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FinTech Trends Newsletter Week 4th December – 8th December 2017
Coping with regulatory compliance costs
When it comes to the myriad of regulatory challenges currently in flight and about to land – MiFID II and GDPR primarily – it is entirely forgivable to get so distracted with the obvious and immediate costs associated with complying, such as the widely quoted £2.5bn MiFID II is set to cost the industry, that it is possible to miss other, equally significant costs, even though they are right there, hiding in plain sight.
This is where integrated technology and accurate data are going to be your best friends. Here are a few areas where having the right tech solution in place will help you meet the upcoming regulatory requirements – and do so cost- effectively:
1. Your back-office system should be able to help you identify and communicate with those clients affected by regulatory change quickly and efficiently. If it does not, you are likely to incur extra ongoing costs in manual client segmentation exercises that expose your business to unnecessary risks.
2. Your technology software provider, like Storm IT Financial, should have taken upcoming regulations into account & enable you to be confident the tools you use will fully support any changes you need to make. This should help you manage any change efficiently, without racking up additional costs
3. Ideally, your technology will go further than this, automating many of the processes and monitoring such as the imminent expiry of client consent and contact preferences and enabling you to set retention periods for documents. This will not only help you evidence robust and consistent processes under GDPR but save valuable time and resource – another cost efficiency.
4. For those businesses operating across multiple locations, there is the additional cost of travel for your compliance officer to meet the requirement for random sampling of processes. Remote (mathematical random) auditing via your technology solution not only removes this entirely but, if it also includes rules-based automated alerts, you have a dual system in place that is not only more With GDPR the accuracy of the client data you hold in your business has to be accurate, easy to interact with (to enable you to comply with customer consent and portability requests), and consistent across all integrated technology touchpoints. If your data is not accurate and integrated, you will have to make sure it is. The regulator is likely to take a dim view of any business that cannot prove the accuracy of the client data it holds. There is no getting away from this one.
5. The direction of regulatory travel is clear – you are going to have to hold a lot more client data for longer. It should not cost you extra to hold increasingly large amounts of data in the cloud. Check this one – Storm IT Financial does not charge for additional data storage with our Call Recording & Data Compliant Solutions but others do.
6. For those businesses operating across multiple locations, there is the additional cost of travel for your compliance officer to meet the requirement for random sampling of processes. Remote (mathematical random) auditing via your technology solution not only removes this entirely but, if it also includes rules-based automated alerts, you have a dual system in place that is not only more cost-efficient, it can also give you greater peace of mind.There are likely to be more costs associated with regulatory compliance that are specific to your advice business and to be honest, I am only skimming the surface here.
While costs are part and parcel of running a successful and compliant advisory Firm, it makes sense to know how to spot the invisible pink elephant in the room. It also makes sense to identify the areas in your business where an integrated technology solution will help you comply while keeping costs down to a minimum.
MiFID II is being introduced on the 3rd January 2018 will have consequences for the way in which your firm and your IT managed services provider manages its IT systems. Understanding MiFID II is the first step towards putting in place the necessary systems and processes to meet the new requirements. Cont act Storm IT Financial for help and guidance about MiFID II & GDPR and it’s effects on your firm, our MiFID II Call Recording & Data Compliant Solutions and how you can align your IT systems to the directive’s requirements.
Storm IT Financial FinTech News & Trends picks: Week 4th December – 8th December 2017
Who‘s MiFID II prepared? Who’s not? – Timico report
39 per cent of UK financial organisations are unaware of whether they are compliant or not, according to Timico:
http://www.whatinvestment.co.uk/stewart-investors-re-launched-its-indian-subcontinent-fund-2554683/
Prepare for Mifid II enforcement, European firms warned
Financial firms should not be complacent but should ‘act swiftly’ to identi- fy areas where they might not be fully compliant, Deloitte says:
https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/prepare-for-mifid-ii-enforcement-european-firms-warned-20171207
FCA warns firms to report cyber attacks in real time
Financial services firms in the UK are not reporting successful cyber attacks, according to Megan Butler, at the FCA:
The world’s first Blockchain/Cryptocurrency fund of funds now accepting investment.
The world’s first blockchain/cryptocurrency fund of funds, is now open for investment to qualified investors :
McAfee’s email hacking protection service exposed users to Emotet banking malware
McAfee ClickProtect email protection service reportedly shared the mal- ware, which was hosted on a third-party site:
Is fake news dangerous? Security pros say yes
The influx of fake news has taken a social toll, but it is also an attack vector for phishing and malware delivery:
https://www.csoonline.com/article/3236911/malware/is-fake-news-dangerous-security-pros-say-yes.html
5 information security threats that will dominate 2018
The global security threat outlook evolves with every coming year. To combat the threat in 2018, Firms must understand 5 global cyber threats:
The FCA and Call Recording: A Short Guide
Taking a look at call recording regulations as they ap- ply to the financial services industry.
The Mifid II diaries: 15 top stories from 2017
As the final countdown to Mifid II begins, we highlight our biggest stories on the subject this year:
The CIO should report to the CISO
..And the CISO should report directly to the CEO:
https://www.csoonline.com/article/3237675/data-protection/the-cio-should-report-to-the-ciso.html
Why family offices need to up their game on cyber security
There are only two types of companies: those that have been hacked, and those that will be….:
92 per cent of European businesses are unprepared for GDPR
Businesses across Europe are unprepared for the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):
