Fatca special report

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Future Tense

Six months ago, when we published our last special report on the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca), the industry and regulators appeared to be in the middle of receiving and figuring out what all of Fatca's provisions would be and how to comply with these.

While the details are more certain now, the first major deadline of July 1 for compliance has the industry scrambling to implement plans and be prepared. As our Virtual Roundtable (page 8) panelists say, processes are incomplete or not ready. Some firms are still integrating processes into their systems, and preparedness can depend on how complex a firm and its IT infrastructure are. Overall, many firms are still looking for tools, and their preparedness can vary depending on the model they use, as Thomson Reuters' Tim Lind notes.

While firms may know what needs to be done, they also know that differences between data sources also present a problem for Fatca compliance. Ravi Vasantraj of consultancy Tech Mahindra says the necessary data often "resides in multiple systems, in multiple formats and are sometimes contradictory." A central storehouse is needed, he says, but conflicts between data sources makes creation of one a challenging goal.

Failing that, there's always metadata or cross-referencing of data. SIX Financial Information's Jacob Gertel says counterparty identification is key to such efforts. Edward Sander of Nice Actimize notes that a lot of the necessary information for compliance is already there, it's just a matter of leveraging technology and re-purposing data. July 1 may be the first deadline, but it isn't the last for Fatca compliance, and this report includes views on Fatca's future impact.

Click here to download the PDF