Tools from Capgemini and TerraNua are available to help companies of all sizes

by Peggy Cope

Capgemini has launched a new weapon in the war to keep companies on the right side of a host of regulations: Reference Data Management.

The RDM BPO offering seeks to provide accurate, responsive, and transformed data management for the capital markets, essential to sustaining a competitive advantage in securities and capital markets and maintaining a firm’s ability to stay current with compliance demands such as MiFID (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive), SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) and Sarbanes-Oxley.

The solution comprises Reference Data Management BPO services, Reference Data Integrity services, and Data Analytics, spanning all reference data asset classes and types. The service suite is designed to reduce risk, lower costs, and improve data breadth and quality.

“By leveraging our extensive experience with trading systems, prime brokerage applications, asset management systems, and investment banking tools, we have created high-level strategies that address each element of the data management lifecycle,” said Ed Merchant, vice president, North America Capital Markets Lead, Capgemini Financial Services SBU.

The RDM BPO offering joins the company’s Knowledge Process Outsourcing services portfolio, which also features Investment Research (for financial services customers), Master Data Management (for manufacturing customers) and Engineering Services BPO (for aerospace customers). Capgemini says its success in RDM services draw upon in-depth knowledge of business processes, rules, and regulatory environments within financial services.

“When outsourcing to Capgemini, the first thing customers notice is our emphasis on reducing risk and the flexibility and scalability of our approach,” said Saleel Nair, Head of RDM Practice, Capgemini BPO. “This is reflected in the fact that we customize the service scope, delivery models, and governance to address the needs of individual clients. At the same time, we bring in strengthened controls, process visibility, and continuous improvement as a standard delivery philosophy.”

Automating Your Compliance Reporting
In separate compliance news, Artha Capital Management, a Stamford, CT-based alternative investment firm, recently signed a contract with TerraNua , a provider of risk and compliance solutions to the U.S. wealth management market, to use its proprietary software solution, MyComplianceOffice, to meet its compliance reporting needs.

Adam Jaffe, chief compliance officer of Artha Capital Management, said in a statement, “MyComplianceOffice provides us with a comprehensive, flexible, automated solution that will allow us to monitor and, more importantly, document our compliance activities so we can avoid any potential hazards. The MyCompliance Dashboard is an invaluable tool that allows me to visualize the company’s adherence to its compliance mandates.”

MyComplianceOffice provides proof of compliance by memorializing compliance activities, audits of ongoing and ad-hoc compliance management activities and decisions such as attestations, policy reviews and updates, document storage with version control, personal trading, licensing and registrations, external gift management, and suitability monitoring. The real-time dashboard provides details on compliance status, as well as personalized pages for individual employees to monitor assigned tasks and events and to submit information, such as pre-trade clearance or outside interest forms, for approval. The online product is said to boast a short implementation time of several weeks and can be customized to suit customers’ needs.

“The risks of non-compliance are the same, regardless of firm size,” said Brian Fahey, CEO of MyCompliance Office. “Small to mid-size firms are looking for world-class, automated compliance management solutions at affordable prices.”