During the first quarter of 2017, strongly dominant in our everyday discussions have been the issues around upcoming regulation here in the EU; MiFID II, PSD2, GDPR, PRIIPs, IDD, FATCA, CRS & DAC2, MiFIR Transaction Reporting… And as most of the previously mentioned take effect during the years 2017–2018, we dare to predict that working around these issues is not going to subside, but on the contrary accelerate even further, as financial organisations still have a lot to do to meet the new regulatory requirements.
Referring to what we have learnt during the journey, financial organisations still have both, strategical and technical challenges to solve to ensure compliance with the new regulations. To help companies to cope with these changes, we have already arranged breakfast seminars in Helsinki and Stockholm with a guest speaker from PwC giving attendees an overview of the tightening regulatory environment. The next seminar will be held in Oslo.
In the seminars we presented our hands-on ideas and insights on how to approach, ease and solve these regulatory challenges with modern technology. In our opinion the key for survival today, and in the future, is to invest a flexible and modern software platform. When choosing a system, you shouldn’t just try to find relief from the current situation, but also have your thoughts in the future. Consider what happens when the regulators publish the next changes – how effectively can you react? Would that require a new sizeable and costly software project, or is your software flexible enough to adapt into the changing regulatory environment?
Critical features for a Modern and Compliant Asset Manager
Flexibility
Adding new information fields or tags for transactions, securities, portfolios, or contacts should not be cumbersome. New reports and queries can be implemented on-the-go, such as different kinds of compliance checks and warnings. The User Interface should be configurable to support your daily working in the best possible way, e.g. defining your own information dashboards. These features ensure that you efficiently meet the upcoming customer, regulator or internal demands.
Transparency
Regulators and customers both require an increased level of transparency. This also refers to what’s mentioned above, being able to save and store all kinds of data. You need to be able to show where the data came from, how it was processed (e.g. fee calculations), who has worked with it (e.g. advisory, trading), and where and why the data is stored (e.g. required by GDPR).
Connectivity
Open APIs to ensure effortless integrations and data transfers. Especially important if you as an asset manager wish to generate new business opportunities by PSD2.
Thank you for joining us in Helsinki and Stockholm, and for your interest and lively discussions during the seminars. To learn more about the topic, please join our next seminar in Oslo on Wednesday April 5th for which the registration is now open.
