EU publishes final draft in RTS

The final proposals have been published on investor disclosure rules for European Union Taxonomy-linked products. The EU’s three financial watchdogs published the latest draft of the Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS), which aims to provide a blueprint on reporting on financial products that qualify as sustainable under the EU Taxonomy and Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). The proposed draft addresses a number of thorny issues, including the status of sovereign bonds in terms of taxonomy alignment.

SEC chief urges collaboration on reporting standards

Companies, governments and market participants must work together to create global standards on climate-related data reporting, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s chief has urged. In a webinar hosted by the Principles for Responsible Investment and the London Stock Exchange Group, SEC Commissioner Allison Herren Lee said “we must seek ways to collaborate across jurisdictional boundaries to promote consistency in climate-related disclosure”. This was vital to ensure investors made the right decisions to help solve the climate crisis.

CACEIS selects Cardabel machine learning to optimise reconciliation

European asset servicing group CACEIS has implemented Cardabel’s machine learning (ML) technology to optimise securities and cash position reconciliation as part of the digital transformation of its middle-office outsourcing offer. The Cardabel technology reduces processing times and enhances CACEIS’ reconciliation offering. Sandrine Legrand, head of middle-office at CACEIS, says: “The challenge was to reduce turn-around times for clients’ reports while dealing with a constantly rising volume of flows. Cardabel’s offer is the perfect fit, and enables employees to focus on higher value tasks that raise client satisfaction”.

Contour extends use of LEI to inclusion in trade finance network

Contour, a digital trade finance network, has partnered the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) to enable the use of Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs) within its network and to financially support its members in obtaining their own LEI. By adopting the entity identifier, Contour’s members will benefit from increased confidence among their trading counterparties, lower data reconciliation costs, reduced transaction discrepancies and improved risk management. Contour plans further use of the LEI including building the identifier into its KYC processes and collaborating on the GLEIF-led Verifiable LEI (vLEI) initiative.

QuantCube Launches Crude Oil Risk Sentiment Indicator

Alternative data specialist QuantCube Technology has launched the QuantCube Crude Oil Risk Sentiment Indicator, which uses natural language processing (NLP) in Arabic and English to accurately capture short-term market risk and predict price movements. By using Arabic social media data, information available on crude oil is increased more than five-fold, creating the most comprehensive crude oil sentiment indicator in the market, according to the company. The Indicator processes multiple factors impacting crude oil prices in real time, including OPEC meetings, production and stocks. As a result, Quantcube claims it can provide insights several hours in advance of traditional news outlets, giving commodity traders and hedge funds an edge in the market.

Archax Completes First Fundraising Round for Subsidiary Montis Digital

Archax, the UK regulated and registered digital securities exchange, broker and custodian, working with DLA Piper, has completed the first fundraise on its Primary Issuance Platform, an oversubscribed round of $1.5 million for its recently announced Montis Digital subsidiary, which is building blockchain-based market infrastructure for the post-trade ecosystem.

Participants in the raise were onboarded through the Archax website portal, with holdings maintained and recorded in the Archax regulated custody service, ready for future digital token issuance. The DLA Piper regulatory compliance platform was also used to automate the applicable regulatory requirements and to create the required legal documents for participating in a digital issuance. Also party to the raise was US broker/dealer GB Capital Markets, acting as placement agent for US investor participants.

GRI Revises Universal Standards and Restructures Governance

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has revised its universal standards to help subscribers better report on their ESG impacts. The revisions, the “most significant” update since 2016, incorporate human rights disclosures and have been carried out to enable firms to better respond to new regulations, particularly SFDR. The Netherlands-based sustainability standards setting organisation has also reshaped its governance structure, creating a two-tired setup comprising a Supervisory Board of directors and a Management Board, consisting of the CEO and Chief Financial Officer. Current CEO Eric Hespenheide will step down in January.

Broadridge Adds AI-powered Anti-Money Laundering Solution

Broadridge Financial Solutions has released Broadridge Anti-Money Laundering Solution (AMLS), bringing new capabilities to the company’s existing intelligent automation suite. The solution delivers an end-to-end machine learning (ML) powered AML platform covering transaction monitoring, name screening, alert prioritisation, and customer risk scoring. The platform is powered by cloud-based AML transaction monitoring software provider Tookitaki.

Encompass Expands into North America

Encompass, a provider of automated KYC solutions, has expanded into North America with office headquarters in New York and the intention to better serve the needs of existing global clients with a presence in North America, as well as secure new clients and partnerships in the region. Alex Ford has been appointed president, North America. She joined Encompass in 2012 and has held executive responsibility for several business units of the company. She will be joined initially by six senior staff members before an increase to more than 10 by the end of 2021, and double the number in 2022.

SmartStream Adds Intelligent Exceptions Management Design to SmartStream Air

Financial solutions provider SmartStream Technologies has launched a new intelligent exceptions management design for its cloud-native AI-powered SmartStream Air solution. The enhancement, which follows the release of TLM Aurora Universal Data Control earlier this year, is designed to further simplify the typically complex and manual exceptions management process for data reconciliations. The new design aims to reduce manual touchpoints around identification, prioritisation, allocation and audit, and to provide real-time and dynamic business insights and analytics, for more effective management of risk and greater operational insight.