RegTech IntelligenceBy Darragh O’Grady and JWG. According to the latest LEI research we picked up at FIMA, only 11% of the population of ‘regulated and listed’ companies have so far received an identifier. This got us thinking about what new identity solutions were out there and we called upon our blockchain guru to offer an opinion.
Video: Regulatory reform: 2014 helicopter view. At our visit to FIMA this month, we summarised our current views of the latest data requirements as covered in our recently published research, ‘G20 FS reform: will you survive or thrive?’ By 2020, the industry could face a regulatory page count that tops three Eiffel Towers high worth
By Darragh O’Grady and JWG. It is very easy to get confused and overwhelmed by all the crypto-currencies (or math-based currencies) out there. It started out relatively simple with just bitcoin a few years ago. Now other currencies have joined the fray, including but not limited to, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Peercoin, Ethereum, Mastercoin, Counterparty, Ripple, NXT,
Huge fines and complex KYC rules are causing banks to ‘de-risk’ their client portfolios leading to many without access to banking. Now both consumers and politicians are unhappy. For years, the industry has struggled without real standards in the AML arena. So what happens next? SIBOS news was full of more KYC claims again this
Today, JWG have published their much anticipated analysis report, ‘G20 FS reform: will you survive or thrive?’. The report surveys regulatory efforts from 131 regulatory bodies which have produced approximately 50,000 documents since 2009. It finds that the volume, pace and complexity of deciding how to comply with a continually evolving regulatory agenda are staggering:
This article originally appeared in the autumn 2014 edition of Markit Magazine. JWG analysis. The Basel Committee’s principles for effective risk data aggregation and risk reporting (BCBS 239) may be among the least well known components of the post-financial crisis reform package. Yet they could ultimately bring about the most significant changes to the
In our previous articles we’ve explored the expanding requirements for robust systems and risk controls under MiFID II, the nature of proportionality as it relates to algorithmic trading and the new accountability implications for senior managers. This article, written by Meredith Gibson, Head of Legal Risk, Santander UK plc and Helen Pykhova, Director, The Op
JWG analysis. Following our review of the $260,000,000,000 total cost of regulatory transgressions, we now take a look at what the actual fines are and what the future holds? Firstly, according to the LSE’s review of 2009-2013 fines, is that 38% of fines are related to control failures like governance, internal controls, market abuse and
JWG analysis. It seems you can’t open a paper these days without reading that a financial institution is being fined for some discretion, controls failure or mismanagement. This stark reality that all firms face in the post-crisis financial services landscape. Mounting pressure to get on top of regulatory reform has been matched by a frightening escalation
Are you enjoying your summer? Ready for some holiday reading? Our latest members-only newsletter, RegBeacon, is now available here (after logging in, you can find RegBeacon on the publications page). We’ve highlighted the key issues and trends to be aware of as we head into what is sure to be a very rocky Q3 –
JWG analysis. The BCBS appears to be putting the screws on national regulators to expand the scope of their Risk Data Aggregation Principles to affect more banks. Now Singapore is the first to react. June has been a busy month for all regulatory agencies, and the BCBS is no exception. With 3 consultations, 2 sets
JWG analysis. In our previous piece we spelt out the breadth and depth of the regulatory onslaught in the context of MiFID II. Here, we unveil how RegDelta can help you redefine the battlefield. What is RegDelta? RegDelta gives firms the ability to control global regulatory challenges. RegDelta is a financial services regulatory data management
JWG analysis. For the past decade we have been making sense of the changes regulators want to make … and it’s not been easy. JWG has worked with over 100 financial institutions, dozens of trade associations and regulators in several countries to mirror the detailed compliance requirements specified by the regulatory agenda to help define
Our latest edition of the members-only newsletter, RegBeacon, is now available here. In this issue we’ve looked at the key issues to be aware of as we head into summer, namely: – EU trading on the boil with EMIR and MiFID II – Top ten trends to watch out for – Membership update – RegTechFS update –
JWG analysis. Without a consolidated viewpoint on what new risk data requirements mean, firms will be at a loss when it comes to determining best practice. We are in the middle of a massive, global industry transformation with many rulebooks. With divergent regulatory timelines, standards and existing data architectures a common and holistic ‘best practice’
Video: Regulatory reform – 2014 helicopter view. Regulation is coming thick and fast. Seventy thousand pages a year fast! Dealing with this deluge with a page-by-page, regulation-by-regulation approach is becoming impossible as the G20 commitments become spread across many rulebooks. This means that firms trying to tackle the changes one-by-one will end up with sky-high implementation
JWG co-hosted a webinar earlier this week, along with Banking Technology and the DTCC, examining the recently launched EMIR trade reporting regime. The conversation tackled a range of issues, including challenges faced by industry participants in getting ready for the 12 February launch date, and a look ahead to future milestones in the reporting regime.
JWG analysis. “When a tree falls in the woods, does it make a noise?” While some may find the question trivial, it has provided much food for thought for philosophers since it was first raised in the early 1700s. The answer to the question relies on one’s assumptions on whether observation is a necessary condition
JWG analysis. The Prudential Regulation Authority last week published a consultation paper that threatens to impose stricter requirements on international banks operating UK-based branches. The new proposals have been designed to ‘ensure the stability of the UK financial system’ by promoting ‘safety and soundness’, including requirements for increased transparency, resolution measures to protect investors and
JWG analysis. MiFID II and its regulatory cousin, MiFIR, have some lofty ambitions for European securities and derivatives markets. And one of their most clearly stated goals is to enhance market transparency by bringing about changes to market practices, and potentially even market structures. The problem is that, while transparency may be seen as a
JWG analysis. The Fed made some concessions in timing and scope, but pressed ahead with measures to insulate the US financial sector from future bailouts earlier this week. The news stoked fears that European regulators may look to reciprocate, triggering a race to the highest common denominator when it comes to determining capital buffers, and potentially
JWG analysis. EU and US taxpayers scratched their heads in disbelief this week as the regulators made it painfully clear that they have squandered both years and billions with little to show for it. The politicians that gathered in Pittsburgh were quite explicit – they want OTC transparency. Did they expect that, nearly five years
JWG analysis. When G20 leaders met in Pittsburgh back in September 2009, there was clear consensus on the direction that the financial industry needed to take in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Transparency was a key theme. The view was that, by mandating industry-wide reporting obligations for OTC derivatives, regulators would be armed
JWG analysis. Until the world has a definitive LEI, we are going to have to recognise that piecemeal adoption brings with it significant hidden costs in validating, enriching and mapping for regulatory purposes. LEI watchers have been encouraged to see Saudi Arabia and Italy joining the fold in the past month. They might be just
By Tristan Dehaan, Market Data Vendor Manager Following a robust market data discussion on RegTechFS, we asked Tristan, a Market Data Vendor Manager at a European Asset Manager, to tell us about his efforts to help the industry get to more client-friendly market data contracts. At the end of 2012, speaking as a well-placed member of
This presentation was delivered at the EDMworks Data Practitioner Network seminar on 16 January, run in partnership with EDMWorks and the A-Team. Thank you to the great crowd which attended the event. We hope you found it helpful and have included the above aide memoire for your reference. You can also see a video here.
2013 was a huge year in the development of alternate and decentralised ‘crypto-currencies’. Some countries have so far taken relaxed stances on them, despite obvious money-laundering and tax evasion risks. Meanwhile, others have taken the opposite approach and seen fit to ban crypto-currencies outright. Either way, we are now beginning to see a clearer picture
Big changes are happening at the CFTC: With the departure of Gensler, and the swearing-in of acting Chairman Mark Wetjen, everyone knew that there would be a change of approach. However, the scale and speed of that change has come as a surprise to many. In fact, almost the moment Gensler stepped out of the
A big theme present at a big industry data conference earlier this month was how firms were approaching the BCBS’s standards on risk data aggregation as well as the implementation of the regulatory data agenda. With the FSB and the BCBS agreeing that “higher expectations” must be met by G-SIFIs for risk data aggregation and
Our regulators who art in Brussels, Furloughed be thy friends, Thy directives come, Thy reports be done, For Dodd-Frank as they are for EMIR. Give us this day our draft technical standards, And allow us our indices, As we forgive those that sell market data to us. And lead us not into non-compliance, But deliver
With no fewer than 70,000 pages of regulation, and some record fines, 2013 will be a year to remember (or possibly to forget) for many financial services professional. And with only four weeks to go until December, and some well-earned rest, we thought it was time for a little retrospection. With that in mind, here,
Earlier this week, ESMA published an update of its Questions and Answers (Q&A) clarifying the use of Legal Entity Identifiers (LEI) for the purpose of OTC trade reporting to trade repositories. The Q&A finally provides for cross-border mutual acceptance by stating that only pre-LEIs endorsed by the ROC are eligible to be used for EMIR
Counterparty classification regimes, such as CRD IV and EMIR, give banks a good reason to centralise their reference data, and the BCBS’ Risk Data Aggregation Principles provide a clear framework for doing so. From 1 January 2014, under CRD IV, firms will need to calculate CVA and hold additional capital on all derivatives contracts. However,
It is common knowledge that the central clearing and risk mitigation requirements apply to any third country firm trading with an EU entity. However, it may come as a surprise that these requirements can also apply to trades purely between two third country entities where such trades have a ‘direct, substantial and foreseeable effect with
The European Banking Authority (EBA) has finally published its final draft Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) (here) on supervisory reporting for CRD IV. Long awaited, the technical standards set out the near-final reporting requirements, as part of COREP, for own funds, financial information, losses stemming from lending collateralised by immovable property, large exposures, leverage ratio and
Before ESMA left for their summer holidays, they made it abundantly clear that EMIR will apply in one form or another outside of the EU. This threatens to disrupt trading flows globally as early as 15 September. By this date, parties trading derivatives must agree in writing the arrangements under which OTC derivative portfolios will
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the US Department of the Treasury has revised the timelines for implementing reporting and withholding requirements under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). These delays are very welcome to firms, particularly FFIs, still facing uncertain requirements and a short implementation timeframe. Withholding on U.S. source income, such as
The IMF has released a working paper on Systemic Risk Monitoring detailing the policy options and methodologies available to regulators to accurately measure systemic risk. The problem is that, although touted as being a practical guide, none of the options given are a solution to the problem of “how can we measure systemic risk?” “The
Given the exponential growth of reporting requirements since the crisis, firms often ask: ‘Where does all this data go and who has the time to look through it all?’ In fact, recent statements by regulators have made this question all the more valid given that regulators’ data systems, it is increasingly apparent, often suffer from
Recent developments give firms some reasons to celebrate but be prepared for a long engagement With lots of different regulatory benchmark efforts now underway, the industry could be forgiven for not taking a common stance. With IOSCO set to issue final principles in July, ESMA and the EBA are simultaneously consulting on a European set
Shadow banking could soon force infrastructure upgrades and additional business costs– will the industry find ways to ease the pain? As repos, securities and, potentially, CCPs become part of the transparency agenda via new shadow banking regulation, this could result in infrastructure upgrades and increased business costs looking set to be on their way in
Five years after the crisis started, real change is finally in store. Who is on the naughty and nice lists? In 2012, the industry saw a flurry of financial sector reforms. With over 140,000 pages of regulation produced over the past twenty four months, an ambitious but often discordant global regulatory framework has developed, leaving
Managing, aggregating and maintaining risk data used to be a box-ticking exercise with easily achievable targets. In 2013, landmark new global requirements mean firms will face a big step up. Over the past few years, regulation in the area of risk management information (MI) was fairly basic. In 2011, the FSA, like their US cousins,
The G20 says OTC regulation was to be finalised by end 2012. But, with at least 34,000 more pages of regulation expected by 2016 from the US alone, firms need to upgrade their BAU. Following the G20’s meeting in April 2009, the pathforward for regulation on OTC derivatives seemed clear. In the shadow of the
In their latest landscape assessment of Basel III, the EBA came to a conclusion regarding a problem the industry has been grappling with for a long time: rules that aren’t detailed enough lead to uneven outcomes in data reporting, aggregation and assessment. The report finds that, while data quality from national regulators has improved and
SIFI assessment criteria are becoming increasingly stratified and are coming to financial institutions near you. Higher capital surcharges, ring fencing, ‘unplugging’ and new living will reports are all parts of a solution to combat ‘too big to fail.’ Some economists contend that the banks that are too-big-to-fail enjoy a lower cost of capital because they