As three snowflakes showered London on Monday, creating apocalyptic scenes, we braved it and travelled over to Canary Wharf to an audience with the FCA, specifically, their RegTech team.
Now, it’s not often the FCA receive positive feedback, but the latest initiative to look at how technology can help regulated firms better meet their regulatory obligations is to be applauded, and one we’re advocating.
The premise for the meeting was to pitch our new piece of RegTech kit, TierDrop, that enables DFMs and platforms to better comply with the MIFID II rule for reporting clients 10% portfolio depreciation over a specific reporting period. The audience was varied, with representation from across IT, RegTech and specifically the wealth management space, which meant their feedback was relevant and constructive.
It was clear the focus of the regulator is firmly on how technology can produce better outcomes for consumers, so the fact that this was one of our major considerations, struck a chord. A key area that TierDrop addresses is to reduce the risk of clients being incorrectly reported or missed because of, let’s face it, a lack of investment in technology. The ramifications of which can result in reputational damage and potential regulatory disciplinary action.
The ESMA suggested calculation is a large contributing factor to this risk, so we were pleased with how TierDrop raised this to their attention, providing a comparison of more accurate calculation results which, ultimately, produce better (more accurate) outcomes for consumers.
Whilst we weren’t expecting a seal of approval, or recommendations to buy our product, it was great to get some feedback and some assurance that what we’re doing is looked upon positively by the regulator. And, who knows, maybe we sewed a little seed of doubt as to the accuracy of the ESMA suggested calculation method?!
Tim Williams, Business Development Director, FinoComp
