Trade & Transaction Regulatory Reporting – The Technology Challenge

Such is the complexity of the various regulatory reporting regimes in respect of Trade and Transaction reporting, that it can be quite bewildering. MiFIR, EMIR, CFTC, ASIC, SFTR, and other regimes, with all the various local rules, and frequent changes/updates make for a moving target which is increasingly hard to hit. This makes for challenges not only for asset managers who need to report their trades, but also for software firms offering reporting solutions who have to keep their reporting offerings up to date and fully compliant.

What this complexity means for software providers is that they have to decide which regimes in which jurisdictions can they realistically focus on? Most will focus on their local regulations (who can afford to try to do everything?) It would be hard to envisage a single reporting solution that can cover every single jurisdictional regime, for every single client permutation, for every single update/re-fit.

What this means for truly global asset managers is that a complete reporting solution needs to come from a number of different software providers. At the other end of the scale, small asset managers with reporting requirements that will not drift across jurisdictions should be able to choose a single vendor for all of their needs. Those managers stuck in the middle may be lucky and find a single vendor solution, but equally may find that one provider can only ever satisfy the majority of their reporting requirements, and a second or even third is required for the balance.

The good news is that there are numerous good regulatory reporting providers out there. As transaction reporting regulations strengthen, and as the vendors themselves mature their offerings, good reporting solutions are there to be found. They can help with ongoing reporting, as well as reviewing what has previously been reported.

The problem for vendors in the space is how to keep up with the pace of change, and how many regs can their systems handle?

The problem for asset managers is how to ensure that you pick the right vendor/vendors for you, not just for now, but also for the future (whatever the regulatory horizon has in store for you)?

Should you wish to discuss any Regulatory Change related challenges, please get in touch with us [email protected]