Oktris Offers MiFID II Transparency Reporting Services

Start-up regulatory reporting firm Oktris is offering MiFID II services beyond transaction and post-trade reporting with software-as-a-service solutions covering transparency calculation data reporting, instrument reference data reporting, and best execution reporting. The company also provides an ESMA and FCA Financial Instruments Reference Data System (FIRDS) solution that automates the task of taking large datasets from UK and EU regulators and puts the data in a database that can be queried and integrated with other financial systems. The company’s first client is a trading venue using the Oktris FIRDS and best execution services.

Accuity Adds AI to Financial Crime Compliance Screening

Accuity has introduced an AI-driven account screening capability, Firco Automated Alert Reduction, aimed to increase accuracy in detecting and evaluating screening matches during Know Your Customer (KYC) processes. The solution results from Accuity’s acquisition of Safe Banking Systems in July 2018 and has been optimised through integration with WorldCompliance data. Rather than leaning on manual processes and managing an abundance of false positives, the Firco solution applies AI techniques to potential matches produced by screening systems and includes a scoring methodology that calculates the probability of a match being correct and evaluates how material the risk is to the business.

Saxo Bank and Brown Advisory Cooperate to Offer Ethical Stocks to SaxoSelect Clients

Saxo Bank, a fintech focused on multi-asset trading and investment, and Brown Advisory, a global investment manager with a history in sustainable investing, have cooperated to add a digital investment portfolio, Ethical Selection, to the SaxoSelect universe. The portfolio offers a cost-effective way to invest in a sustainable, all-cap, 30-40 stock portfolio comprising US listed companies. Brown Advisory’s research goes beyond negative screening and evaluates every company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) attributes to maintain a focus on companies that use sustainability drivers to add value to shareholders.

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.

Style Analytics and Sustainalytics Integrate ESG Data in Skyline

Style Analytics, a factor-based analysis software provider, has made a distribution agreement with Sustainalytics, an ESG research, ratings, and analysis firm, to offer ESG considerations to investors. Customers will have access to a portfolio level view of Sustainalytics’ company ESG data using Style Analytics’ Skyline product. As a result, investors will gain perspective into the company level exposures of their portfolios. Bob Mann, president and chief operating officer at Sustainalytics, says investors will have more insight into the ESG risk factors their funds are exposed to based on their underlying holdings and how these factors could impact their risk-return profile.

SEB Selects DTCC Global Trade Repository for SFTR reporting

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) has selected DTCC’s Global Trade Repository (GTR) service to meet its obligations under the Securities Financing Transactions Regulation (SFTR), which is expected to apply from April 2020. To streamline client adoption of the service, DTCC recently added data transformation services to its SFTR offering, providing a one-stop shop for clients’ reporting needs.

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

Solidatus Targets Asia-Pacific from Office in Singapore

Solidatus, provider of a data lineage and business relationship mapping solution, has opened an office in Singapore to address Asia-Pacific markets. The expansion comes off the back of two trade missions to Asia in 2018, both of which were at the invitation of the UK Department of International Trade. John Berven, who has experience of the region and spent 18 years at State Street Global Markets, where he managed foreign exchange sales team that covered institutional investors in Hong Kong and Singapore for five years, will lead the Singapore office and be the first Solidatus employee outside the UK.

CAT NMS Names FINRA as Plan Processor for the CAT after Dropping Thesys

CAT NMS has selected the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) as plan processor for the consolidated audit trail (CAT), having dumped previous plan processor Thesys Technologies earlier this year. CAT NMS, which is responsible for implementation of the CAT, has also released updated industry member technology specifications and industry member technical specifications scenarios.

ESMA Names Three UK CCPs to Offer Services in the EU Following a No-Deal Brexit

ESMA has named three UK central counterparties (CCPs) that will be allowed to provide services in the EU following a no-deal Brexit. The CCPs are LCH, ICE Clear Europe, and LME Clear and have been selected to limit the risk of disruption in central clearing and avoid any negative impact on the financial stability of the EU in the case of a no-deal Brexit. ESMA also supports continued access to UK central securities depositories (CSDs) and is in the process of selecting which ones will continue to be recognised in the EU after a no-deal Brexit.