As Phase One of SFTR reporting approaches, IHS Markit and Pirum Systems continue to grow the client base for their joint SFTR solution – more than 60 firms have committed to use the platform, and they are now bilaterally testing its end-to-end services, including transaction and collateral reconciliation and reporting using ISO 20022 (XML) standard messaging.
The SFTR solution provides the market with comprehensive coverage for data sharing, including unique trade identifiers (UTI) and agent allocation information. Among other participants, its network provides connectivity to:
• 14 of the Top 15 brokers
• 13 of the Top 15 lenders
• 80% of the industry’s trade volume available for pre-reconciliation, UTI sharing and other data required for SFTR
To ensure interoperability across the securities financing ecosystem, IHS Markit and Pirum Systems have added a UTI sharing service for third-party firms – UTI Connect. The service is designed to support industry best practices by seamlessly exchanging UTIs and other information with financial market intermediaries or counterparties that are not leveraging the SFTR solution.
Duncan Carpenter, Head of SFTR at Pirum Systems, said: “Clients seem to have really embraced the way we have approached this industry wide challenge and continue to demonstrate their commitment to the solution. From inception we have always planned to support firms that need to connect to those not on the platform and have been working closely with our clients and industry bodies to define how the process will work. We are pleased to confirm we have reached working agreements with other vendors that are also supporting UTI sharing.”
Pierre Khemdoudi, Managing Director & Global Co-Head of Equities, Data and Analytics at IHS Markit said: “With April 2020 fast approaching, we are continuing to onboard new firms to our SFTR solution and, like all of our clients and industry partners, they will be fully supported throughout and beyond each phase of the regulation. As we learned with EMIR, UTI sharing can be a major challenge for firms and regulators as they aim to get a meaningful view of all the data submitted to trade repositories. Working in close collaboration with the industry, we developed a pragmatic solution to simplify information sharing workflows and increase matching rates for all market participants.”
