What you need to know about ESMA’s new marketing communication requirements
At the end of May 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities regulator, set out the requirements that funds’ marketing communications must fulfill under the Guidelines for the Regulation on cross-border distribution of funds. Here is what you need to know: These guidelines apply to: UCITS management companies, including any UCITS which has not designated a UCITS management company Alternative investment fund managers EuVECA managers EuSEF managers The guidelines affect all marketing communications addressed to: Investors or potential investors for UCITS and AIFs, including when they are set up as EuVECAs, EuSEFs, ELTIFs and MMFs Marketing communications must: Be clearly identifiable as [...]
How ready is the European asset management industry for SFDR and ESG?
The first stage of the European Union’s (EU) Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) came into effect on 10th March 2021. Despite its seeming complexity, the initiative has one core objective - to avoid the ‘greenwashing’ of financial market participants. “SFDR sets out rules on transparency and requires FMPs to disclose how they consider sustainability risks in their investment processes and products and how they deal with principal adverse impacts of their investment decisions on sustainability factors, ” ~ Rebecca Macé-Balebs, Senior Associate at Ogier. To accomplish this, asset managers will be required to publish both pre-contractual and disclosure statements on their websites, distinguishing their products into [...]
Fundipedia is recognised on the WealthTech100 list by FinTech Global
We are delighted to announce that Fundipedia has been chosen to be a part of the third annual WEALTHTECH100 list of tech companies transforming the global investment and banking industries. The prestigious list recognises 100 of the world’s most innovative tech solution providers addressing the digital transformation challenges and opportunities faced by asset managers, private banks and financial advisors. "Established banks and investment firms need to be aware of the latest innovations to remain competitive in the current market, which is heavily focused on digital distribution and increased use of customer data, and even more so post Covid-19. The WealthTech100 list helps senior management filter through [...]
Meet our new implementation associates
We are happy to announce our new implementation associates Sarah Bliss and Edward Dunkley. Once a year we select 1-2 bright, accomplished and highly motivated graduates as part of Fundipedia's Graduate Development Program. Our selection process is very competitive and goes through a short questionnaire, a quick get to know you conversation, a practical task and a proper long interview. We often get 500+ applications and we are carefully choosing the ones who are ready to roll up their sleeves. Get to know below Sarah and Edward, our news additions to the Fundipedia family. Hi Sarah, Edward, nice to have you on board with Fundipedia! What [...]
How to take the pain out of third party reporting
You'd think standardisation would make reporting easier. But the EMT, EPT, and all the other regulatory reporting requirements you have to contend with as an asset manager have led to the complete opposite. If anything, putting reports together in the correct format is becoming increasingly challenging. And it's primarily down to the way data is gathered, managed, and stored The good news is that it doesn't have to be like this. With the right technology in place, you can create complete, accurate, and compliant reports quickly, without the attendant frustration. Here's how. Out of control Complying with reporting requirements is challenging to begin with. But, to make [...]
2021 asset management regulatory matters from the Investment Association
John Allan, Senior Operations Specialist from the Investment Association, recently joined our Fundipedia quarterly User Group meeting to provide the latest news on regulatory matters as they relate to funds and firms. In summary the video talks about three main areas: Data Exchange Templates - as led by industry bodies including FinDatEx The Common ShareClass Register Additional policy and regulatory changes on the horizon in 2021 TRANSCRIPT Good morning, everyone. It is a pleasure to be invited to talk to you today at Fundipedia's User Group. As you know, Fundipedia is a part of IA Engine, our fintech hub and accelerator program, and it has been fantastic [...]
Are you EMT 3.0 ready?
On Tuesday 10 December 2019, FinDatEx validated the new EMT (European MiFID template) v3 template. Some important changes have been made to EMT v1, the version currently used by investment funds, which include updates from existing EMT v1 fields as well as additional new fields. Key files have been made available by FinDatEx (findatex.eu): Template – click here Mapped changes between V1 and V3 – click here The fast approaching final deadline for implementation is 10 December 2020. Download our checklist below to ensure you've covered off every essential item.
What is Power BI and why should you care?
Data is the lifeblood of modern businesses. Yet, with so much amassed every day by organisations across the globe, if companies can’t make sense of the information at their disposal, they can’t use it to make worthwhile improvements to their processes and practices. That is where business intelligence software is critical in helping organisations make sense of their data and use it to generate actionable insights for their various operations. Here, we will break down Microsoft’s flagship BI solution, Power BI, and why companies should care about what it can accomplish for them. What is Power BI? Power BI is a powerful data visualisation tool, collated across [...]
6 reasons why we can’t stop using Power BI
With data being the lifeforce behind businesses of all shapes and sizes, solutions like Power BI are absolutely essential in allowing organisations to harness the information available do them and drive effective decision-making. Through it, people can visualise and analyse data in ways that were never possible before, and place it at the heart of their business strategy. Here, we give 6 reasons why our team at Fundipedia value Power BI, and how its numerous benefits extend to our clients seeking to take control of their fund data. Reason #1: Integrations, and lots of them... Out of the box, Power BI includes a huge amount of integrations with almost any data provider you need. Whether [...]
The 5 most common mistakes in Power BI
On your journey to becoming a Power BI expert, there are a few bad habits you may fall into along the way. This is totally understandable and they won’t become apparent to you until you start to examine your reports from a different perspective. While it may feel natural to develop your Power BI reports by tailoring them to how you think they should look, it is important to remember that you will almost certainly have a deeper understanding of it than those who will eventually read it. Any extra complexities may come naturally to you, but readers might have a tougher time grasping it. In this [...]
Happy Birthday MiFID2!
Happy Birthday MiFID2! Two years old and hasn't that time flown by? Whilst there has been some uptake of the standard we hear regulators are going take the opportunity to clamp down on those firms who are still not yet compliant in this coming year and onwards. Supervisory and potentially enforcement focus is increasing in priority areas such as regulatory reporting and investor protection (Inducements, Best Execution and Costs & Charges). The FCA is empowered to use recent Senior Managers & Certification Regime (SM&CR) as a lever to boost further accountability, compliance and remediation in relation to MiFID II. So with all this in mind now is [...]
Data Reporting in Different Standards
Today we are pleased to announce an exciting new feature to Fundipedia; reporting standards. Timely and accurate regulatory reporting is a critical need for any financial institution. With the introduction of consortiums, such as, Openfunds and European Working Group (EWG), asset management reporting has started to become more standardised. However, many financial institutions still struggle to pull this data together. It can often involve time consuming manual processes and a massive burden on resource every month, quarter, and year-end. Incomplete, ambiguous or erroneous fund data can have serious negative consequences for financial institutions. The financial costs of these errors can be substantial. The new Fundipedia reporting standards [...]