NEWS UPDATE
REGULATION
More than half of firms
not producing MiFID II
best ex reports
Research from Cappitech revealed that
many firms are not producing MiFID II
RTS 27 reports in according with regula-
tory obligations.
M
ore than half of capital markets firms have stated
that they are not currently producing RTS 27 reports
in compliance with MiFID II best execution requirements
despite having a legal obligation to do so, according to
new figures.
Regulatory and compliance technology provider Cappi-
tech surveyed around 100 capital markets firms earlier
this year across the UK and Europe, with best execution
reporting seemingly the most problematic MiFID II
requirement.
Of those surveyed, 56% of respondents who are legally
obliged to produce RTS 27 best execution reports did
not do so. Furthermore, 60% stated that they have no
intentions to use the RTS 27 reports internally to shape
execution policies.
MiFID II’s RTS 27 requires firms to report quarterly data
on more than 50 variables that impact the quality of their
trade execution, including price, cost, speed of execution
and settlement, size and the nature of orders.
“Needless to say, it is not a trivial undertaking, although
organisations with the wherewithal to manage these
data-collection functions efficiently will be least affected,
and might stand to gain to competitive advantage
through better decision-making, and by comparing the
quality of broker execution and commission,” the research
said.
Cappitech’s survey also revealed that 65% of capital
markets firms currently have no systematic method of
monitoring their trades according to best execution crite-
ria, despite tools such as transaction cost analysis (TCA)
being widely available in the industry.
6 // TheTrade // Winter 2018
TECHNOLOGY
Morgan Stanley invests
$15 million in FX technology
U
S investment bank Morgan Stanley has made a $15
million investment in foreign exchange (FX) technolo-
gy and trading platform provider, Integral.
Integral acts as a technology partner for banks, brokers
and asset managers in the FX market, providing a
cloud-based workflow management service and trading
platform.
The vendor currently has more than 200 top-tier
financial institutions that use its technology and services
within their FX business. The firm added that it will
capitalise on its recent success across its business lines,
including growth in its Open Currency Exchange (OCX) FX
venue, which combines market participants into a single
network of liquidity.
“The market opportunity for Integral has never been
better,” Harpal Sandhu, founder and CEO of Integral,
commented. “Our focus on building the best FX solutions
coupled with our unparalleled customer service has given
us the largest installed base in the business – more than
200 leading institutions run on the Integral platform.”
Integral recently announced a partnership with
Moscow Exchange to deliver its OCX service, allowing
the exchange’s customers access to liquidity, higher
performance and lower latency. The firm also teamed up
with prime broker Linear Investments earlier this month
to provide an upgraded version of its FX systems which is
integrated with pricing and risk management tools.