DTCC Buys Sapient's Compliance and Reporting Platform

Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the major equity clearing and settlement services provider, has acquired Publicis Sapient’s compliance management and reporting system. The acquisition will enable the DTCC to expand more broadly into the global post-trade sector and will see Sapient continue to grow its core business.

Fintech consultancy Sapient Global Markets provides trade reporting capabilities as a fully outsourced solution, and its CMRS platform delivers a multi-asset regulatory reporting solution.

US headquartered DTCC, which processes $1.7 quadrillion worth of securities transactions annually, said the new business will be integrated with its Report Hub to enhance its pre and post trade reporting services.

As a result of this integration, the combined offering would provide clients a multi-jurisdictional platform that caters to reporting requirements of Australian (ASIC), Canadian (OSC, AMF and MSC), Dodd-Frank, MiFID II, Hong Kong (HKMA) and Singaporean (MAS).

CMRS Portal enables firms, particularly with a lower volume of reportable derivatives trades, to trace and track data throughout the lifecycle. This provides a much needed alternative to in-house solutions which are often uneconomic due to the initial investment required and ongoing maintenance and support overheads.

“Firms using the newly expanded DTCC Report Hub offering will have the ability to manage derivatives, MiFID II, and Securities Financing Transaction Regulation (SFTR) pre and post trade reporting requirements via a unified, single-vendor platform, allowing them to mitigate compliance risks, enhance operational efficiencies and reduce costs,” DTCC explained.

“The combined trade reporting and consulting experience that DTCC and Publicis Sapient contribute to the existing technology platform will create a single, highly efficient, evolving, comprehensive reporting solution that will help clients manage the complexities of meeting multiple regulatory mandates across jurisdictions,” added Randall Orbon, Head of Strategy at Publicis Sapient.

Under the terms of the acquisition, Publicis Sapient will serve as a strategic partner to DTCC by continuing to support its technology platform.

DTCC operates trade repositories across the globe. In the US, it supports trade reporting to the CFTC through its US swap data repository (SDR). DTCC also operates a trade repository approved by the Japan Financial Services Agency (JFSA). DTCC’s centralized platform provides its clients with the ability to report trades only once and seamlessly meet regulatory requirements to multiple jurisdictions.

The member-owned market utility has been experimenting with blockchain for three years, focused on creating more efficient capital markets. In 2017, it unveiled a project in partnership with Axoni, IBM and R3 to introduce the proof of concept for settling credit derivatives.