EMIR: Reporting Unplugged

With the CFTC UPI heading into production for Interest Rate, Credit, Foreign Exchange, and Equity asset classes on 29 January, it’s a good opportunity to step back and look at opportunities to simplify derivatives regulatory reporting this year. We asked Chad Giussani for his perspectives in advance of our conference which he unplugged in 2020!


Getting green data right in 2024

Regulators are disappointed with Banks’ data management and they have been careful to point out that they expect ESG data to be up to scratch. Getting ESG data right is now a board-level imperative for 2024. The implementation of Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) will formally put controllers on the hook. However, unlike some regulatory


Just in time for Xmas – SHC is out!

Since the year 2000, banks have been fined almost a third of a trillion dollars. Yet, every year billions more are imposed. Why? This book explains why banks break the law (it’s not just the money), explains the challenges facing Compliance functions, considers that the majority of financiers don’t want to do wrong, and puts


The financial services sector has an opportunity to leverage its newly deployed common domain model to scale trade surveillance controls, making the system safer, less noisy more efficient by billions of dollars across the markets. Research has shown that standardized business events and data dictionaries can streamline the process for spotting suspicious trading activity across


The financial services sector has an opportunity to leverage its newly deployed common domain model to scale trade surveillance controls, making the system safer, less noisy more efficient by billions of dollars across the markets. Research has shown that standardized business events and data dictionaries can streamline the process for spotting suspicious trading activity across


New, exacting BCBS 239 data quality expectations are coming into force just as EMIR Refit and JFSA derivative reporting is put into production 200 days from now. Businesses will be under pressure to deliver lineage for their data or risk fines and reputational damage. JWG’s DRR RegDelta is a RegTech solution that helps companies maintain


US Regulators fired a $555m shot across Wall Street’s bow last week by holding them accountable for their employees’  pervasive use of unauthorized communication methods, like private texts and in some cases WhatsApp. This is the second batch of ‘market moving’ fines in the US within a year , yet no other country has followed


The financial services sector has an opportunity to leverage its newly deployed common domain model to scale trade surveillance controls, making the system safer, less noisy more efficient by billions of dollars across the markets. Research has shown that standardized business events and data dictionaries can streamline the process for spotting suspicious trading activity across


In response to mounting global concerns about generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), legislators and stakeholders have been listening hard to technologists while finalizing tough new rules for digital non-financial risk. Will AI be a wake-up call for firms to define ‘what good looks like’ for infrastructure standards before massive fines start to land? To avoid a


As the deadlines for compliance with new, complex derivatives rules approach, many firms are at risk of facing hefty fines from regulators if they are found wanting. JWG is calling on all firms to join their next global virtual seminar on 29 June to discuss strategies for deploying proven DRR RegTech to manage their regulatory


Compliance and chatGPT

RegTech promises to turn policy documents to rule sets that describe what good looks like in the operational language of the systems used by the business. AI can play a role in applying controls, but it needs to be carefully supervised so that the humans are in the loop and overseeing the code. Experts at


JWG’s 22 March 2023 Trading Compliance Seminar brought together an all-star cast of over 20 experts who discussed plans for the latest MiFID Review, Market Data changes, CTP, MAR, ESG data demands, MiCA and UK digital asset efforts. These experts did an outstanding job in putting regulatory demands into context and provide delegates with valuable


Winning the ESG data Marathon in 2023

Winning the ESG data Marathon in 2023 With the ever-increasing focus on ESG transparency from regulators and clients, firms are racing to meet the requirements needed to make their mark in the global marketplace. This race requires tens of thousands of market participants to produce data according to different standards. However, with a proper plan


Trading desks face unprecedented levels of regulatory change from the mechanics of the markets and how they monitor them, to how they interact with customers, the way they de-risk their technology suppliers and provide information to regulators. This article summarises the critical changes and lays out the context for our 22 March virtual trading seminar.


Charges will apply for some delayed market data accessed on a terminal or feed as of January 1, 2023, senior banking sources said. The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive ( MiFID II) rules state market data should be free after 15 minutes. That rule has allowed sell- and buy-side financial services to access delayed market


The European Commission has pushed ahead with digital regulatory reporting — which it views as a central workstream in its overall agenda to make financial services fit for the digital age — while UK regulators have sidelined similar initiatives. The Commission is taking a deliberate approach to testing technology and frameworks for delivering machine-readable and executable


New policy efforts in by Australian, US, UK, EU and International rule setters will widen the scope of regulatory oversight for financial institutions to include ‘how’ the business runs. As we have seen with US Federal reserve consultation released this week, boards are on the hook for a holistic approach to ensuring their digital infrastructure


This report is a companion guide to a larger research report, ‘Managing Digital Infrastructure Risk: A collaborative path to financial services safety’ produced by JWG. It is intended to help IT managers understand the implication of new regulatory demands on the IT supply chain.


In our sixth Digital Reporting Taskforce meeting last week a global group of regulators, firms and suppliers discussed: An IIF Digital Economic Cooperation framework Problem statements for Identification and standards Messaging needs for senior management. The minutes can be found along with the meeting materials here. The next meeting, DRTF7 in October we will focus


AML and TM 2022: ready for action?

Five years since RegTech challenges for Anti Money Laundering (AML) and Transaction Monitoring were first articulated, regulators continue to inch towards policies which would enable firms to cut into the $1.6 trillion[i] which pass through banks undetected. Is the industry ready to take the next step? In this article we recap the challenge for digital


I listened into a very interesting webinar presented by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) earlier this year about their usage of and experimentation with what all regulators seem to be calling ‘suptech’ these days. Now there was variance on the webinar among FCA speakers around the pronunciation of said moniker—’soup-tech’ was one variant, ‘supp-tech’


Surveillance RegTech 2022

The great work-from-home experiment forced traders from the office and digital surveillance teams into overdrive. RegTech can provide a path forward through serious legal obstacles that stand in the way of effective oversight. However, good compliance is not just about the tech and we need collaborative action to make surveillance RegTech fit for purpose. The


2022 cyber defence upgrades

Global regulators are producing a steady flow of operationally-intensive rules focused on new digital risks in 2022.  Amongst them, cybersecurity is emerging as a top pain point as more persistent attacks threaten banking supply chains. New, deeper and aligned controls are now the order of the day. In this article we summarise the main components


In our fifth meeting, a global group of regulators, firms and suppliers discussed two key regulatory reporting problem statements and identified options to solve them, the considerations, potential paths and barriers. The minutes can be found along with the meeting materials here. The next meeting, DRTF6 on 14 June will review additional problem statements. JWG


In our fourth meeting, a global group of regulators, firms and suppliers discussed two key regulatory reporting problem statements and identified options to solve them, the considerations, potential paths and barriers. The minutes can be found along with the meeting materials here. The next meeting, DRTF5 on 8 February will review additional problem statements. JWG


A decision that U.S.-based Clearview AI breached the privacy of Australians by scraping their biometric information from the internet and disclosing it through a facial recognition tool highlights risks for regtech companies using web-scraped personal data in commercial software. The decision by the the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s (OAIC) says emphatically that images


In our third meeting, a global group of regulators, firms and suppliers discussed the new risk system design criteria and specifications, objectives, and migration paths. The minutes can be found along with the meeting materials here. The next meeting, DRTF4 on 14 December will review feedback received at DRTF3 and the JWG Annual Conference JWG


Operational risk and operational resilience

Executive summary As regulators focus on Operational Resilience firms need to realign their risk frameworks Without this alignment, firms risk overlaps and gaps in their controls Third parties play a key role in aligning controls and service metrics for your board Fines or excessive cost benchmarks are in store for those that get it wrong


Behavioural monitoring and conduct analytics technology promise to make it easier for firms to detect employee misconduct as well as predict where it might occur next. However, reliance on data- and technology-led solutions may fail to deliver insights and controls, while increasing firms’ exposure to data privacy risks and ethical issues. The emergence of surveillance


New European Union rules governing artificial intelligence (AI) will put compliance obligations on automated facial recognition (AFR) used in some regtech applications, particularly client risk screening. UK data privacy and biometrics regulators are also seeking to improve employee monitoring and surveillance camera operation guidance to clarify compliance obligations under local data privacy laws. These efforts,


In our second meeting, a global group of regulators, firms and suppliers discussed the changes in the regulatory building blocks required and quickly identified components which could be assembled to define a new paradigm for risk information collection. The next meeting will focus on a new paradigm for collecting risk information from a digital system


JWG Q421 research reveals major regulatory battles for information on third parties in 2022, which has massive implications for FS suppliers. Combined with Cloud, AI and other new controls, knowing your supply chain just became a lot more critical and complicated.   Without standard supply chain messages, regulators, regulated firms and their suppliers run the


Financial services are digitizing fast but there is much more public and private sectors can do to deliver reporting controls which fulfil supervisory mandates in a digital age. We were pleased to have 50 individuals from global supervisory organizations, financial institutions and firms for the first working session of our new Digital Reporting Taskforce (DRTF)


In our first meeting, a global group of regulators, firms and suppliers discussed the changes in the regulatory reporting story, the building blocks required, stakeholders to engage and the collaborative mode of working we would like to establish. At this next meeting we will start with 4  building blocks, identify targets and highlight gaps to


 We are delighted to reveal more details for our annual conference. With so much happening in this space – make sure that you know what risks are coming and how to tackle them! See details below and sign up now to hear a great cast of regulators, academia, firms and suppliers discussing the next generation


RegTech for Quants – JWG’s 16/17 November conference computes!

In Partnership with:

We really enjoyed speaking to the leadership of the Quantitative Finance Community in advance of our 6th annual conference in November. We covered a lot of ground: Key RegTech / SupTech issues for quantitative finance professionals How can quants contribute to the RegTech discussion How data management and agility have influenced the regulators The latest


The UK Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has warned firms about deficiencies in their regulatory reporting governance arrangements, systems and controls as well as the of key rules interpretations. The PRA’s ‘ Dear CEO’ letter published last week, admonished firms for their “historic lack of focus, prioritisation, and investment in this area” and called for firms


Financial services are digitizing fast but there is much more public and private sectors can do to deliver reporting controls which fulfil supervisory mandates in a digital age. With support from top regulators, financial institutions, and vendors JWG is launching a task force to 1) define a future target operating model for the regulatory reporting


It might be summertime but the work hasn’t stopped for those working in compliance. The constant barrage of tweaks to existing reporting regimes and wholesale refreshes such as the incoming derivatives reporting changes by the Commodity Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC) have kept teams busy. In Europe, Brexit has also impacted how firms must deal


Following a great discussion about the major surveillance AI control gaps highlighted by JWG’s July research  the FATF and BIS have both published complementary AI policy papers.   With penalties of up to 6% of annual revenue 500 working days away, we have decided to build RegTech AI surveillance use cases to: Tease out the


Although no international guidelines on AI exist, the EU is way ahead in policy formulation with a very clear view of what good looks like. JWG research has revealed major control gaps to other jurisdictions and draconian penalties for those that don’t comply in 2023. In preparation, we will be developing detailed business use cases


JWG’s 2021 regulatory reporting research programme has concluded that the industry needs to step back and agree the digital vision for regulatory reporting. So far this year we have had over 20 firms, 10 suppliers, 7 regulators, 5 trade bodies and 3 academic institutions help align ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’ risk data collection challenges


JWG summarized regulatory 2021 reporting efforts and explained how there are both prudential/statistical ‘top down’ or more aggregated reporting (e.g., Risk, ESG) with the ‘bottom up’ more transactional data collection (e.g., EMIR, MiFID, CSDR). The RRDS agenda will seek to share lessons learnt across both types of regulatory reporting innovations this year. Though concepts have been proven and studies generally align, without a more concrete description of the future risk information system which extends today’s notion of ‘data’ to include ‘language’ regulatory data efforts will continue to cost tens of billions while failing to achieve their policy objectives.


Following our discussion of several global accountability regimes and forthcoming culture audits we are turning our attention back to AI. This is a very noisy space with Germany, UK, Japan and the US all mandating new controls in advance of MiFID III update which could raise the algo trading bar even higher.   In this


The UK’s data transformation plans and Europe’s integrated reporting strategy are shaking RegTech and SupTech foundations and FS Supervisors need a new, bold and long-term approach to aligning data and technology strategies. As discussed in RRDS 26, the Global Derivatives DRR programme is enabling firms to meet CPMI/IOSCO deadlines in 2021 and offers an excellent


JWG summarized regulatory 2021 reporting efforts and explained how there are both prudential/statistical ‘top down’ or more aggregated reporting (e.g., Risk, ESG) with the ‘bottom up’ more transactional data collection (e.g., EMIR, MiFID, CSDR). The RRDS agenda will seek to share lessons learnt across both types of regulatory reporting innovations this year


UK banks’ annual reports show an emerging understanding of operational resilience that emphasises business continuity planning and conflates pandemic performance with high operational resilience. Banks have asked regulators for more guidance on what they want operational resilience work to look like. That safe harbour will not be forthcoming, and firms need to work on evolving


We are pleased to have had over 100 participants in a fantastic launch to JWG’s 5th year of hosting a safe, independent space for regulatory reporting collaboration. The minutes and materials from our meeting covering recent papers from the Bank of England Transformation programme for data collection, BIS FSI Insights no 29,  and JWG’s Global


The group discussed recent papers from the Bank of England, BIS and JWG’s Global Derivatives Digital Regulatory Reporting (DRR) programme and the business case for getting involved in these efforts. The group also reviewed  JWG’s proposed Regulatory Reporting & Data SIG (RRDS) 2021 plans to explore the feasibility of ‘top down’ aggregated reporting (e.g., Risk,


We have a great collection of EU, UK, US and Asia Pacific regulators registered to join in our Chatham house rules discussion of integrated reporting with top firms and technology suppliers. Our research has identified a number of key challenges posed by 430C by the much bigger picture imposed upon us by continued technological developments.


Many U.S. and European globally systemically important banks (G-SIBs) have seconded staff to a digital regulatory reporting project that mutualises derivatives reporting rules interpretation, expresses those rules as computer code in alignment with trade association- agreed best practices. The project is training 25 G-SIB-supplied specialists to study the data fields required for the European Market


The UK Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) ordered globally systemically important banks (G-SIB) to commission skilled persons reviews of their governance and individual accountability regimes, as well as control and risk management frameworks in its financial year 2020/21. This activity underscores the continuing serious problems that the world’s largest and most-complex banks have had with risk


The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will consult on a review of the UK European Markets Infrastructure Regulation (UK EMIR) reporting standards in the second half of this year, a spokeswoman for the regulator said. It has “the aim of improving overall data quality and to align the standards with the global guidelines on critical data


UK financial services regulators have asked bank chief executives to sign up to and largely pay for work to improve regulatory data collection. The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) last week wrote to bank chief executives explaining their plans for transforming data collection, which regulators expect will deliver integrated reporting,


The number of cyber incidents at UK banks, asset managers, wholesale brokers and exchanges rose from 21 in 2019 to 55 in 2020, a 161.9% increase, according to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The disclosure was made in response to a request under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act. Asset managers, wholesale brokers, platforms and


Digital regulatory reporting – tipping point 2021

In Partnership with:

Digital regulatory reporting – tipping point 2021 By PJ Di Giammarino, CEO JWG Group New JWG research has found supervisors to be focused on creating new standards for interpreting complex data needs in 2021 as the industry hits a tipping point for in its quest for digital standards that simplify complex regulatory reporting obligations. Global


A UK Government-led forum in its third year. A dynamic and engaging event bringing together the leading public and private sector actors from the UK, China and Southeast Asia to exchange knowledge and innovative practical techniques and solutions to tackle financial crime and related issues. A vibrant and vital interaction between policymakers, regulatory bodies, law


Collaboration to finally realize GFC reforms via digitalization The good news about compliance is that financial firms are finally getting the last generation of G20 Global Financial Crisis (GFC) regulations under control, said PJ Di Giammarino, CEO of JWG, a financial regulation think-tank based in London. The not so good news is that the industry


Know your 2021 Cloud Compliance Strategy – Survey open

In Partnership with:

JWG’s 2020 research has found that the financial services market exhibits an ever-growing blind spot from technology risk which lurks off balance sheet. High profile outages like Google and Microsoft have underlined the issue for both the regulator and regulated this month. This point has not been lost on regulators who in the middle of


L’Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), France’s financial markets regulator, has created a Data and Surveillance Directorate as part of a wider reorganisation announced earlier this month. Its establishment comes as a handful of regulators pursue digital realignment programmes, but the AMF appears to be ahead of the pack in establishing a new division, building data


Gentrifying The Wild West

Can suptech take DeFi to the next level? As technology-driven decentralised finance (or DeFi) grows in popularity and market value, it appears that a battle is brewing between DeFi protocols and regulators. But can technological tools in the hands of regulators head this off at the pass? A reasoned, transitional approach to compliance, along with


The global regulatory community has put its support behind digital regulatory reporting (DRR) initiatives acknowledging supervisors require the ability to collect better quality data more efficiently. The Bank of International Settlements (BIS), the European Commission, the European Banking Authority (EBA), the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the U.S.’s Federal


JWG urges sector to address systemic technology risk blind spot

In Partnership with:

JWG is proud to announce the publication of a ground-breaking research report ‘Risk control for a digitized financial sector.’    The analysis identifies a large systemic technology risk blind spot which regulators must take the lead in addressing. JWG urges Financial Services regulators and firms to collaborate with technology firms on new RegTech standards in advance of cloud and data crises.    The paper, which incorporates findings from JWG’s RegTech 2.0 conference and dozens of discussions with regulators, regulated and academia, builds on 10 years


How a firm manages data is now intrinsic to its value, yet the FS risk management framework provides no way to account for IT obsolescence, cloud concentration and data risks on the balance sheet. An explosion of advanced computing capability facilitated by cloud technology has provided massive benefits to both regulated financial institutions and their


The UK’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has commissioned 11 skilled persons reviews under Section 166 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 into firms’ regulatory reporting in the last two quarters. The PRA commissioned nine prudential s166 reviews of deposit takers in the fourth quarter 2019/20 (December through February), according to publicly available information.


The State of Holistic Trade Surveillance – JWG research published 

In Partnership with:

By PJ Di Giammarino Over the past few years, financial services firms have been investigating how to improve trade-related surveillance capabilities and techniques. Expectations from regulators and senior management have been placed under the microscope, mainly due to high surveillance noise levels across all communication channels and asset classes. In tracking this evolution of technologies


The GDPR broadens and deepens the rules between data controllers and data processors for processing of personal data and for the first time, directly enforceable obligations are imposed on processors as well as controllers. The GDPR also requires that controllers and processors enter into written contracts (“C2P Clauses”). Practical Law recently published its data processing


One of the hot topics at our Capital Markets Conference this year was how RegTech could help institutions with their Know Your Client (KYC) obligations. With an expert panel from a range of backgrounds presenting fascinating perspectives on this current issue, a issues were given fresh attention ranging from artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, data architecture


A paradigm shift for KYC/AML compliance

Several interconnected global trends have heightened the risk banks face when combating financial crime. First, regulators are continually revising rules as they expand their focus from organised crime to global terrorist networks, many of which have grown more sophisticated in recent years. Second, integrated networks and an increase in cross-border transactions have left gaps in


Waking up to the power of RegTech?

The past year has been illuminating for the RegTech market, the past twelve months has seen an increase in discussion on the application of technology to regulatory compliance. We have seen action from the regulators, including the FCA’s recent TechSprint in which we at JWG were involved, and major regulatory initiatives, most notably MiFID II,


The state of RegTech

Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence originally published this article on 21/12/2017. Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence speaks to important figures in the compliance and financial arena to hear their thoughts and discuss wider issues related to their fields. Today we talk to PJ Di Giammarino founder and CEO of regulatory think-tank JWG–IT, trusted by the global financial