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.

Standard Charted Bank Launches Bearing Point Tax Solution

BearingPoint RegTech has confirmed that Standard Chartered Bank has successfully deployed the tax reporting solution FiTAX to fulfill its global reporting obligations. These include CRS (Common Reporting Standard), FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) and QI (Qualified Intermediaries) reporting.

SmartSearch Receives Growth Equity Investment from Marlin Equity Partners

AML specialist SmartSearch has received a growth equity investment from Marlin Equity Partners, an investment firm with a long track record of backing software innovation. SmartSearch enables organisations to carry out AML checks without requiring clients to provide identity documents, with individual AML checks taking less than 30 seconds and business checks taking less than three minutes to process. “SmartSearch’s robust regulatory compliance platform provides industry-leading accuracy rates and strong customer advocacy,” says Roland Pezzutto, a principal at Marlin. “With increasing regulatory scrutiny and the desire for seamless customer onboarding, SmartSearch is well-positioned to capitalise on the rapid shift toward digital verification solutions and we look forward to collaborating with an exceptional management team to support the company’s rapid growth trajectory.”

Clausematch Enters Italy with Banca Intesa Sanpaolo Partnership

Following a meeting at a FinTech Innovation Lab hosted by Banca Intesa Sanpaolo, the bank has implemented implemented the ClauseMatch platform within its Cost Management Office governance area. An advanced online document management and collaboration solution, the space is designed to optimise and streamline the process of creating and managing intra-group service contracts.

ACA Compliance Opens New Office in Birmingham

GRC tech specialist ACA Compliance has expanded its European presence with an office in Birmingham, UK. Key to the services offered from the new location will be ACA’s Analysis and Review Centre (ARC). The ARC helps to reduce the workload of Chief Compliance Officers (CCOs) and in-house compliance teams by allowing them to pass on executional regulatory responsibilities to ACA. According to Thomson Reuters, over a third (36%) of global financial services firms now outsource all or part of their compliance function.

SmartSearch Wins Equity Investment

RegTech software provider and AML specialist SmartSearch has received a growth equity investment from Marlin Equity Partners, a global investment firm with a substantial software funding track record. SmartSearch enables organisations to carry out AML checks without requiring clients to provide identity documents. Its automated verification approach allows individual AML checks to be processed in less than 30 seconds while business checks take less than three minutes.

It claims to be the only organisation in the UK with the ability to verify individuals and companies in the UK and internationally all in a single platform via a browser or API, with full Sanction, PEP and adverse media screening and then ongoing monitoring.

FSB publishes UPI governance arrangements

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has published a report on governance arrangements for the Unique Product Identifier (UPI). The UPI will uniquely identify the product involved in OTC derivatives transactions reported to trade repositories. This will help authorities aggregate data on OTC derivatives transactions by product, allowing the effective use of OTC derivatives trade reporting data to help authorities assess systemic risk and detect market abuse. The Legal Entity Identifier Regulatory Oversight Committee (LEI ROC) will become the International Governance Body for the UPI and Unique Transaction Identifier (UTI). The UPI Technical Guidance should be implemented by Q3 2022.

BIS Releases Basel III Monitoring Report 2019

The Basel Committee’s latest Basel III monitoring exercise shows that on a fully phased-in basis, the capital shortfalls at the end-December 2018 reporting date are €23.5 billion for Group 1 banks at the target level. These shortfalls are almost 75% smaller than in the end-2015 cumulative QIS exercise, thanks mainly to higher levels of eligible capital. For Group 1 banks, the Tier 1 minimum required capital (MRC) is expect to increase by 3% following full phasing-in of the final Basel III standards relative to the initial Basel III standards. This compares with an increase of 3.2% at end-2017. On average, at end-June 2018, the total change in Tier 1 MRC at the target level was higher at 5.3% for Group 1 banks. This higher increase was largely driven by the higher market risk impact prior to the application of the recalibrated 2019 standard. The final Basel III minimum requirements are expected to be implemented by January 1, 2022 and fully phased in by January 1, 2027.

FCA Finds MiFID II Research Unbundling Rules Working Well for Investors

Multi-firm review findings published this week by the FCA has found that, post-MiFID II, most asset managers have chosen to pay for research from their own revenues, instead of using their clients’ funds. Firms have also improved their accountability and scrutiny of both research and execution costs, including where firms have chosen to charge research costs to clients. This has resulted in investors in UK-managed equity portfolios saving around £70 million in the first six months of 2018 across a sample of firms. The review also indicated that research budgets have fallen by 20-30%.

Firms Still Uncertain About Libor Transition

Although four out of five financial providers have Libor transition plans in place, just 18% say their plan is mature, while only one in five say they are operationally ready for the change – according to the Accenture 2019 Libor Survey. Almost half (41%) do not feel they have a unified and consistent approach to transition and remediation, while two in five believe that regulatory uncertainty and lack of clarity are hampering execution of their remediation efforts.