The SEC, the EuroClear Bank, SIX Securities Services and Opus also have FinTech announcements.
New Console Captures Texts
Advisors and office staff can now efficiently exchange and track client texts from new web-based Texting Console
Hearsay Systems, an electronic communication compliance provider for financial services and insurance firms, recently unveiled a “Texting Console for Hearsay Messages” that is intended to help advisors send compliant texts to clients.
Text messaging is a gray area for many financial services firms because texts are not supervised and archived by compliance staffs and have the potential of being noncompliant communication.
“With the Texting Console, an advisor can authorize administrative staff members to schedule appointments, send meeting reminders and exchange other text messages from their office computers, on the advisor’s behalf, from the same business number,” according to Hearsay Systems (formerly Hearsay Social).
The new offering provides advisors, agents and their teams with two options to text clients and prospects: either through the Hearsay Messages mobile application (for iPhone and Android) or the Texting Console on their desktop or laptop computers. The Texting Console captures texting activity and provides “full, real-time visibility of all text conversations,” officials say.
A recent Hearsay survey of more than 2,500 advisors and agents found that 52 percent reported texting for business purposes. Many of these advisors are texting out of compliance, and putting their firms at risk, officials add.
SEC, National Bank of Belgium to Cooperate Over Euroclear
The SEC and the National Bank of Belgium have agreed to cooperate and share information about the expanded services by Euroclear Bank, which provides clearance and settlement through its operation of the Euroclear System, officials say.
“Brussels-based Euroclear Bank is subject to prudential supervision and oversight by the National Bank of Belgium as a credit institution and as a clearing agency. The SEC granted Euroclear’s predecessor an exemption from registration as a clearing agency in 1998, allowing it to provide clearing services for U.S. government securities,” according to the SEC. “On Dec. 16, 2016, the SEC approved Euroclear’s application to modify its exemption from registration, enabling it to also provide limited clearing agency services for U.S. equity securities.”
On March 9, 2017, the SEC and the National Bank of Belgium added to their 2001 understanding regarding the Euroclear Bank exemption via Euroclear’s clearing activities in the U.S. that allowed each side to exchange more information about Euroclear’s new services, officials say.
“This addendum will expand the signatories’ ability to cooperate and exchange information related to Euroclear Bank and augment the SEC’s oversight of Euroclear Bank’s activities under its exemption order,” says Paul A. Leder, director of the SEC’s office of international affairs.
SIX Builds DLT Project for Bonds, Trade Repository for Switzerland
SIX Securities Services, Switzerland’s post-trade market infrastructure provider has developed and will deploy a solution based on distributed ledger technology (DLT) that covers the entire bond life-cycle — from issuance to settlement, officials say.
In late September 2016, SIX Securities Services began a partnership with DLT pioneer Digital Asset Holdings to build DLT-based solutions for the Swiss financial market.
The bond issuance prototype, was presented at this year’s SIX Securities Services Post Trade Forum at the Andaz Hotel in London on March 16, officials say. “The solution enables the issuing of bonds as smart contracts that specify at what dates coupon payments are made, for what amounts and how/when repayments occur. It includes the connection of the smart contract to the chain where buyers can allocate money to the bond by paying in digitalized currency to the address of the bond,” officials add.
SIX officials say the customer benefits include:
- one single source of data on a ledger, agreed to and used by all parties to a transaction;
- “an immutable digital record of transaction data flows between market participants – secure, confidential and highly available;
- And “significant cost reduction through the removal of operational and reconciliation processes and the reduction of settlement/counterparty risk and associated capital requirements.”
“Though still some way off for market-wide adoption, we are firmly of the belief that the potential shown here is promising – for us – and for the industry as a whole. It also demonstrates our philosophy of focus and determination to research technological advancement with minimal disruption to our existing business models,” says Thomas Zeeb, CEO SIX Securities Services, in a statement. “I am convinced that what we have achieved with this approach could revolutionize several processes used by the Swiss Financial Services Industry while sustainably securing our role in the provision of services throughout the Swiss Value Chain.
In an unrelated move, SIX Securities Services also reports that it has gotten approval to launch its trade repository for Switzerland.
“The SIX Trade Repository has been in testing since January 2016 with over 50 major financial institutions, hedge fund managers and traditional fund managers. This decision means that clients can soon start formally onboarding, in preparation for the deadline for derivative transaction reporting under FMIA. Once its special conditions are fulfilled, FINMA will then communicate its final deadline,” according to SIX. The system is expected go live during the third quarter of this year.
Opus Updates KYC Engine with EDD Features
Opus, a compliance and risk management vendor, has new enhanced due diligence (EDD) features for its Alacra Compliance Enterprise (ACE), a “know your customer (KYC)” solution, officials say.
These new features build upon ACE’s support for customer due diligence (CDD) processes “by providing access to flexible, iterative searching and open-source capabilities,” Opus officials say. “This allows the EDD investigator to follow the facts and go beyond standardized KYC at any stage of the customer lifecycle.”
Banks use Opus for customer identification, due diligence and investigation processes for integrated compliance risk and screening intelligence support, officials add.
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