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Aug 26
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European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) Now Available on Ascent

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Ascent announced today that its platform now includes the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR). EMIR affects businesses in the EU and is directed at over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets, central counterparties (parties which interpose themselves as a focal point between trade deals), and trade repositories (where records of trades are collected and maintained). EMIR establishes common rules for central counterparties and trade repositories, requiring qualified entities to report all derivatives contracts entered into a trade repository. Implemented by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), EMIR is intended to reduce systemic counterparty and operational risk, and help prevent future financial system collapses.  

In 2015, the European Commission (EC) conducted an assessment of EMIR, which found that the regulation imposed overly complex and disproportionate burdens to non-financial counterparties, small financial counterparties and pension funds. Amendments to the regulation made in an effort to address these issues – known as EMIR Refit – were published in May 2019 and applied 20 days following publication i.e. 17 June 2019. EMIR Refit expanded the sphere of Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) formerly considered as financial counterparties (FC) by EMIR. Equally, the change is significant in application due to the linkage between several obligations listed under EMIR and the subsequent classification of an entity more so as an FC. 

Ascent’s AI-driven solutions make it easier for financial firms to assess regulatory changes and their impact to the business. Using artificial intelligence, Ascent automatically curates the regulatory obligations and rule changes that apply to each specific customer, which are then linked to the customer’s daily compliance tasks, controls, and policies and procedures. This targeted regulatory knowledge enables businesses to more efficiently and accurately assess and mitigate risk. 

Modern challenges require modern tools. Interested in seeing how Ascent can help you stay ahead of changing regulation? Request a demo below.

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Nov 18
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Ascent and the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Announce Ongoing Collaboration

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PRESS RELEASE

Ascent announced today that it has formalized an ongoing collaboration with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) with the purpose of componentizing the FCA Handbook. These efforts will help financial firms, and other firms subject to the FCA Handbook, more easily find and understand the FCA regulations that apply to them, thereby increasing their ability to comply.

In response to concerns from financial firms about the difficulty in parsing through voluminous regulatory text and extracting their specific obligations — a challenge faced by both businesses and regulators — the FCA sought out innovative RegTech solutions and ultimately connected with Ascent in part due to the startup’s traction in the market with global banking entities. Founded in 2015, Ascent uses natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to convert oceans of regulatory text into workable tasks. With its proprietary combination of automation and domain expertise, Ascent is a first-mover in RegulationAI™.

The volume and complexity of regulatory compliance — especially in heavily regulated industries such as financial services — makes it difficult for compliance teams to keep policies current, manage compliance programs and staff, and mitigate risk. These challenges are further exacerbated by the rise of personal liability and the possibility of massive fines, reputation damage, and even jail time. Coordination between the FCA and Ascent marks an important shift in the compliance industry, demonstrating that regulators and startups can work directly together to address these challenges and increase firms’ ability to comply.

“The reality is that 99% of firms out there are ‘good actors’ — they are making every effort to comply, but the complexity of our current regulatory landscape does not support those efforts,” said Brian Clark, Founder and CEO of Ascent. “By coordinating directly with the FCA and making regulation more accessible and easy to understand, we can increase compliance across the industry, freeing up the FCA to direct critical time and effort towards high-risk issues. This kind of collaboration is a win-win for financial firms and regulators.”

Ascent is actively looking to coordinate with regulators around the globe. Interested parties can email contact@ascentregtech.com for more information. 

About the FCA

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulates the financial services industry in the UK. Its role includes protecting consumers, keeping the industry stable, and promoting healthy competition between financial service providers. The FCA is the conduct regulator for 58,000 financial services firms and financial markets in the UK and the prudential regulator for over 18,000 of those firms. Learn more at www.fca.org.uk. 

 

Modern challenges require modern tools. Interested in seeing how Ascent can help you stay ahead of changing regulation? Request a demo below.

Request a Demo

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