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.

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.