Sell-Side Technology Awards 2019: Best Reporting Platform or Service for the Sell Side—Kaizen Reporting

Regulatory compliance and reporting accuracy are high on sell-side firms’ agendas. Investment banks are having to compile and submit large numbers of reports to meet the requirements of multiple global regulations, including the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid II), which took effect in January 2018. As regulators become increasingly more demanding when it comes to the quality of reporting and control frameworks, Kaizen Reporting has sought to ease the compliance burden on sell-side firms through the development of ReportShield, its suite of regulatory reporting technologies and services. The London-based provider has garnered significant attention through its Accuracy Testing module, part of ReportShield, winning the best reporting platform or service category at this year’s Sell-Side Technology Awards. 

The Accuracy Testing tool enables clients to automatically assess the quality of their reports, test their reports’ accuracy and identify compliance errors or shortcomings at the source. It provides full visibility of test coverage, alerts, traceability of flagged issues, and delivers granular metrics on reporting quality across the organization. It enables firms to generate a consistent view of reporting activities from all parts of the business and allows them to drill down and analyze detected errors to help prevent regulatory repercussions or costly remediation. It also supports a wide range of global regulations, including Mifid II, the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), and Dodd–Frank in the US. “ReportShield covers multiple jurisdictions and can conduct what we call universal testing,” says Dario Crispini, founder and CEO of Kaizen Reporting. “We test all activity in all ways possible; the idea is that the senior executive team can take comfort from the results as a way of seeing what their problems are and that they don’t have any other problems lurking in the cupboard.” 

Crispini explains that the introduction of Mifid II has heightened the complexity of regulatory reporting, whereby firms can submit valid reports but still fall short of their obligations to their respective regulators. Kaizen Reporting has therefore developed the tool using a mathematical model to support the necessary scope for testing reporting accuracy. Additionally, ReportShield offers clients end-to-end reconciliations, reference data testing, a control framework, and training to help with the regulatory implementations. 

Over the next 12 months and beyond, Kaizen Reporting aims to continue building out its suite of regulatory reporting technologies and services. It is looking to further ease the burden on the sell side by providing enhanced transparency and assisting clients with their daily requirements such as queries or access to real-time information.