Encompass Forms Transformation Team to Help Banks Drive KYC Automation Initiatives

Encompass, a provider of a Know Your Customer (KYC) automation platform, has set up a transformation team charged with ensuring banks reap the benefits of automation initiatives. The team will help companies define what success means and facilitate organisational alignment required to achieve KYC transformation.
Encompass transformation directors include former Barclays senior executive Howard Wimpory, who joined Encompass in London in 2021; Jo Scanlon, who supports customers in APAC; and Darren Marion, also part of the team in Sydney, Australia. Nicola Pickering, vice president, customer success and delivery at Encompass, comments: “It is great to hear from customers how valuable our team’s direction and thought leadership is in navigating KYC transformational change.”

Bloomberg Releases Price Transparency Data Solution for SEC Rule 2a-5

Bloomberg has released a price transparency data solution aimed at helping clients tackle the regulatory challenges presented by SEC Rule 2a-5’s requirements for readily available market quotations. The solution is powered by BVAL, Bloomberg’s evaluated pricing service, and is
available to BVAL customers ahead of the compliance data of 8 September, 2022 for new SEC rule, which is part of a broader regulatory trend around pricing transparency and valuation oversight.

“Given the need to understand in detail what is behind a price, clients approached us seeking a solution to navigate compliance with Rule 2a-5,” says Brad Foster, global head of enterprise data content at Bloomberg. “BVAL’s price transparency data fields and our detailed rules engines enabled us to design a data solution to help compliance and legal teams adapt to the rule’s requirements for readily available market quotations.”

Bloomberg Releases New Common Data Format for LEIs

Bloomberg has released the common data format 3.1 (CDF 3.1) for Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs). The latest CDF published by the Global LEI Foundation includes six entity category data fields that depict the type of legal entity, such as investment fund or government entity, as well as residential government entities, types of fund relationships and corporate events like name or address changes.

These inclusions are designed to increases transparency of legal entity types, relationships and events, enabling firms to better understand their exposure to different types of legal entities, ensure they are meeting KYC requirements, and have access to meta data for onboarding clients. Steve Meizanis, global head of symbology and LEI services at Bloomberg, says: “The additional data being collected around mutual funds, government entities and corporate events allows the LEI to meet the evolving entity identification needs of the industry.”

Refinitiv Makes Quant Data Available on Snowflake Data Cloud

Refinitiv, an LSEG business, has made its quantitative data available on Snowflake’s financial services data cloud, allowing asset managers and hedge funds to access the data alongside existing vendor and proprietary data on the Snowflake data cloud. The Refinitiv data includes a repository of 60-plus financial data sets, quantitative alpha models and other third-party and alternative data sets.

Austin Burkett, head of quantitative analytics and content at Refinitiv, comments: “Our clients require solutions that help speed and simplify the data intake and concordance process. Our quantitative analytics service is a trusted and longstanding offering in the market, and its delivery through Snowflake magnifies its value to our mutual clients.”

SS&C Incorporates Sustainalytics ESG Data into its Advent Platform

Sustainalytics’ ESG data will be available to clients of SS&C’s Advent platform under a new deal struck between the companies. The arrangement will see the Morningstar company’s data used by Advent’s portfolio manager customers, enabling them to combine it with financial data. Connecticut-based SS&C said the data will be available on its Advent Genesis Platform and the Black Diamond Wealth Platform from the middle of the year.

Schwab Offers MSCI ESG Ratings to Clients

Investment giant Charles Schwab is to make third-party ESG data available to its customers. The Texas-based financial services firm will offer MSCI ESG Ratings through its web-based research too and via relevant stocks’ Schwab Equity Ratings Report. MSCI’s ratings are designed to gauge a company’s reliance to long-term ESG risks.

ESG360 Provides Moody’s Clients with ESG, Climate Risk Exposure Measures

Moody’s Investors Service has created a new platform to provide portfolio manager with ESG scores and models on private and listed companies. Moody’s ESG360, is described as an “easy-to-use” service that will enable clients to better understand the short- and long-term ESG and climate risks exposures.

Fenergo Acquires Transaction Monitoring Market Entrant Sentinels

Fenergo has acquired Sentinels, an anti-money laundering (AML) transaction monitoring market entrant with artificial intelligence (AI) based technology. As a result of the deal, Fenergo’s clients and financial institutions will be able to combine rich KYC profiles with client behavioural data for continuous and granular KYC monitoring.

Marc Murphy, CEO of Fenergo, comments: “Our shared goal of aiming to solve the increasing compliance and operational challenges facing financial institutions made Sentinels an ideal fit. By adding transaction compliance to our existing client onboarding and product origination solutions, financial institutions can monitor and review client behaviour and identify risks on an ongoing basis. This blended approach to financial crime makes us well placed to address the rising compliance challenges faced by financial institutions more efficiently.”

FCA to Require Board Diversity Disclosure

The UK’s financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), will expect listed companies to disclose board and executive committee diversity metrics in their sustainability reports. The finalised rule is intended to give investors transparency into the race and gender makeup of management teams. Companies will be required to make the declarations in their reports for the fiscal year that began this month. The FCA will set targets and companies failing to reach them will be expected to explain why.

DSB Publishes Final Report on UPI Legal Terms and Conditions Consultation

The Derivatives Service Bureau (DSB) has published the final report on its UPI legal terms and conditions consultation and draft user legal documentation. The report focuses on industry feedback received on the consultation paper and confirms the legal provisions and associated mechanisms to be taken forward with respect to DSB legal documentation. Stakeholder feedback to the consultation covered topics including the introduction of a UPI Client Onboarding and Support Platform (COSP), use of the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) for user onboarding verification, use of pre-payment for lower value user fees, and fee model variables to be used for annual fee determination.