Global Banking and Finance Review, UK: Cognizant’s Head of Banking and Financial Services in the UK and Ireland Says MiFID II is an Opportunity for Forward-Thinking Firms to Upgrade Business Processes

“Whether it is an investment bank, large dealer or small investment management firm from any country in the world dealing with EU organizations, there is much to be done and the window of opportunity to prepare for MiFID II is rapidly closing,” writes Tony Virdi. “The new regulation introduces extensive changes to reporting requirements, particularly around transaction reporting and transparency requirements. These new requirements will bring in many types of organizations operating in and around financial services that were previously exempt from it.” Excerpts:

“MiFID II will expand the scope of transaction reporting covering all financial instruments beyond solely focusing on equities and change the nature of reporting for those previously covered.

MiFID II requires substantial change within financial services firms in terms of both internal infrastructure and day-to-day business processes.

To meet MiFID II head on, firms need to analyze how the changes impact them, and ensure their IT systems and business processes have the scale and capability to meet the necessary reporting standards.

Traditional banks and broker-dealers already subject to MiFID I requirements will be substantially affected by the new MiFID II regulations, which expands to cover a wider range of asset classes.

The expanded financial universe now also includes, for example, small trading firms with limited in-house IT capabilities, asset management, securities services, wealth management and similar financial services firms, large and small, which were not previously subject to the MiFID I requirements.

Forward-thinking firms will put a MiFID II roadmap into action and use this opportunity to upgrade their business processes, data quality, IT infrastructure and ensure a flexible approach to take advantage of the market benefits the legislation could bring.

By introducing MiFID II requirements now, financial services companies can potentially lower their cost of compliance, re-use existing data content, manage data retention and distribution more effectively, and avoid having to implement a last-minute tactical solution, which subsequently may need to be revised.”

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