Two Years Later: How the Pandemic Changed the RegTech Sector
Complyport Tech’s Business Development Manager Mark Ellis offered his insights on how the pandemic has changed the RegTech sector in an article forComplyport Tech Global/RegTech Analyst. Read full article here. Remote working has proved to be a crucial area where RegTech has been able to demonstrate its capability and importance within the financial services sector. The challenges related to the use of collaboration and chat platforms remain a key risk for firms with RegTech helping to mitigate these risks by offering AI-enabled platforms. The work-from-home trend has become prevalent during the last two years. This has created a push to automate and digitalise as many regulatory processes and workflows as possible. It has also led to an increased demand for RegTech products and services. This article also discusses the importance of RegTech solutions following the ongoing pandemic. Financial institutions globally have recognised the need to digitise their operations. Streamlined, automated systems have been welcomed to help companies deal with a surge in new clients. When COVID-19 hit two years ago, there was a spike in demand for advanced technology and digital transformation in the RegTech industry with one of the main changes being how and why companies buy certain products and services. Two years later, many organisations continue to adapt to this digital-first approach to business, which, in turn, has led to an increased demand for RegTech services. During this time, the RegTech sector has continued to pioneer and revolutionise the control functions of companies through its Regulatory-as-a-Service (RaaS) solutions, offering strategic and operational solutions in a holistic, cloud-based fashion. As a result, organisations have adopted greater automation and less manual work and made KYC and AML processes operate in a more seamless manner. In essence, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world as we know it.
Complying with ASIC reporting obligation – what you need to know
ASIC Reporting refers to the mandatory derivatives transaction reporting regime implemented by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for the monitoring and prevention of systemic risk. This requirement was enacted in the ASIC Derivative Transaction Rules (Reporting) of 2013. Who is affected by this regulation? This reporting requirement is double sided. If any counterparty to a trade has a reporting obligation, it must report that trade even if its counterparty is also reporting it. Firms with a reporting obligation are: Firms incorporated or formed in Australia. Foreign subsidiaries of Australian authorised deposit taking institutions or Australian financial services licensees as per the Corporations Act of 2001. Foreign authorised deposit taking institutions with Australian branches and only trades booked in Australia. Foreign companies offering debentures or guaranteeing debentures in Australia and only trades booked in Australia. However, there is a relief allowing single-sided reporting if the company’s gross notional outstanding position is less than AUD$5 billion for two consecutive quarters and its counterparty is already required or has agreed to report. Which trades need to be reported? Over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives from the following asset classes need to be reported: Credit Commodities excluding electricity Equities Forex Rates Australian firms and their subsidiaries must report all OTC derivatives trades that meet the above criteria. New trades, modifications (including changes in valuations) and terminations, assignments and step-in/out transactions, and any other derivative transaction needs to be reported where these are undertaken by a firm with a reporting obligation. Exchange-traded derivative transactions are not reportable. When is the deadline for reporting? T+1, the day after the trade is executed. How can MAP FinTech assist? MAP FinTech is integrated with DTCC Data Repository (Singapore) PTE Ltd (DDRS) as an aggregator under the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) requirements and can report on behalf of its clients. As per ASIC’s derivative transaction rules, MAP FinTech’s ASIC Reporting Service maps all compulsory trade data to the required format. The ASIC-DTRS Reporting Service provides the ability to extract, convert, reconcile and submit the relevant trades and positions required under the OTC derivatives reporting rules. Furthermore, MAP FinTech maintains and updates pertinent fields to reflect the latest ASIC derivative transaction reporting requirements. MAP FinTech offers a complete, cost-efficient and integrated solution with a 100% success rate that is delivered via a single platform along with the rest of the company’s regtech offerings, and comprehensive support services provided by an experienced and dedicated team of professionals.
Complyport Tech presents extensive opportunities for firms in the future, Thomson Reuters survey shows
Can corporate governance and the culture of financial services firms keep up with the pace of growth of regulatory technology? During the past several years, regulators have invested heavily in technology to protect and monitor regulatory reporting data quality. The main challenges for 2021 will focus on new regulations, preparing for those with effective dates this year and those that are going through the legislation, proposal and comment processes. This leaves financial services firms with no option but to address automated reporting as a way of validating all data submitted to regulators, detecting and correcting data issues as they arise, and setting up an overall data governance framework across different regulatory reporting requirements. Thus, Regulatory Technology (RegTech) is crucial for operational management and strategic decision-making for both the risk and compliance functions as it is designed to help firms understand and meet legal requirements more effectively and efficiently. According to Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence’s 2020 annual survey report “RegTech and the role of compliance in 2021”, despite firms facing several budget challenges during the pandemic, the adoption and implementation of regulatory technology has taken a huge step forward with 70% of the surveyed firms reporting that COVID-19 increased their reliance on technological solutions. The study, which shares the experiences of more than 400 compliance and risk practitioners, found that this sector’s growth is expected to accelerate in the coming months and years. Firms and their customers are realising the great value of adopting a wide variety of Fintech solutions. The survey also shows that firms must be careful to deploy solutions on solid foundations. This means getting corporate governance right. A quarter of respondents said that corporate boards and the risk and compliance functions need to be more involved in finding and adopting Fintech solutions for the firm, highlighting the absence of appropriate skill sets as one reason for this lack of involvement. Moreover, RegTech applications continue to provide popular, embedded solutions for firms in areas such as compliance monitoring, financial crime, AML/CTF, sanctions and regulatory reporting. Budgets are predicted to increase with a mix of in-house and external solutions as the option most frequently selected by respondents. Interestingly, just 16% of firms reported they had implemented RegTech solutions, with a further 34% stating that RegTech solutions were affecting the management of compliance. Notably, the report identifies a shift from build to buy; firms that employ inhouse solutions fell to 6% in 2020 from 17% in 2019, while 12% reported that all of their RegTech solutions were developed externally. Why choose Complyport Tech to be your regulatory technology partner? Complyport Tech is a leading and award-winning regulatory technology provider for the financial services industry, specialising in reporting solutions arising from the requirements of a number of complex and challenging international regulations such as EMIR, MiFID II/MiFIR, SFTR, FATCA, DAC6 and CRS. Complyport Tech also provides innovative and comprehensive solutions for Best Execution Monitoring, RTS 27/28 Reporting, AML Transaction Monitoring and Screening, Trade Surveillance (Market Abuse), and eKYC (Screening, eIDV, Document Authentication). Industry Pioneers Complyport Tech was one of the first providers in Europe to report under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) with 1.5 billion+ transactions successfully submitted since February 2014. The company currently supports over 170 B2B global clients, having been recognised for the Best RegTech Reporting Solution for 2019 by Finance Magnates London and named as one of the 100 most innovative RegTech companies in the world for 2020 and 2021 by RegTech Analyst. LSE-listed brokers, including some of the biggest CFD brokers in the world, currently use Complyport Tech’s innovative solutions. RegTech Experts Complyport Tech is not just a technology company that develops software to help clients report. At the core of its offerings lies compliance. Complyport Tech provides quality assurance that the reporting obligations are correctly covered in terms of data quality. If the need arises, the firm can also directly support businesses before any national competent authority without needing any external third-party advisory or assistance. Complyport Tech can directly and uninterruptedly report to a number of EU national competent authorities. Complyport Tech’s products have been repeatedly tested and passed several rigorous reviews by EU regulatory authorities, providing full transparency for both clients and EU national competent authorities. Moreover, the company offers financial institutions the unique facility to comply with a firm’s reporting obligations before the regulatory authorities, carry out audit trails, and conduct their own reconciliations. Complyport Tech has managed to successfully and innovatively combine the compliance and technology functions with both of its teams working in close unison. This allows the company to be flexible, efficient and effective in supporting the many new, demanding and dynamic requirements of the global RegTech world.. The team’s combined expertise underpins the company’s success in providing targeted solutions to its clients and addressing their reporting needs across a diverse regulatory landscape. One-Stop RegTech Provider Complyport Tech’s solutions are all delivered under the Polaris Platform, the company’s single and powerful RegTech tool. Besides transaction reporting, the Polaris platform combines, under a single unit interface, unique solutions such as Market Abuse Surveillance, AML Transaction Monitoring, Best Execution Monitoring, RTS reports and CRS/FATCA reporting, among others. This allows Complyport Tech to package its offerings to its clients by reducing direct and indirect costs, maintain a single point of contact for support and access to the system, and avoid the need of multiple integrations with various vendors, thus saving clients both time and resources. Impeccable Support Services Complyport Tech’s dedicated and experienced support team specialises in regulatory reporting, providing continuous support on what is needed to master transaction reporting requirements. This starts from the onboarding phase and covers the whole process up until the initiation of the live reporting, the handover of the platform to the client, and ongoing day-to-day support. Unparalleled Compliance Expertise Complyport Tech is a member of MAP S.Platis Group, a leading financial services consultancy group in the region that maintains one of the largest and most experienced teams of financial services compliance experts in the EU. This ensures that