The REGIS-TR RoundUp
The REGIS-TR RoundUp is a hub for regulatory reporting news and views from your leading Trade Repository team and industry guests from across the globe.
The REGIS-TR RoundUp
S10:E11 2025 Q1 Regtech Goals, News and Predictions
Happy New Year! In our first show of 2025, we have Maria Santos (MD, Regis-TR SA), John Kernan (CEO Regis-TR UK) and Laura Rodriguez (Head of Institutional Relations) setting the big Q1 goals for the TR & market participants. Plus, we look at DORA, upcoming milestones in the regulation space, events and some predictions for 2025.
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Speaker 1:It should be taken as legal, tax or any other professional advice. Regulatory reporting. This is the number one reg tech show in the whole of Europe, if not the world, and I am delighted to be back with my very special co-hosts for this episode, of course, in no particular order, but obviously starting with the boss, maria Santos, managing Director of Registriar SA Maria, welcome back.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much, andy, and happy new year to you and to everybody that is listening to this podcast.
Speaker 1:One and a half month ago and also thank you for settling the chorizo question once and for all. Tim Hartley is very grateful for that month ago. And also thank you for settling the chorizo question once and for all. Tim hartley is very grateful for that. Uh, I'm going to say, if you're listening, tim hi, a big hello to. Obviously tim must get him back on the show and john graham, of course, if you're listening, we'll get you back and we'll hit you with a food related quiz this time that'll. That'll throw you a curveball. Also, joining us in the virtual studio back after a fantastic honeymoon. Relations lara, welcome back in the virtual studio, back after a fantastic honeymoon relations lara welcome back thank you very much, andrew.
Speaker 2:I have an amazing honeymoon, but with a lot of energy now to start this new year. Okay, so it was one month trip two weeks in Australia, two weeks in New Zealand Australia we did the west and south coast and then New Zealand from the bottom to the top in a really nice camper van and it was really, really amazing. In Australia it was really good. In New Zealand was good also. But you know we were doing a lot of hiking in mountains where it rains 200 days per year, so it was impossible to find a really nice day to go there, so it was pouring sometimes it was really raining a lot, but in general it was really raining a lot, but in general it was really nice and it even worth if you visit these places with uh, with the rain.
Speaker 1:It's really worth it anyway smiled and looked enough to say yes, finally decent weather. It is, of course, uh, the man who he used to put the canary in the wharf. Then he was devonshire. Another, never square. Then he was devonshire and never square, and of course he's now the keeper of saint mary's axe. It is none other than the head. He was Devonshire and Never Square. Then he was Devonshire and Never Square, and of course he's now the keeper of St Mary's Axe. It is none other than the head, the CEO of Registriart in the UK, mr John Kern. And John, welcome back. Thank you for long enough for you to eat your turkey, hi Andrew.
Speaker 4:It's great to be back. Happy New Year everybody. No, the FCA are very kind. No, I managed to get some time off. Um went back to dorset for a week and, uh, yeah, it was lovely catch up with the family.
Speaker 1:Um ate too much, drank too much uh, fabulous yeah or they're back in luxembourg and they are facing the white heat of a new tech platform, new product rollouts, obviously, market participants under pressure to up their data quality, improve their reporting, turnaround processes, plus, of course, a whole load of new regulations on the horizon. So let's kick off with our Q1 goal setting show first show of 2025. And I'm going to start with Maria. I'm going to come to you first because obviously you're managing director. You're sitting there in the big chair looking down the first quarter. You must have a plan. What does the trade repository do? How do you approach a new year when you're fresh into a whole batch of new regulations? What's burning a hole in your desk right now?
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. No, a little bit of everything. And this is not a normal start of the year because we on the one side, we have the next DORA implementation that Laura will talk to us later on but DORA is coming into effect the next week. So we've been working the whole past year on how to implement it and everything is ready. So we're going working the whole past year on how to implement it and everything is ready. So we're going to be DORA compliant as soon as DORA comes into effect. So that's, on the one side, one of the priorities of this first queue and on the other side, we're always in expectation if there is any regulatory change, so that we have to manage our own resources to make the changes available and to make the company compliant to whatever is needed. But for the time being, we are still working, and we've been working very hard after the client event in the platform stabilization, as we already announced in the client event, in the platform stabilization, as we already announced in the client event, and we have made a considerable effort in monitoring the platform and including all the checkpoints possible to make the customer feel comfortable with our platform and in order to anticipate any problem that may arise. So these are the priorities now to stabilize the platform. We've been working on that, so almost done, and we will also be starting meetings with customers to make sure that they get the best of the new platform and that they understand the benefits of the new platform as well.
Speaker 3:And there are some new things that are coming in the Q1 that we can announce now, as they were already advancing in the client event. If we talk about MET, we will make available to the customers all the invoices on an online basis, so the customer will have all the historical information of the invoices, including in-med historical information of 2024, as well as the status of each invoice, for them to have all this information in real time. We will also be including DocuSign as a tool for them to more quickly fulfill the contracts and the amendments to the contract. This is going to be also like automating on this process to save time of the customers. And we will be also launching the CSV reports and of the reports that they are today receiving in XML format. Xml is not understandable for everybody, so we are going to launch them in CSV because this is like a much more human readable format, and this is something that customers have requested to us. So customer, customer, customer this is going to be our priority in this first queue, as always.
Speaker 1:As you do a whole load of testing pre-launch, you have your beta phases, you do all that stuff. But then when you're hit with a huge volume of live data and real end-to-end customer journeys, you discover all the things actually, that you couldn't have anticipated, because you never quite know how a user is going to access the system, what they really need from it. They don't know themselves sometimes.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we're trying to make their life easier, and everything that can be automated and everything that can be understood more easily, such as the difference between XML and CSV, we will do it, and this is our intention to make life of customers much better than it was before.
Speaker 1:Is it enhancing their operations?
Speaker 3:Well, it's enhancing, because now validation rules require much more fields to be validated. So, only for the, this is, you know, they are increasing the quality. But we can also propose, and we will be proposing to our customers, new information, new services based on this huge amount of information that we are now getting and that I think that our customers are expecting. You know, new services based on this huge amount of information that can be very useful to them very important.
Speaker 1:That brings us very nicely to Laura. I'm going to hit you. Data is the new oil, Laura. Is that what they're saying? Esma, what's the institutional relations update? How has feedback been from Esma? What's the?
Speaker 2:mood in Brussels, that's for sure. Data quality is all over and it's going to be one of the key points for ESMA to keep improving and to keep looking. We don't know yet when the next data quality report will come, but we can see already that all authorities are getting ready to have the data as clean as possible, let's say, the data that has not been updated yet from the previous standards, which we know. Most of the entities have already done it, but still there are specific legacy traits that are there in the system and they are trying to upgrade them as much as possible to have the information accurate. All the things that they are asking, for example, the authorities, is that they are approaching us because they are entities that have ceased or closed their business, but there are still trades that have not been terminated in the system, which means that we need to follow a very specific process that is defined in the Q&As to close that data, because those entities don't have an account anymore, they have closed and they are not able to do so, and this is also another way to clean the database and to see how authorities are really looking to have the most accurate version of the data that they are receiving.
Speaker 2:So, of course, yes, data quality is going to be one of the huge points. And also, I will say they are doing this because one of the key points that they are going to look into mainly the central banks is the margin. To look into mainly the central banks is the margin. They are really right now looking to see that all the margins and all the information on collateral valuation is not missing, is there, and that entities are doing it properly, which is also very relevant information for them, for their statistics and for their supervision of the risk market in general. So, yeah, I'd say data quality will be always there.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I was just going to say not to panic our UK clients. So we're obviously following a slightly delayed timeline five months after the European Union and so I suppose that's the first major milestone for our clients this year is the deadline at the end of March to upgrade their open trade data, so they've still got a little while yet to do it, but certainly something they should be looking at now.
Speaker 1:Uncertainty and unusual market dynamics, as things have been changing throughout Europe.
Speaker 2:I don't have a specific reason in my mind. It could be all the ones that you have mentioned. Also, it could be that because, as you know, there are entities that hold a margin, a bigger margin and therefore a bigger risk. With this new refit, they have all the information that they are not missing anything, so they can do these supervisory activities properly. So it probably could be one of the reasons.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean, andrea, I guess you know, from a BAU perspective, when we're talking about market volatility and potential changes and so on in the geopolitical situation and so on, you know the bau impact to us is it is normally just in terms of volumes. We tend to see significant increase in volumes during those types of periods.
Speaker 1:But the you know the, the framework, the parameters for the reporting remains the same and there is a five-month sort of cushion that uk uh market participants have enjoyed, which definitely has meant they've learned from the sort of best practice examples of the go live for amir uh in europe. But how has it been? How has amir been rolling out uh over the uh last sort of a month or so since we we caught up?
Speaker 4:yeah, I mean, it's it. It's been broadly smooth. I I would say, um, you mentioned that market participants have kind of worked through any systemic issues effectively in production, uh, through reporting in the, as most of our UK clients do. But also on our side as well, as Maria mentioned, we've been heavily focused on bug fixing and so on, which ultimately led to cleaner implementation of the platform in the UK and we've seen that monitoring the daily KPIs and so on. You know there are still a few bugs here and there, with some slight delays on some reports for a small number of clients on an occasional basis, but we're working through that and yeah, broadly speaking touch wood it's gone pretty well.
Speaker 1:And how are you setting your objectives for the year ahead? I mean? Ceo of the UK branch of RegistryR. So do you have the same effective agenda? Obviously, as Maria discussed that, you're consolidating the platform, adding new features, having a push to engage with clients to make sure they're getting the best out of the platform, or do you have to approach things in a slightly different way because there is a more limited scope for UKM here?
Speaker 4:No, I'm completely aligned with Maria. That's absolutely what we need to do. I mean, look, let's, let's be honest, last year was a difficult year for clients. We had a major system implementation, effectively, a new platform and then additional tools like med, etc. Etc. So, um, my, my view of this year is that this year, you know, we get back close to clients. We are looking at, for example, holding regional workshops, including in the UK, to walk through the new enhanced functionality. And, yeah, it's a year I see where now the mandatory development is done, we can really start to focus on rolling out the client-driven development and our clients really start to see value through that. So I think that's happening.
Speaker 1:So this is all sounding very positive and great, so I don't want to put a downer on things, but I am and Lara, I'm going to come back to you. Dora, just as he thought it was safe to go back into regulatory reporting, suddenly there's a huge, great new implementation which it feels like everyone is really on track with this, because it's much more of an IT thing. The IT teams are being geared up. You've had your red and blue teams testing, uh, penetration testing, all those different things that are sort of so crucial to this. Have there been any friction points with dora preparations? Is there anything that's, you know, a cause for concern for regulatory authorities?
Speaker 2:well, uh, not concerned, but per se I think authorities and and the industry are working closely to try to solve all the uncertainty that we could still have in some of the requirements. December ESMA did two very relevant workshops. One was related with the incident reporting under DORA. So here there was a lot of uncertainty and the market was really worried on how they should really measure all the criteria to report a major incident. And ESMA is really trying to clarify all the what is still not clear just to ensure that by the time of the reporting the entities have all the necessary information to to feel comfortable with what they are reporting as incidents. And the other workshop that took place also in December was regarding the register of information under DORA, which is all related with the updates of the contracts. That needs to be now aligned with all the DORA requirements for the ICT third party service providers. Also, there's a lot of work from the industry to update the contracts with the relevant entities to ensure that now this contract that we have with these service providers cover also DORA.
Speaker 2:So I think everything is more or less on track, as you said, but it's true that also what the supervisor said is that this is going to be a learning process for both parts. It will be a learning process for supervisors and learning process for the industry and a marketing infrastructure. So it's really important to, as soon as we find any issue or deficiency on the way we do this type of reporting, that we inform them, that we ensure that we have clear all the points. So I think it's really important this communication at this point to ensure that well, we are doing it correctly and that maybe the requirements that are in place are not clear enough and needs to be reviewed. This could be something that could happen also. So that's why it's really important the communication at this point, but a finger crossed for everybody and for the industry for the 17th of January, and hopefully all the major incidents that are reported by them could be easily managed and easily communicated to their supervisors.
Speaker 3:As you said, this is a process where we all be learning at the same time, but where we have also learned because there were some restrictions, for example, for providers outside the European Union that had to have an NDI. So we raised the question and you know the solution given, you know, was clear enough and open enough for us to keep having all these providers outside of the European Union not restricting, you know, the data that they had to deliver to be DERA compliant. So, yeah, so we've been learning during the process and things have been solved Also during the process, things that concern us at the very beginning, and that has been a very good experience on both sides.
Speaker 1:And John on that front. We've talked about UK refits. We talk about UK SFTR. We're used to putting UK in front of everything that happens in the EU now, post Brexit, when it comes to regulatory frameworks, what about DORA? Is there a UK DORA?
Speaker 4:At the moment. No, there isn't currently an overarching single piece of regulation. Like appropriate, we will probably adopt the best practice that's being put in place there develops in terms of the UK regulatory framework and any further requirements from the FCA as time progresses.
Speaker 1:Okay. So it all looks good. Q1 is teed up, we've got new platform, new value added services. That's why Nick can't join us for this episode, because he's out there hitting the road, meeting clients and talking about all the cool new things that you can do. But towards the end of the year there is a slight dark cloud on that sunny summer horizon, which is the enhanced reconciliation requirements which are due to be coming in, john, starting with you. Is that going to be an issue in the UK?
Speaker 4:Yes. So that will be another significant milestone, something market participants need to be working towards. For the UK it's due in September 2026. It's due in September 2026. And I guess it will have impacts on reconciliation rates, of course, as additional fields, additional complexity, et cetera, et cetera. And then for my colleagues in the European Union, they have the pleasure of implementing that for five months prior, so two years after refit went live. So end of April 2026 for the European Union. So yeah, it's just a reminder. I suppose, together with the upgrade of the data that's still outstanding for our UK clients, they also need to keep an eye on the additional reconciliation requirements that are still outstanding.
Speaker 1:Okay, so getting ready for the deadline in 2026 means everyone's going to start working on that, I guess towards the end of the year, because the industry is always ahead of the game. Maria, what about from your side? Are there any sort of standout new initiatives around regulatory regimes that you think market participants should keep an eye on?
Speaker 3:We should mention that maybe there's going to be a discussion on the new FIMFRAG based on Brexit, that FIMA apparently is going to start this year. This is something that we will be looking at and we will inform all our customers from FIMFRAG about the potential new changes, so we will walk this process together with them.
Speaker 1:Laura, what is 2025 looking like for you? It sounds like it's going to be a pretty smooth ride. You know, a bit of FinFrag, a bit of getting ready for enhanced reconciliation. It feels pretty easy after a mere refit, doesn't it? Come on, spoil the party. What else is coming?
Speaker 2:Okay, what else? Actually, it's an honest talk. Although we think this is not going to be the case in 2025, on the TR side at least, we will keep working because we have new consultation papers which are related with guidelines on internal control. So ESMA already have these guidelines for one of their market infrastructure, for credit rating agencies, but they will enlarge the scope of these guidelines for the rest of the infrastructure that they supervise.
Speaker 2:So we are now looking into these guidelines that we will submit the responses of this consultation in March, and what ESMA expects here is just to give some details guidelines, expectations for the different components and an effective internal control system, so all the frameworks related with risk, with compliance and with having a controlled environment. So, as I said, this will apply for the moment to the entity supervised by ESMA, but, as you know, sometimes the guidelines that ESMA creates serve as a basis for the rest of the supervisors to use for the entities that they supervise. So it is important that if people can have a look to this and see how much they align with these expectations of ESMA. So this is one of the points that we will work this year on these guidelines and how to align our frameworks to these expectations. Yeah, as well as the rest of the things that we have recommended here. So quite an interesting time ahead.
Speaker 4:And there's all the BAU stuff as well. Right, it's working, for a market infrastructure is a bit like, you know, painting the seven bridge you get to the end and you have to start again. So we've got you know. So we've got you know, we've got um an ongoing cycle of internal audits. We have um, we have our our risk management um exercise, so we do um risk risk evaluation throughout the year and, of course, compliance work and monitoring programs. So we're constantly testing various areas of the business for compliance and potentially, areas that require improvement. And, as I say, that's just an ongoing process. As soon as you finish, you start again.
Speaker 1:Okay, and also the event season is kicking off. We've got securities lending events, repo events, trade bodies are organizing their annual conferences. Are you going to be at any events coming up soon?
Speaker 3:We will be in the in the Derivative Forum of Frankfurt during the month of February. So we will be exhibiting there on 26th and 27th of February. Yeah, for the people to know about that. And we will be in booth number 32 in the level C2 of the exhibition area. So for everybody to say, for our customers there and for everybody that attends the Derivative Forum, we will be there to answer any question and to have everyone to one that they want.
Speaker 1:Good. Now, on this exciting front, we have to draw the formal portion of the show to a close. But, as has become our tradition here on the show, we like to hit people with surprise quizzes. And, john, it's your turn. I'm sorry. You've been away too long doing important work, but you've got an easy. Long doing important work, but you've got an easy quiz. Now You've got an easy quiz. I'm going to hit you with a quiz now. There's been no preparation for this. How many questions can you answer in a minute? We're just going to blitz through them. See how far we can get. This should be an easy one for you, because today's topic is Tottenham Hotspur's 2024-25 season so far. How much do you know? As a massive spurs fan, this should be. This should put you in john john graham scoring territory at this point are you trying to depress me?
Speaker 1:um, yeah, you got just to say, if you are listening to this show on the recording day, it's the morning after Tottenham just managed to squeeze through past. Was it Tamworth, tamworth? Okay, moving on, john. Are you ready? Your timer is about to begin. Now. Who is Tottenham Hotspur's head coach for the 24-25 season?
Speaker 4:Ange Bostek-Holtley.
Speaker 1:Correct as of January 13th 2025,. What position does Tottenham hold in the Premier League standings?
Speaker 4:I guess we're 11th or 12th 12th is correct.
Speaker 1:Yes, I'll accept that. Which player is Tottenham's top scorer this season?
Speaker 4:That would be Brennan Johnson, james Madison with eight goals.
Speaker 1:Oh wow, okay, just slipped through there. Who provided the most assists for Tottenham so far this season.
Speaker 4:That'd be Brennan Johnson.
Speaker 1:No, it's Dan Kulisowski. Five assists officially there. Against which team did Tottenham achieve their largest victory this season?
Speaker 4:Southampton.
Speaker 1:Correct. Who capped in Tottenham in their most recent match?
Speaker 4:Oh, I guess that would have been James Madison.
Speaker 1:That was last night's match, wasn't it? The computer hadn't updated it. It said Song Hun Min, but I'll just. I'll take your word for it. Which summer signing made the most appearances this season? They've all been injured, so I don't know word for it. Which?
Speaker 4:summer signing made the most appearances this season. They've all been injured, so I don't know.
Speaker 1:Mickey Van Der Ben. How many clean sheets has Tottenham kept in the Premier League so far?
Speaker 4:Not many. I would guess about four.
Speaker 1:Four is correct. What was the result of Tottenham's opening match of the season? Don't know 2-2 draw against Brentford Wow, that's impressive. And how many, sorry. How many goals has Tottenham conceded from set pieces this season?
Speaker 4:Five.
Speaker 1:Five is correct. Well done, okay, well done.
Speaker 4:No, dear Fantastic. I'm glad Nick's not on the podcast anyway, because Spurs we go away to Arsenal on Wednesday and that might not be a very pleasant experience.
Speaker 1:You know what? I don't think you'll be minding that gap again, john, this year. I feel as though Arsenal it's not Spurs are doing well, but Arsenal are doing very badly, and that's got to be good news for you. Ok, on that very UK focused little bit of TV fun there, it's time for us really to say goodbye and to thank our very special co-hosts for the show, and that is, of course, in no particular order, the senior leader for the flagship Registrar SA. It is, of course, maria Santos, maria, managing Director. Thank you very much.
Speaker 3:Thank you to you, thank you so much.
Speaker 1:And a huge thank you to the recently returned and much welcome back, Pride of Spain, the Head of Institutional Relations, Laura Rodriguez. Laura, welcome back, Pride of Spain, the head of institutional relations, Laura Rodriguez, Laura welcome back. Thank you very much, Andrew. And finally, last but not least, someone who is better at answering quizzes than Tottenham are at playing football. It is, of course, CEO of Registrar UK, John Kernan. John, good to have you back.
Speaker 4:Thanks, andrew. That's a pretty low benchmark, to be fair, but it's great to be back, thank you, and looking forward to 2025.
Speaker 1:Okay, good. Well, that's an end to that. So make sure you join us on our LinkedIn channel. That's linkedincom. Slash company, slash Regis hyphen TR, where you can network with Maria and with Lara and with John and with everyone else who helped to put this show together. On that front, a huge thank you to our producer, Manuel Moreno-Garcia very much the brains of the outfit there you probably guessed that already and, of course, for me, Andrew, Keith Walker and everyone at the Sixth Group have a good month. We'll see you next month. Bye-bye.