RegTech Insight Brief
Australian and Singaporean Benchmarks Achieve EU Equivalence
From August 19, 2019 the legal and supervisory frameworks of Australia and of Singapore are held as equivalent to the EU benchmark regime, according to recent decisions published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The decisions are applicable to the administrators of financial benchmarks that are declared significant benchmarks by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, and that are designated benchmarks based on Singapore’s Securities and Futures (Designated Benchmarks) Order 2018.
STOXX Registers as BMR Administrator
STOXX, the operator of Deutsche Boerse Group, has registered with ESMA as a benchmark administrator under the European Union’s Benchmark Regulation (BMR). The regulation was introduced by the EU following the high profile LIBOR manipulation scandals of 2012, and came into force in January 2018. Benchmark rate users have until January 1, 2020 to use non-authorised EU benchmarks or until December 31, 2021 to use third-party (non-EU) benchmarks.
Axioma Enhances Canada Equity Risk Model
Axioma, a provider of enterprise risk management, portfolio management and regulatory reporting solutions, has added a new Canada equity risk model (AXCA4) to its next-generation Equity Factor Risk Model suite. The release builds on existing risk models, offering enhanced country-specific content to meet the risk-management needs of investors. The estimation universe for the Canada model contains over 440 stocks and ETFs, with coverage history from 1995. The enhanced data includes deep daily history and, for the first time, macro factors for residual gold and oil sensitivity.
Sensiple Partners TNS to Bring MiFID II Compliance Solution to Frankfurt
Capital markets specialist Sensiple is bringing its regtech product SETREGA for MiFID II, SFTR and EMIR compliance and reporting to the FR2 data centre in Frankfurt as part of an agreement with Transaction Network Services (TNS). Sensiple will use TNS’s managed hosting, colocation and connectivity service to give market participants fast, secure and efficient access to its regulatory data processing and reporting systems. Sensiple on TNS’s Software-as-a-Service solution replaces Sensiple’s existing client-hosted model.
US Congress Approves Major Study into MiFID II Research
The US House of Representatives has passed a bipartisan bill requiring the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to study the provision of investment research for small issuers. It will require the SEC to explore a broad range of issues including among others the demand for research by institutional and retail investors; the availability of research; the volume of research over time; current competition in the research market; the costs of research; potential conflicts of interest in the production and distribution process; and the impact of different payment mechanisms. The bill has now been passed to the Senate for approval.
Melissa Launches Mobile KYC App
Identity verification specialist Melissa has launched Melissa KYC, a mobile-based unified compliance toolset providing end-to-end identity verification including ID card and document authentication, biometrics, and liveness confirmation. The app claims to capture identity documentation in under three minutes using facial recognition technology, while its verification feature uses real-time, multi-sourced data to authenticate each submission.
Global RegTech Market Growing at 52%
The global RegTech market is expected to reach $55.28 billion by 2025, expanding at a CAGR of 52.8% over the period, according to new data from Grand View Research. According to the research, the risk and compliance management segment generated the highest revenue in 2018, anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 49.7% over the forecast period. The regulatory intelligence segment accounted for over 12% of market share in 2018 and is one of the fastest growing sectors in the industry. North America is expected to lead growth with an expansion of 51.6% between 2019-25.
RegTech Funding in India Quintuples
According to data provided by research and intelligence firm Tracxn, private investments into the Indian RegTech space have increased by over five times so far in 2019 to reach an estimated $43.5 million, compared to $7.26 million in 2018. Notable RegTech start-ups to receive funding include Simility, CrediWatch, Digio, Fintellix, DotAI, NextKYC, Credible Ninja and Idfy.in among twenty others providing solutions ranging from e-KYC verification, fraud detection, financial scoring, KYC compliance, AI-based financial risk management to anti-money laundering and CRM tools.
kompany Wins Successful Funding Round
Austrian banking group Raffeisen Bank International (RBI) via its corporate venture capital unit Elevator Ventures has joined UNIQA Ventures to invest in business verification and KYC provider kompany, while previous investors, including the European Super Angels Club (ESAC), have increased their stakes. kompany is an alumnus of the Elevator Lab Program and became a group solution provider last year. The firm combines Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotic process automation and blockchain technology to deliver next generation Business KYC solutions. The service simplifies and audit-proofs business verification and client onboarding for financial institutions.
Bloomberg Acquires RegTek.Solutions
Bloomberg has acquired RegTek.Solutions, a specialist in global regulatory reporting software solutions. The firm, which provides modular software solutions built around actionable regulatory intelligence, will be integrated with Bloomberg’s Regulatory Reporting Hub (RHUB), as well as Bloomberg’s enterprise data management and trading systems. The acquisition will combine Bloomberg’s data enrichment and reporting capabilities with RegTek.Solutions’ quality and control tools across a broad range of global reporting jurisdictions. Clients will have access to a fully electronic reporting workflow including transaction reporting eligibility, data validation, enrichment and reconciliation. Further news to follow.