Silverfinch has extended the data distribution utility it developed for the look-through element of Solvency II to provide a data exchange capability that meets the requirements of the forthcoming Key Information Document (KID) regulation for Packaged Retail Investment and Insurance Products (PRIIPs).
The regulation comes into force on January 1st 2017 and requires PRIIPs manufacturers to produce KIDs that provide retail investors with information about the features, risks and costs of investment products. Insurers, as well as distribution channels and intermediaries, will have responsibility for delivering KIDs to investors. Without KID data, insurance firms will not be able to sell products.
While PRIIPs KID regulation is not yet finalised and a technical standards update is expected to be published by the European Securities and Markets Authority in July, Silverfinch decided to put a solution in place as the short time window before the regulation takes effect means firms need to move swiftly to ensure compliance.
John Dowdall, managing director at Silverfinch, explains: “The upcoming PRIIPs regulation will have a huge impact on insurers and asset managers as data has to be shared in order to comply with the new rules. Insurance firms that wrap asset managers’ funds for sale to retail clients will not be able to sell the products without a PRIIPs KID document, and retail investors will need to confirm they have been given a KID document before investing.”
The Silverfinch solution for PRIIPs KID extends the standard data model the company developed for the exchange of data between asset managers and insurers under Solvency II and will be offered as a utility type service. Alternatively, firms can license the data model on a standalone basis and build it into their own systems.
Ashley Smith, senior vice president of business development at Silverfinch, says the company is talking to both the Investment Association and Association of British Insurers about the PRIIPs KID compliance solution as it may prove useful to the associations’ member firms.
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