the opening of an office in Paris. The office supports SteelEye’s rapid growth and positions the company closer to regulated financial markets in France, as well as the Benelux region, Switzerland and many of its existing clients. Since its inception in 2017, SteelEye has acquired over 40 clients across seven countries. CEO Matt Smith says: “After a successful first two years’ operating out of the UK, we now want to enable more firms to realise the benefits of the SteelEye platform.”

ESMA Updates AIFMD Q&A

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has updated its Questions and Answers on the application of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), which are intended to provide common supervisory approaches and practices in the application of the AIFMD and its implementing measures. The regulator has added one new Q&A on the AIFMD reporting to National Competent Authorities, offering clarification on reporting requirements on liquidity stress tests for closed-ended unleveraged Alternative Investment Fund (AIFs).

IHS Markit Receives Authorisation as Benchmark Administrator in the Netherlands

The Netherlands Authority for Financial Markets has authorised the Dutch entity of HIS Markit, Markit NV, as an administrator under the European Benchmark Regulation. Last year IHS Markit was also approved by the UK’s FCA, making it the first benchmark administrator to be authorised by National Competent Authorities in both the UK and Europe. The dual authorisation should offer some reassurance to clients in the event the UK exits the EU, while the firm can also now endorse third country benchmarks for use in the EU and assist third country benchmark administrators gain recognition in the EU27.