Core message
MiFID II is coming and you need to be prepared for it. Our asset management solutions will not
only help you switch smoothly to the new regulation regime but also will ensure that you make the
best out from the approaching landscape shift. Our long term expertise and focus on effective and
scalable methods will transform the compliance procedure into a full improvement of your
reporting and suitability practice, resulting in an overall increase of your competitiveness and
market position.
MiFID II
Markets in Financial Instruments Directives (MiFID II), the European Union regulation aiming to
harmonise investment services across EAA member states, will fundamentally change the
conditions within which wealth management services are provided. According to leading market
analysts, reporting costs are going to increase and margins will come under increased pressure,
resulting in a concentration of distributors and offered products.
Understanding how much, as early as possible, will be essential for making the right
strategic and operational choices which maximise the opportunities but minimise the
cost. The bottom line is that this is not a compliance exercise: its going to affect - and
challenge - the whole business.i
The regulation will force changes in profile alignment and model portfolios (in terms of both
distribution and advice) and the way products are communicated and distributed. Consequently,
asset managers will require an increased awareness on cost base and product profitability.ii
Areas of requirement
MiFID affects wealth management services especially in three areas:
1. Client reporting;
2. Suitability;
3. Cost reporting.
In general there is a requirement for more granular reporting to clients. This will lead to an
increased need of data quality and consistency, the danger of double reporting, and as a
consequence the rise of one-on-one agreements between advisors and clients. iii Furthermore,
advisory firms both periodically and preceding the transaction are also obliged to disclose the
cost of their advice, and explain in detail why it is suitable for the client's needs and circumstances.iv
Challenges
These requirements will both increase the overall complexity v and costs of the operations.vi Even
more, client service experience is the far most important driver of investor satisfaction vii so, for
wealth investment advisors besides meeting their regulatory requirements responding these
issues in a satisfying quality should be a central goal. Still, a recent report of Ernst and Young states
that wealth and asset management firms have a fair way to go to capture, consolidate, and report to
clients the detailed cost information required by MiFID II.viii
Finally, MiFID is only one of the several regulatory changes (e.g. EMIR, RDS, PRIPs, REMIT,
MAD, Dodd-Franck Act, Volcker Rule, FACTA) which are profoundly influencing capital markets
even at this moment, and there are many signs for that this will become even bigger in the not too
far future.ixWealth managers, then, instead of focusing on one particular issue, should address these
regulations in their inter-connected relationships, otherwise they might run the risk of digging up
the road more than once.x
For firms, it is important to find an overarching and coherent solution answering these challenges,
which, however, due to their multiple and complex character, might easily exceed their own
capacities in these areas. On the other hand, analysts argue, if companies opt for a fully hosted
service offering, they will benefit further from economies of scale and having an expert organisation
managing and monitoring the solution, further reducing the cost of ownership and reducing
management overhead and management time spent on the solution.xi
Our solutions
Our private banking and advisory platforms are developed in accordance with the MIFID
regulation. These include:
ClavisPrivateBanking: A new generation private banking platform for supporting full scale
wealth management related activities of banks and financial institutions who are offering
services for high-net-worth individuals.
These products are particularly aimed for the needs of wealth and portfolio managers, private
bankers, banking sales agents, and financial advisors and provide them invaluable support in
tackling compliance requirements.
While we believe that for each firm the main benefits originate in the specific design process by
which we analyse and rework the compliance procedure, in general terms the platforms inevitably
provide the following improvements:
Flexibility in terms of type of clients served and services provided: Ability to satisfy
specific, previously inaccessible clients in wealth investment advice and reporting;
These benefits, in overall, will lead to increased resources available for actual wealth management,
strengthened customer satisfaction, reduced costs, and expansion of markets.
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