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SROs To Select CAT Builder within Two Months Following SEC Approval of NMS Plan

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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the national market systems (NMS) plan that will create a consolidated audit trail (CAT) designed to help regulators improve tracking of trading activity in the US equity and options markets. Within two months of this week’s approval, self-regulatory organisations (SROs) must select an organisation, or plan processor in NMS terms, to build and operate the CAT. Reporting deadlines start within a year.

Proposals for a CAT have previously met mixed opinion on how successful such a scheme could be, but the SEC’s decision to approve the NMS plan means the CAT will go ahead. SROs have two months to select one of the remaining plan processor bidders to build the central CAT repository – final bidders include FIS, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) and Thesys Technologies – and will do so through a two-round voting process in which each SRO has one vote.

The SEC states that the plan processor will be responsible for: operating, maintaining and upgrading the central repository; ensuring the security and confidentiality of all data reported to the central repository; and publishing technical specifications containing detailed instructions for the submission of data by the SROs and broker-dealers to the central repository.

Building the CAT is expected to take about 10 months, after which SROs are expected to start reporting their data by November 2017. Large broker-dealers are expected to report by November 2018 at the latest and small broker-dealers by November 2019 at the latest.

The SROs propose to conduct the activities of the CAT through a not-for-profit Delaware limited liability company that they would own jointly. An operating committee comprising all the SROs – each with one vote – will manage the company, while an advisory committee comprising broker-dealers, institutional investors, a service bureau that provides CAT reporting services, an academic who is a financial economist and a person with significant regulatory experience will provide input to the operating committee.

Commenting on the approval of the NMS plan, SEC chair Mary Jo White, said: “Through the CAT, regulators will have more timely access to a comprehensive set of trading data, enabling us to more efficiently and effectively conduct research, reconstruct market events, monitor market behaviour, and identify and investigate misconduct.”

Before approving the plan, the SEC modified some of its provisions in response to public comments and recommendations from the SROs. Modifications include the strengthening of several data security requirements in the plan, changes to clock synchronisation standards, and expansion of the membership of the advisory committee.

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ICCREA Banca Selects Misys to Drive Transformation and Innovation Across its Trading Business

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ICCREA Banca, a holding of the Iccrea Banking Group, has selected Misys FusionCapital to drive transformation and innovation across its Italian trading business. This new project provides front office and consolidated post-trade processes to improve straight through processing (STP) and improve risk management.

Under the agreement, ICCREA Banca expects to reduce operating costs by €5 million over 10 years. The bank will also be able to extend its Misys software licence across the Credit Cooperative bank network (BCC), as it provides enhanced services to these organisations.

“We are keen to work together with Misys on this transformational journey to directly contribute to the evolution of the solutions, reduce costs and gain competitive edge for us and on behalf of the Italian Credit Cooperative System. Moreover, the partnership with Misys will afford us huge cost savings as well as assist us in transforming our technology and business,” said Leonardo Rubattu, General Manager at ICCREA Banca.

FusionCapital enables ICCREA Banca to consolidate its capital markets systems on state of the art infrastructure. Centralising operations and processes will ensure transparency and a consistent, single user experience across the entire business. The end-to-end post-trade processing solution will streamline processes, making them more cost effective and lowering total cost of ownership.

Nadeem Syed, CEO of Misys, said: “The power of FusionCapital to support the bank in streamlining operations and doing away with silos is not to be underestimated. As ICCREA transforms its business, we are helping it to address its present and future needs with an integrated, innovative and scalable system. ICCREA will have a better handle on reporting and risk management in order to fulfil its regulatory obligations. This deal reflects our customer-centric approach and our extended partnership, built on over a decade of collaboration. It will provide a solid foundation for continued future work with ICCREA Banca.”

ICCREA Banca already uses Misys lending software to support a broad range of front-to-back processes and other activities such as non-negotiable derivative pricing, derivative pricing, and collateral management.

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Thomson Reuters Named Benchmark Administrator & Calculation Agent for the Saudi Arabian Interbank Offer Rate (SAIBOR)

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Thomson Reuters announced today that it was selected as benchmark administrator and calculation agent for the Saudi Arabian Interbank Offer Rate (SAIBOR). The appointment is part of an agreement with the Saudi Arabian banking industry. The arrangement is authorised by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA), as part of its regulatory mandate over the banking sector, where this initiative will enhance the governance process for setting SAIBOR and will bring further transparency and reliability to the process.

A panel of banks will contribute initially to SAIBOR, which will be calculated by Thomson Reuters based on its well-established and documented methodology and procedures aligned to the International Organisation of Securities Commission (IOSCO) Principles for Financial Benchmarks. Thomson Reuters will work closely with participants in the Saudi Arabian banking industry where appropriate, to expand adoption of the new benchmark.

“This initiative by the Saudi Arabian Banking Industry reflects Thomson Reuters proven expertise and knowledge in designing, calculating, administering and distributing benchmarks for over a quarter of a century,” said Nadim Najjar, Managing Director, Middle East & North Africa (MENA), Thomson Reuters. “It also reinforces our commitment to helping Saudi financial institutions increase transparency, ensuring strong governance processes and building greater confidence in the industry among investors and regulators.

With roots in Saudi Arabia for 20 years and in MENA dating to 1856, Thomson Reuters has contributed significantly to the growth and maturity of local and regional markets in the Middle East and North Africa. “We are situated at the centre of global commerce in MENA, connecting the local financial community with markets worldwide and providing news and insights that help customers find answers to their most pressing problems,” added Najjar.

Thomson Reuters operates its benchmarks business under the Trust Principles mandated in its corporate charter since 1941, which guarantee integrity, independence and freedom from bias and its governance and control framework for benchmarks is in line with IOSCO principles. Established as a separate and fully regulated subsidiary in May 2013, Thomson Reuters Benchmark Services Ltd develops and manages governance frameworks for the benchmarks it administers, as well as reporting tools to comply with various regulatory requirements for financial benchmarks.

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AcadiaSoft Purchases ProtoColl Collateral Management Service

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AcadiaSoft, Inc., the leading industry provider of margin automation solutions for counterparties engaged in collateral exchange worldwide, today announced it has acquired ProtoColl, an end-to-end collateral and margin management service, from The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

This coming March, thousands of buy-side firms and smaller banks will become subject to new variation margin (VM) rules for non-cleared OTC derivatives that went into effect September 1 for the largest global banks, all 24 of which are using the AcadiaSoft Hub in order to comply.  The purchase of ProtoColl accelerates AcadiaSoft's ability to provide market participants with automated VM processing services, creating a Central Margining solution for both IM and VM flows.

"The Hub is running smoothly, managing significant volumes from the world's largest global banks," said Chris Walsh, CEO of AcadiaSoft. "The combination of AcadiaSoft and Protocoll creates an end-to-end risk management solution that is a major step toward the industry's goal of automating the entire margining process on a single platform."

"This expanded market infrastructure benefits all firms within the derivatives industry," added Mark Demo, Product Director for AcadiaSoft. "Small to mid-sized firms now have the basic margin functionality required to automate; large banks get the long-term platform required to substantially reduce costs; and firms of all types and sizes can reduce disputes to manageable levels using standardized data, calculation methods and workflows."

The acquisition also enlarges the AcadiaSoft team, which now surpasses 100 people. The company recently opened a new, more spacious New York office and expanded its London facility to accommodate the rapid employee growth.

The AcadiaSoft Hub is a central margining platform which acts like a collateral operating system to automates, standardizes and integrates margin calculations, reconciliations, communication and disputes management for counterparties involved in the margining process.

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A-Team Group Appoints New Editor of Intelligent Trading Technology

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A-Team Group (www.a-teamgroup.com) publisher of Intelligent Trading Technology today announced that Michael Shashoua has joined the firm as part of its expansion plan to support its ongoing growth.

Michael will be responsible for the content in our Intelligent Trading Technology segment including the online news services, webinars, white papers and events and will report to President and Editor-in-Chief Andrew Delaney. “Given A-Team’s focus on electronic trading and enterprise data management, Michael’s experience is a perfect fit with our core offerings and being based in New York enforces our expansion plans in this key territory,” says Delaney.

Michael comes with a wealth of experience within the industry, having joined A-Team Group from Incisive Media, where he was editor of Inside Reference Data for five years. He joined Incisive Media in 2009 as a deputy editor of Waters Magazine and Sell-Side Technology. His experience covering financial services operations also includes eight years at Investment Media Inc., which published the Global Investment Technology newsletter and Global Investment magazine.

Intelligent Trading Technology is your single destination for knowledge and resources covering trading technology approaches, trends and challenges as well as all the regulations impacting financial trading technology for the enterprise.

Whether you're looking for a quick-hit view or a more in-depth analysis of a trading technology related topic, Intelligent Trading Technology - which is entirely free - is the place to be.

Our audience of over 17,000 members is made up of senior-level decision makers including Heads of Electronic Execution, Heads of Trading Technology, Market Data Managers, Chief Technology Officers and more across buy and sell side as well as vendors and consultants who service them. Make sure you've signed up to receive our weekly updates and other content on offer - from white papers to webinars to Handbooks to events and more - See more at: http://intelligenttradingtechnology.com.

About A-Team Group

A-Team Group has, since 2001, been delivering distinguished content based on in-depth domain expertise on behalf of B2B financial technology suppliers. Run by experienced business journalists, we thrive on taking complex business and technology topics and turn them into compelling content assets to drive lead generation and prospect nurturing with a measurable ROI.

A-Team Group provides news and analysis, white papers, webinars, events and more through our two online communities:

Sign up as a member free, download recent white papers, or look at our upcoming webinars and events and book your place today. Get in touch: 020 8090 2055 / theteam@a-teamgroup.com.

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Aravo Solutions Appoints Anna Mazzone as Managing Director, International

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Aravo Solutions, the leading provider of SaaS based GRC solutions to support the complex third party risk and compliance demands of the Global 2000, today announced the appointment of Anna Mazzone as Managing Director, International and Global Head of Financial Services.

Reporting to CEO Michael Saracini, and bringing over 20 years of financial services industry experience in the international markets, Ms. Mazzone will lead Aravo's global expansion, building operations as well as direct and partner channels internationally. She will be based in Aravo's London office. 

As former Global Head of KYC Managed Services for Thomson Reuters, Ms. Mazzone founded and grew Thomson Reuters' ORG ID KYC Managed Service. There she led a team of more than 150 individuals and managed clients in more than 80 countries.

Anna's deep domain expertise in Technology for Financial Markets (FinTech), Governance Risk & Compliance (GRC), Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Supplier/Vendor (KYS/KYV) technologies has contributed to significant growth at companies such as Thomson Reuters, CME Group, Markit and Trunomi.

“We are fortunate to have Anna join our team at Aravo,” said Mr. Saracini, CEO, Aravo Solutions. “As an accomplished and well-respected leader in the financial services and risk management space, her strength of vision, innovation and ability to execute internationally will help accelerate our continued growth and expanding global footprint. Anna’s experience and success in launching the financial industry’s first global Know Your Customer (KYC) Managed Service, will serve our client base well, as they look towards efficiencies of scale, and her financial services expertise will support our growing roster of clients within this industry and beyond. We’re delighted to welcome Anna, who reinforces our commitment to helping customers address some of the most pressing risk and regulatory concerns of their boards.”

Ms. Mazzone says: "Third parties pose significant risk and reputational exposure to companies across all industries today. Regulators, through increased scrutiny and enforcement, are making it clear that organizations cannot delegate their responsibility to a third party. Joining Aravo will allow me to help Global 2000 organizations close their execution gap between risk and readiness through a dynamic combination of my domain expertise and Aravo's dedicated and proven technology. I am convinced that no other provider can do what Aravo does in this space and am excited to be joining a team that is passionate about the broader social good that Aravo supports in its efforts to eliminate corruption and social injustice from supply-chain and third party relationships.”

Ms. Mazzone is on the Board of the Non-profit, Junior League of London, having supported the organization for over 14 years, on the Advisory Board for Trunomi, and is a business mentor for Level39 London Accelerator. She holds a Bachelor of Science, Finance and Insurance from the University of South Carolina – Darla Moore School of Business.

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Managing Enterprise Data and Subscriptions Spend

A-Team DMS Tackles Challenges of Big Data, Regulation, Data Value and More

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A-Team Group’s New York City Data Management Summit (DMS) kicked off with a keynote presentation on the 800lb gorilla of big data, and panel discussions dedicated to regulation and the data management response for 2017, and challenges that are keeping chief data officers (CDOs) awake at night.

Michael Stonebraker, adjunct professor at MIT and co-founder of Tamr, presented the summit’s first keynote – The 800lb Gorilla of Big Data – noting the ongoing issues of big data including the problem of managing large volumes of data, the difficulty of handling data velocity, and the challenges of integrating data variety.

He said the problems of big data for traditional business intelligence purposes can be solved using the right data warehouse platform, but suggested that when there are enough data scientists in the market, big data will become more of a data science than business intelligence element of the data management environment.

Considering the volume problem of big data, Stonebraker noted growing interest in the Spark engine for large-scale data processing, perhaps a challenger to Hadoop, but pointed out that, so far, Spark technology is flawed and provides poor performance. A better solution is tighter integration of big data with data management. He viewed big data velocity as a complex event processing issue and said there are commercial solutions in the market that process fast enough to ensure firms never lose a message.

Register Today: A-Team Data Management Summit New York City, April 4th 2017

Stonebraker described the issues of volume and velocity as 50lb gorillas, with data variety being the 800lb gorilla in the corner of the room. Data integration at scale is a big issue that can’t be solved using ETL tools and can only begin to be resolved using technologies such as machine learning and domain experts rather than programming experts. Stonebraker concluded with advice to focus on the 800lb gorilla and not on the 50lb gorillas that are a lesser challenge.

Navigating the regulatory landscape

The first panel discussion of the summit was dedicated to the regulatory landscape and data management responses for 2017. The session was moderated by Andrew Delaney, chief content officer at A-Team, and joined by Robin Doyle, managing director of the office of regulatory affairs at JPMorgan Chase; Peggy Tsai, data innovation lead at AIG; David Blaszkowsky, former senior vice president and head of data governance at State Street; and Roger Fahy, vice president and chief operating officer at CUSIP Global Services.

The panel discussed the rising tide of regulation and named incoming regulations Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as key concerns for 2017, along with existing regulations including the Basel Committee’s BCBS 239 and Solvency II in the insurance industry. Regulatory requirements including the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) and the extension of ISINs to cover derivatives under MiFID II were also in the frame.

Panel members agreed that a move towards data standards, strong data governance programmes and increased capability in managing commonalities across regulations will ease the burden of regulatory compliance, and floated the idea of building one reference data database to support regulatory compliance.

What’s keeping data leaders awake at night?

Challenges including regulatory reporting and a lack of common definitions across regulations, managing data variety including privacy and licence issues, sticking to the data management mandate, and preparing for the need to transform organisations are just some of the issues that keep CDOs and data leaders awake at night.

The panel reviewing these challenges was moderated by Predrag Dizdarevic, a partner at Element 22; and included Marc Alvarez, CDO at Mizuho Securities; Randall Gordon, managing director of data operations and governance at Moody's Corporation; Risë Zaiser, CDO at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation; and Peter Giordano, managing director at Oppenheimer & Co.

Other challenges identified by the panel included data governance and the difficulties of aligning practices and controls across an enterprise. Opinion differed on whether data governance should be a corporate or federated function, but concurred on the need for strong governance in response to BCBS 239.

Conversation about how to improve the business value of data and justify data management programmes suggested the need for better systems integration and control to maximise data usage, provision of more fit-for-purpose data for analysts, and a focus on data mining rather than management to enable actionable intelligence.

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The 12 Days of MiFID

Shareholder Disclosure Requires Investment to Tackle Increasing Complexity

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Shareholder disclosure remains a problem for financial firms, with many needing to invest in software and workflow tools to improve their processes. The increasingly complex issues of disclosure were discussed during an A-Team Group webinar that considered whether firms are on top of this regulatory challenge.

A poll of the webinar audience set the scene for discussion, with 29% of respondents saying shareholder disclosure is a major challenge and 52% saying it is somewhat of a challenge. The key reference data problems in analysing and reporting shareholder disclosures were noted in a second poll as aggregating numbers of shares and votes at the issuer level, managing reference data for derivatives and depository receipts, and industry classifications for industry limit rules.

Featured Download: Poll results on the challenges of Shareholding Disclosure from our recent webinar audience

These responses matched, in great part, the results of an A-Team survey, sponsored by Thomson Reuters, on shareholder disclosure. Presenting the results of the survey during the webinar, Kristin Hochstein, head of financial regulatory solutions at Thomson Reuters, noted that shareholder disclosure is one of the top regulatory compliance challenges faced by financial firms, with a majority having experienced issues around reporting accurately to regulators, and a minority having faced action from regulators for non-compliance.

Hochstein also reported from the survey that most firms use in-house software to address shareholder disclosure, but also noted that firms believe their processes are too manual and resource intensive.

Webinar Recording: Shareholding Disclosure: Are Financial Firms on top of this regulatory challenge?

Joining Hochstein on the webinar were Karl Schindler, head of content at FundApps, and Robert Andric, director and global head of regulatory shareholding reporting at Credit Suisse. The panel discussed increasing regulatory scrutiny of shareholder disclosures in a push for greater transparency, as well as the complexity of data management for disclosure, including problems around calculations, identifying which shares to include in disclosure and the intricacy of rules that vary across markets.

To ease the burden of shareholder disclosure, Andric suggested firms should automate as much of the process as possible, perhaps reaching an 80/20 split between automation and manual work. Schindler discussed the potential of third-party service providers supporting shareholder disclosure processes with cloud technology.

Whether firms use internal or external solutions, getting shareholder disclosure right can require investment, with respondents to a third webinar poll saying the need to invest is in software and workflow tools, and reference data management, and to a lesser degree in legal and advisory services, and staff.

Offering expert advice to data practitioners involved in shareholder disclosure, Andric suggested firms should develop generic solutions with a strong reference dataset that can support both existing and new regulations. Schindler encouraged practitioners not to reinvent the wheel of shareholder disclosure compliance and instead learn from others in the community working on the same issues. Hochstein concluded, saying firms need to work with a good data provider and dedicate time and resource to training internal teams working on shareholder disclosure.

Listen to the webinar to find out about:

  • Requirements of shareholder disclosure
  • Challenges in the reporting process
  • Reference data management issues
  • Areas for investment
  • Best practice approaches
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Data Management Summit Discusses How Best to Set up and Develop Data Governance

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Data governance was a hot topic at A-Team Group’s Data Management Summit (DMS) in New York City with Sanjay Saxena, head of enterprise data governance at Northern Trust, presenting best practices for setting up data governance, a panel discussing how to evolve data governance, and many more questions being asked and comments being made on the topic throughout the day.

Saxena outlined the initial need to focus on data governance as a business rather than regulatory programme, saying that by doing this, governance has a multiplier effect and can deliver improvements across the enterprise including better data quality, competitive edge and customer service.

The next steps are to identify critical data to govern – Saxena said Northern Trust will have 10% to 15% of data under governance by 2018 – and follow the principles of BCBS 239, regardless of whether your organisation is within the scope of the regulation. A change management initiative to reset culture within the organisation is also essential.

Detailing Northern Trust’s journey, Saxena said the bank made an initial assessment of the need for data governance in 2014, put an operating model in place, started to expand strategy and hire data stewards in 2015, and this year decided to operationalise the strategy based on the regulatory need for data governance under the Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR), and business alignment required to achieve compliance with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules and regulations. Plans are now being made to build out data governance across four or five major bank programmes, an achievement that Saxena says is a success story, but only a starting point.

Register Today: A-Team Data Management Summit New York City, April 4th 2017

Moving on to the panel session on evolving data governance, moderator Maryann Houglet, consulting partner, enterprise information management at Tata Consulting Services Global Consultancy Practice, was joined by Brian Buzzelli, senior vice president and head of data governance at Acadian Asset Management; Julia Bardmesser, head of data quality management, Americas, at Deutsche Bank; Guy McDonald, vice president, EDM Instruments at Nomura; Jay Yulo, vice president of data governance at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management; and Sanjay Saxena.

The panel said data governance is not an option and noted compelling reasons to implement it beyond the regulatory imperative, including improving data quality, remaining competitive, enabling the business and driving better decisions out of data.

Looking at how to measure ROI from data governance and influence management spending, the panel agreed that it is unwise to boil the ocean and better to justify the cost of data governance and quality, and demonstrate ROI, in a large transformational project.

While technology can facilitate data governance, the panel repeated the importance of making governance a business rather than IT or regulatory issue, and said there are no individual technology tools in the market to support all necessary processes, although there are enabling tools that integrate and provide one view of meta data, lineage and data quality.

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NeoXam Announces New Institutional Investment Management Client (MACIF)

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NeoXam, an international financial software company which covers the complete financial value chain, announced, after a rigorous selection process including over 200 live test cases, that the Macif Group has selected NeoXam’s solution and team to replace its current investment administration and accounting system.

NeoXam’s solution will enable the Macif Group to automate and improve the security of its financial accounting processes in order to support its growth in a changing regulatory environment. Furthermore, NeoXam will host the selected solution chosen by the Macif Group.

Serge Delpla, CEO of NeoXam, says: “We are delighted that a firm as prestigious and exacting as MACIF has selected NeoXam to face the future changes in the institutional industry. We are particularly glad to have been able to demonstrate once again, that when it comes to delivering solid results in short timeframes, NeoXam affirms its excellence in this domain and surpasses both national and international competition.

Moreover, this new signature confirms NeoXam’s expertise and experience in the area of institutional management: we now have over 20 clients and, will shortly be celebrating the 30th anniversary of our oldest mutual insurance client continuously using our solution.

We are proud to be able to support our clients through the changes of their industry while technologically adapting our offer. It is this combination of our solution’s robustness and adaptability aligned with our expertise and our reliability to deliver our projects on time and on budget which ensures that NeoXam maintains the strong growth it has achieved since its inception”.

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Boat Services Strengthens Fast Growing Team, Carl Nilsen Joins as Director of Sales

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Carl Nilsen joins Boat Services to further develop the company’s fast growing RegTech business, focused on MiFID II transparency.

With business gaining momentum and more clients continuously committing to the Pan-European MiFID II multi-asset trade reporting service TRADEcho, Boat have appointed Carl Nilsen, former Head of Equities at Oslo Bors, as Director of Sales. Carl joins hot on the heels of Per Lovén, former Liquidnet Head of International Corporate Strategy.

TRADEcho is a partnership between the London Stock Exchange and Boat, together managing a substantial share of firms’ current MiFID trade reporting. The service will help firms efficiently comply with their pre- and post-trade transparency obligations under MiFID II.

As the Head of Equities at Oslo Bors, Carl oversaw sales and marketing for the exchange’s equities business. At Boat, Carl will focus on developing and managing the firm’s ever growing customer base for TRADEcho, with an emphasis on the Northern European client base.

“With over 40 customers already committed to TRADEcho, and following our recent success in partnering with the LBMA for greater transparency in the precious metals market, I am excited to have Carl join Boat’s rapidly growing team. Carl’s past experience and relationships will be invaluable in developing the success of TRADEcho”, says Jamie Khurshid, CEO of Boat Services.

“Carl’s in depth knowledge and extensive network across Europe will further add to what is already a very experienced and knowledgeable sales team that are handling huge demand”, says Veronica Augustsson, CEO of Cinnober.

Carl Nilsen holds a Master (MSc) degree in Finance from the Norwegian School of Economics. Prior to heading up Oslo Bors’s equities business, Carl spent over five years at Oslo Bors in various roles.

Boat’s RegTech business has attracted a number of hires in the past 6 months, including former Liquidnet Head of International Corporate Strategy, Per Lovén, Goldman Sachs Executive Director Ben Duckworth, UBS Associate Director Chris Machin, and Fidessa Senior Analyst Tina Colville.

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Blockchain Can Clear Data Bottlenecks, Experts Say

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Achieving the goal of monetising data assets through disruptive technologies such as blockchain, machine learning and data ontology standards requires thoughtful harnessing of these resources - and collaboration among units of firms, according to data management experts who spoke in a panel discussion on data innovation at the Data Management Summit hosted by A-Team Group in New York on November 17.

“In our organisations, for all the investments we put in, data is still a bottleneck for innovation, as opposed to being a driver for innovation,” says David Blaszkowsky, a former head of data governance at State Street. Citing Michael Stonebreaker, MIT professor and chief technology officer of Tamr, who delivered a keynote presentation at the event, Blaszkowsky mentioned that data scientists at large firms are spending 60% to 80% of their time fixing data in order to apply data science techniques.

“How can you spend time innovating, and be a forward-looking organisation? People doing data science don’t want to spend all their time doing scrubbing,” Blaszkowsky said. “Technologies like blockchain open opportunities for innovators to grab hold of the data content.”

Register Today: A-Team Data Management Summit New York City, April 4th 2017

New York-based Concur Reference Data applies blockchain protocols to source fixed-income reference data. Its co-founder and CEO, Tim Rice, noted that blockchain technology (which includes distributed ledger technology) facilitates leveraging of open standards for data, such as FIBO (Financial Industry Business Ontology).

“Blockchain technology ... gives us a better opportunity to collect the source bond information in the same semantic framework that FIBO would require later on,” Rice said.

Chris Betz, a consultant and senior advisor at the EDM Council, which is the developer of FIBO, pointed to the need for more dynamic and faster data standard solutions that can cover the widest possible variety of assets and securities.

“A year ago, there were six blockchain proofs of concept (PoCs). Now there’s 70. There are a hundred different organisations involved and they’re all trying to figure out how to slice significant costs out of their infrastructure,” Betz said. “From a capability and innovation perspective, how quickly will new technology architectures be adopted? How can we use FIBO across asset classes, to define assets in a pure, de-materialised way? How does that accelerate business?

“There’s significant demand from a legal, regulatory and compliance perspective today,” he added. “Having watched blockchain and FIBO for the past year, and the funding model required for enterprise data management and best practices, the speed of delivery and the agility to deliver on what the industry is looking for is going to be a challenge. The difficulty of getting everyone’s agreement and consensus is no small thing.”

Machine learning capability has made it possible to conduct analytics on data at a greater scale, noted Tassos Sarbanes, data architect at Credit Suisse. Innovation in the form of distributed ledger technology or newer ontology standards could produce similar dividends, he suggested. Sarbanes and Rice both said the industry needs open collaboration about terms and conditions - such as FIBO, or otherwise - to drive data management for its business.

Blaszkowsky counseled firms to consider available innovations and not commit to a solution too early. “In data governance, blockchain and semantic data, there’s great opportunity to make better products,” he said. “The alternative, which I’ve seen firsthand, is letting the government require something, and then vendors show up. ... That’s not the best way to do it.”

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Exchange Data International Improves its Worldwide Adjustment Factor Feed Service - New Version Available Now

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Exchange Data International (EDI), a provider of global security corporate actions, reference data and end-of-day pricing, are pleased to announce today the new Version.2 of its Worldwide Adjustment Factor feed service.

EDI’s Worldwide Adjustment Factor service allow its clients to compare a stock’s performance with adjusted pricing data, which considers distributions and corporate actions. Clients can compare historical pricing data with current prices and conduct detailed analysis with either EDI’s adjusted closing prices or adjustment factors data feeds. Now clients can benefit even more from the new additions to the updated adjustment factor feed.

The new Version.2 will include the following three major additions:

§ Inclusion of FIGI codes. FIGI codes have been added which allow clients to crosscheck data sets.

§ The fields that were sub-fields in the Detail field of the previous version now have their own fields. For example, DivType was in the Detail field (event description) as DIVPERIOD= This will allow for easier integration of the data.

§ The Reason codes are different, expanded to 3 characters enabling higher level groupings of reasons. For example, all dividend reasons begin with "01", with the 3rd character depending on whether it is cash, script or both. This allows greater granularity when deciding to apply or not.

Jonathan Bloch, CEO of Exchange Data International commented “EDI is constantly enhancing its existing product set to add data and features requested by our clients. Version.2 of the adjustment factor feed makes improvements requested by our users”.

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Bureau van Dijk's Orbis to Offer ESG Risk Data from RepRisk

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Bureau van Dijk, the leading provider of company information, has teamed up with RepRisk, a leading provider of business intelligence on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks. As a result of this partnership, from today, Orbis, Bureau van Dijk’s database of more than 200 million companies worldwide, will offer access to ESG risk metrics and analytics from the RepRisk ESG Risk Platform, the world’s most comprehensive database on ESG risks. In addition, Bureau van Dijk will soon be making RepRisk ESG risk data available through its risk-related Catalysts – platforms that speed up and enhance decision-making in credit and supplier risk, compliance, and onboarding.

Users will be able to use the RepRisk Index (RRI), which quantifies reputational risk exposure related to ESG issues on a scale from 0 to 100, as well as its RepRisk Rating (RRR), which combines company-specific ESG risks and country-sector ESG risks, with scores from AAA to D. This information will be particularly powerful when viewed in the context of Bureau van Dijk’s corporate ownership structures.

RepRisk screens over 80,000 third-party sources in 15 languages and curates daily updated ESG risk information on any company, sector and country. From onboarding clients to vetting supply chain members, these risk analytics will give Bureau van Dijk customers the ability to conduct business with an enhanced level of clarity, transparency and confidence.

“In today’s business climate, there is a growing demand for information on environmental, social and governance reputational risk,” said Louise Green, Bureau van Dijk’s global marketing director. “RepRisk is an industry leader in the field of dynamic ESG risk analytics and metrics whose data complements our own extensive combination of financial, compliance, sanctions and risk-related information and gives our users the ability to make better-informed business decisions with a greater degree of certainty.”

“RepRisk is proud that its ESG risk analytics and metrics are integrated into the Orbis database,” said Alexandra Mihailescu Cichon, Head of sales and marketing at RepRisk. “Additionally, Bureau van Dijk customers who would like to dig deeper into a given company’s ESG risk, will have the opportunity to order an in-depth report prepared by RepRisk.”

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Opus Launches Unique Third Party Compliance Solution for Banks

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Leading compliance solutions provider Opus today announced the introduction of the Hiperos 3PM Banking Accelerator, a unique, preconfigured solution for risk assessment and risk management of third parties. The 3PM Banking Accelerator dramatically increases the speed, ease and accuracy of risk-assessing third-party relationships and has been designed specifically for financial institutions.

“In an era of increased regulatory scrutiny, banks must assure their boards, management, customers and regulators that they and their third parties are compliant with government mandates and guidelines,” said Emanuele Conti, CEO of Opus. “The 3PM Banking Accelerator significantly enhances our 3PM platform and enables banks to comprehensively assess and mitigate third party risks on an ongoing basis.”

Global regulators expect banks to practice effective risk management, regardless of whether the institution performs an activity internally or relies on a third party. The Banking Accelerator provides nine pre-contract assessments, ten post-contract assessments, and four additional due diligence questionnaires to effectively manage the risks associated with each third party. A consistent framework highlights and evaluates risks, suggests controls, and facilitates efficient due diligence.

Conti added: “Even a mid-sized bank will have thousands of third parties to review and manage on a regular basis, which can be an impossible task without specialized, automated systems.”

The 3PM Banking Accelerator allows banks to comply with the OCC 2013-29 Guidance and is flexible enough to accommodate current and future regulatory changes. The solution provides an immediate, consistent and complete view of all third-party risks and facilitates risk mitigation with automated risk-based controls. Multiple, configurable reports are available and an audit trail is accessible to all stakeholders and regulators.

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GoldenSource has Integrated with ICE Data Services’ APEX Platform

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GoldenSource, the leading independent provider of Enterprise Data Management (EDM) and Master Data Management (MDM) solutions for the securities and investment management industry, has integrated with ICE Data Services’ APEX delivery platform. This builds on GoldenSource’s 10-year history of allowing mutual clients to gain access to Intercontinental Exchange’s ICE Data Services, which now includes Interactive Data’s content.

ICE Data Services’ APEX platform delivers award-winning pricing and reference data for use with trade setup, pre-trade compliance, trade settlement and reporting, risk management, compliance and audit activities. The integration with the APEX delivery platform enables a scalable way for GoldenSource users to manage their data operations as well as helping them manage risk exposure and support regulatory requirement workstreams.

“Our integration with the APEX delivery platform to support the Global Security Master and Global Pricing Master is part of our commitment to provide a dynamic offering designed to meet a wide variety of needs,” said Volker Lainer, VP Product Management and Regulatory Affairs at GoldenSource. “We view APEX as next-generation technology for data delivery platforms and we believe the integration with the APEX delivery platform can offer significant benefits to GoldenSource’s global client base.”

Hubert Holmes, Senior Director, Reference Data at ICE Data Services, said: “APEX provides an efficient way to access data that is critical for informing trading and risk management decisions. This integration allows us to extend the reach of our scalable, end-to-end platform and offer our pricing and reference data to a broader base of customers.”

GoldenSource clients who currently use ICE Data Services’ feeds will continue to have access through APEX, which in addition to reference data on over 10 million global securities, also offers entity and pricing data for many use cases including MIFID II transaction reporting. With the addition of the APEX platform, GoldenSource offers a comprehensive experience of EDM and MDM platform providers. APEX was launched by Interactive Data, which was acquired by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) in December 2015.

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Sapient Global Markets Extends CMRS Regulatory Reporting Platform for Bank of Israel Requirements

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Sapient Global Markets, a leading global provider of business technology and consulting services for the financial and commodity markets, today announced the latest development to its award-winning CMRS platform that will enable firms to comply with Bank of Israel reporting requirements.

From January 1, 2017, the Bank of Israel is introducing mandatory reporting of FX, index-linked and interest rate derivatives transactions, for firms that have conducted a daily average of $15 million or more in transactions over the preceding 12 months. The reporting requirement applies to every conversion transaction between Israeli shekel and foreign currency, as well as every transaction involving the Shekel in foreign currency derivatives, interest rate derivatives, and index derivatives.

CMRS is a proven solution that connects to all major trading and risk management systems, collecting and normalizing data from those sources, applying reporting eligibility logic, translating it into the destination message format, and delivering it directly to the Swap Data/Trade Repositories.

To support the Bank of Israel’s requirements, the CMRS rules engine has been updated to identify the reportable trades before transforming the trade, transaction and valuation data, and populating the data fields required by the regulation. CMRS connects directly to the Bank of Israel’s secure repository, Cyber-Ark, to seamlessly submit reports as an XML file. These include the end of day transaction reporting, the end of month valuation of all active trades and the end of month snapshot of all executed transactions.

“We have seen a significant number of client and market participants, both buy- and sell-side, as well as Custodians, requesting support for Bank of Israel reporting. Sourcing the trade data, testing report templates for completeness and accuracy, and ensuring transmission requirements to existing in-house platforms is a large undertaking,” commented Arun Karur, vice president and Sapient Global Markets. “CMRS has been designed from the outset to be highly flexible to new rules, updates to existing rules, and accommodates different reporting destinations. Our dedicated team of technologists has worked on Bank of Israel reporting logic within CMRS, testing the reporting templates and connectivity to Cyber-Ark in preparation for the go live at the start of 2017. As a result, CMRS supports firms to transform their reporting function to be more responsive, cost-effective and sustainable by delivering a single platform to manage multiple reporting regimes.”

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EDI Includes FIGI Codes in Version.2 of its Worldwide Adjustment Factor Feed

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Exchange Data International (EDI) has released Version.2 of its worldwide adjustment factor feed service, including the addition of Financial Instrument Global Identifier (FIGI) codes in response to client requests in North America.

The service allows users to compare a stock’s performance with adjusted pricing that considers distributions and corporate actions. Users can also compare historical pricing data with current prices and conduct detailed analysis with either EDI’s adjusted closing prices or adjustment factors data feed.

Maria Scappaticci, global sales director at EDI, says Version.2 is the result of customer interest in the company’s worldwide adjustment factor feed in North America, coupled to requirements for inclusion of the FIGI. The end result, she says, is end of day pricing at a good price point and a credible alternative to services provided by large incumbents.

As well as the addition of the FIGI, Version.2 makes fields that were sub-fields in the detail field of the previous version fields in their own right. Expanded reason codes of three characters enable higher level grouping and a better understanding of reasons.

While EDI, which is based in London, has its largest client footprint in Europe, Scappaticci comments: “Version.2 opens doors for us in North America where we are growing quite quickly and pushing into the buy-side with our services.”

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