Sibos and the KYC Agenda
Swift's standardization efforts for customer data will be in the spotlight at its annual conference
The agenda for this year's Sibos conference taking place in Singapore on October 12–15 contains plenty of informational sessions about the ISO 20022 messaging standard, intended to spur attendees and their firms to see the benefits of upgrading from its forerunner, ISO 15022, and provide guidance on how to accomplish the shift.
In a column around this time last year that preceded Sibos 2014, I observed that the agenda was focused on ISO 20022 as well, although more in terms of trying to gage progress in migrating users to the standard. In crafting this year's agenda, Swift (the financial industry messaging standards cooperative that organizes Sibos) appears to be less worried about the need to campaign or push for ISO 20022 adoption, and confident enough to just make resources available through the sessions.
That clears the way for other concerns that Swift can advance, as covered in this issue of Inside Reference Data. The greatest of these is now know-your-customer (KYC) data, as Swift's Bart Claeys tells us and Luc Meurant discusses in a progress report feature in this issue.
Although Swift's KYC Registry, and a few other providers' KYC offerings, have been available for about a year or more, a "continuously evolving" regulatory landscape will affect how KYC processes are done, necessitating changes and updates, says Claeys.
Even though Thomson Reuters, Clarient and Markit|Genpact are also all in the KYC space now, Swift is still striving to standardize KYC information on its own, as Meurant, head of banking markets and compliance services at the cooperative, asserts.
Executives from firms that consume data, such as Tatjana Dobrovolny of Raiffeisen Bank and Amy Harkins of BNY Mellon, outline the need for data quality amid all the different KYC data standards, which vary depending on who is providing the data and the different rules that are in force in whatever market that data is coming from. This raises questions about whether the industry can truly manage KYC data effectively to meet regulatory compliance imperatives.
The industry's other concern about KYC is whether the service providers' offerings are indeed delivering efficiency gains and cost savings in the process of better managing KYC data. Similarly, data quality is a concern for reference data management overall.
The insights shared by service providers and data users in this story point to the definition of data needs as an important key to providing quality. As BMO Financial Group's Adrian Dokmecian says, "[Our users] need to understand what that data is. Only then can we measure accordingly, provide them with some insight on the quality of that data ... then go through the quality lifecycle and look at remediation."
Applying this assertion to KYC data, with all of its varied and changing characteristics, one would have to conclude that the definition of KYC data has to become more standardized if it is to eventually yield the progress that the industry is trying to achieve.
Only users who have a paid subscription or are part of a corporate subscription are able to print or copy content.
To access these options, along with all other subscription benefits, please contact info@waterstechnology.com or view our subscription options here: http://subscriptions.waterstechnology.com/subscribe
You are currently unable to print this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
You are currently unable to copy this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
You may share this content using our article tools. Printing this content is for the sole use of the Authorised User (named subscriber), as outlined in our terms and conditions - https://www.infopro-insight.com/terms-conditions/insight-subscriptions/
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
You may share this content using our article tools. Copying this content is for the sole use of the Authorised User (named subscriber), as outlined in our terms and conditions - https://www.infopro-insight.com/terms-conditions/insight-subscriptions/
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
More on Trading Tech
WatersTechnology latest edition
Check out our latest edition, plus more than 10 years of our best content.
Getting aggressive: Overbond uses AI to assess dealer axes
The fixed-income analytics specialist has developed a new tool to help buy-side firms decide if they’re getting a good price from their dealers.
TS Imagine integrates LTX’s pre-trade analytics tool
Users of the fixed-income EMS will now have access to LTX’s Liquidity Cloud tool, which provides a pre-trade score for the likelihood of trading success.
European exchanges turn to dark trading in battle for flow
The EU’s two biggest exchanges are launching dark pools this year. The apparent change in their stances on dark trading reflects a profound shift in equities markets.
After contentious Opra upgrades, vendors brace for a faster future
Upgrades to the datafeed widely used to gauge the current market price for options contracts went into effect in February after three separate delays, which market participants say were caused by persistent bandwidth issues at some important recipients.
The IMD Wrap: No more turf wars, or why CDOs should heed the Voice of the CTO
Max reviews how our recent Voice of the CTO series has implications for those beyond a firm’s technology function, and how communication and collaboration between tech, data, and leadership will deliver better results.
Dark horse: Deutsche Börse building dark pool
New functionality allowing exchange members to execute sweep trades comes hot on the heels of European rival Euronext launching its own dark pool.
Waters Wrap: The tough climb for startups
Anthony speaks with two seasoned technologists to better understand why startups have such a tough time getting banks and asset managers to sign on the dotted line.
Most read
- Women in Technology & Data Awards 2024: All the winners and why they won
- Witad Awards 2024: Above and beyond award (vendor)—Susan Bennett, Tradeweb
- Fighting FAIRR: Inside the bill aiming to keep AI and algos honest