Regional Banks Join KY3P Initiative Aimed at Standardising Vendor Due Diligence

A group of 12 regional banks has invested in KY3P, a company working with the financial industry to minimise the burden of responding to duplicative due diligence requests from financial institutions. The group adds to existing design partners Barclays, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Morgan Stanley and UBS. KY3P was initiated by IHS Markit in 2015 and offers a central, cloud-based platform for vendor onboarding, collection and verification of due diligence data and vendor risk monitoring covering a range of third parties, including vendors, affiliates, sub-advisors, distributors, clearinghouses and other service providers in the financial industry.

Cappitech Launches New Insights Product

Cappitech has announced the launch of Insights, a product that enables compliance teams and risk managers to improve the data quality of their regulatory reporting and benchmark their performance to their peers. Insights provides actionable data at-a-glance, allowing firms to set KPIs and view the key reasons for trade rejections as well as granular data on late reports. Next-generation charting tools enable users to identify underlying problems in their processes. Cross-regulation, Insights provides comprehensive reporting analysis across MIFIR, EMIR, MAS, Canadian and ASIC Derivative Reporting. Insights is offered as part of Capptivate, Cappitech’s cross-regulation, cloud-based platform.

SoftLab9 Signs Agreement with Moody’s Subsidiary Bureau Van Dijk

Software development company SoftLab9 has signed an agreement with Bureau Van Dijk (BVD), a subsidiary of Moody’s credit agency, to provide global company information for SoftLab9’s EnhanceComply.com compliance products.

“[BvD] enhance our coverage with the world’s most comprehensive data sets, including beneficial ownership, corporate structure, and more. Adding these capabilities will make SoftLab9’s enhanced due diligence one of the most thorough services available,” said Rahim Mohamed, Co-founder and CEO of Softlab9.

SoftLab9 also confirmed plans to integrate AI to its datasets for greater efficiency in analysing large amounts of structured and unstructured data.

Apex Group Selects AQMetrics to Power Regulatory Reporting Teams

Apex Group, the fifth-largest fund administrator in the world with over $610 billion in assets under management, has selected RegTech firm AQMetrics as its regulatory reporting technology solution. Apex plans to utilise AQMetrics for its ESMA, CFTC and SEC regulatory reporting requirements. The integrated AQMetrics platform will deliver a full suite of multi-jurisdictional regulatory reporting solutions to the global Apex Group.

HMRC Releases List of Firms in Breach of AML Regulations

HMRC on March 4,2019 published a list of nine businesses issued with penalty notices for the 2018-19 tax year, for failing to comply with the new 2017 Money Laundering Regulations. Five penalties were enforced by HRMC between June 2017 and October 2018 under the 2017 regulations, to the value of £1,390.80. A further 545 penalties were enforced under the 2007 AML regulations over the same period, to the value of £2.54 million.

The FCA is believed to have given notice to hedge funds to expect FCA AML investigators within the next month.

Singapore’s Jumio Joins with ComplyAdvantage to Reduce AML Risk Exposure

Jumio, an AI-powered trusted identity as a service provider, this week launched Jumio Screening: an automated AML screening solution that integrates ComplyAdvantage, a real-time, dynamic financial crime database. The partnership gives Jumio users access to a global proprietary database of structured risk profiles covering enhanced sanctions, regulatory and enforcement watchlists, politically exposed persons and adverse media. The integration automatically flags any new online customers when they are initially onboarded, if their names are listed within any of these databases. The new service also delivers alerts and ongoing monitoring after the initial onboarding process to help financial organisations maintain compliance.

BearingPoint Reports Record Revenues for 2018

Technology consultancy and RegTech solutions provider BearingPoint has announced record revenues of €789 million for 2018, despite numerous investments throughout the year and the transition in September of Kiumars Hamidian to Managing Partner. Europe provided strong growth above market average, particularly in France, Benelux, Africa, the UK and Ireland, while the firm also opened a new office in Luxembourg and acquired Inpuls, a data specialist in Belgium. It also made its first strategic acquisition in Asia, investing in Insignary, a specialist in binary-level open source software, and made over 1,100 new hires throughout 2018.

Theta Lake Partners with Zoom to Offer New AI Compliance Capabilities

California-based Theta Lake, a provider of cloud-based compliance AI for voice, video and chat communication, has announced a new partnership with Zoom Video Communications to launch Theta Lake for Zoom on the Zoom App Marketplace. The product integration enables regulated organizations to archive Zoom video, chat, and audio to comply with long-term regulatory retention requirements as well as leverage purpose-built AI and ML to automatically detect compliance risks and speed up workflow for shown, shared, spoken or written content in Zoom.

Ascent RegTech Joins Wells Fargo Start-up Accelerator

Compliance automation platform Ascent RegTech has been selected to join the Wells Fargo Start-up Accelerator Programme. The accelerator began in 2014 and currently has 23 companies in its portfolio. Start-ups are eligible to receive up to $1 million in funding, along with guidance from Wells Fargo business and technology leaders to help refine the launch of their ideas. The virtual, six-month, non-exclusive program has received nearly 2,500 applications from innovative companies in 91 countries since inception.

MiFIR Data in a No-Deal Brexit World – Learn More at the DMI Summit 2019