JWG-IT TechSIG establishes reference solution working groups to fill key MiFID gaps by PJ Di Giammarino

Leveraging impartial research with over 50 financial institutions in 2007, a team of 15 technology vendors, with combined revenue of over €100 billion, has now targeted key hot spots which financial institutions face to comply with the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID). Over 60% of the 1,000 MiFID requirements are being addressed, with both large and small vendors teaming up to identify a common set of reference architectures to comply with the new law which goes into effect on 1 November 2007.

JWG-IT Technical Special Interest Group’s (TechSIG) growing number of members has agreed how they will collaborate to build a solution stack to address new business process requirements created by MiFID. A reference framework for business and technology needs, developed in collaboration with financial experts from 10 geographies in over 150+ days of facilitated collaborative effort, will form the basis of vendors’ thinking across technology domains.

TechSIG members have allocated resources to three work teams to drill down on what is required of complex infrastructures, applications and data architectures post MiFID:
• Doing the trade right: tackling the new best execution and order management requirements
• Reporting the trade correctly: addressing regulatory, market and customer reporting needs
• Storing and retrieving records efficiently: examining the new requirements of record reconstitution for the lifetime of the relationship with the client

Each stream is now developing a view of the critical technologies that form the solution and the gaps that TechSIG members will address. Reference solution architectures will be the first outputs, against which end-user firms and vendors can design and position their approach. The groups have established aggressive targets to start the flow of deliverables this month and July dates of seminars to discuss the solutions will be announced shortly.

Nigel Woodward, Director Intel, and Chair of the TechSIG commented “This represents a significant milestone in industry collaboration which we hope will provide a valuable reference for firms and encourage assembly of solutions which take advantage of technology elements from a number of sources – we are writing the orchestral score for the industry”.

PJ Di Giammarino, CEO, JWG-IT Think-Tank, added “With less than 80 work days until financial institutions are meant to have tested their MiFID changes, the industry is still struggling to identify what “MiFID compliant solutions” are. We are delighted to have a strong core group of technology providers engaged in deep debate as to how appropriate technologies can help firms achieve compliance in cost-effective manners. Financial institutions that have engaged in our detailed requirement discussions will now have a frame of reference for getting the job done.”

Current TechSIG membership includes: Intel (Chair), Cisco (Vice chair), Aleri, Aptivaa, ASPOne, BEA, Brookcourt, BT, chi-X, Kurtosys, Redhat, Sybase, Telelogic, Tier-3 and Xenomorph.

JWG-IT is unique – the only Financial Services industry think-tank to facilitate collaborative work to resolve industry issues created by regulatory change. Based on a working model started in 2005, JWG-IT has established strong relationships with EU administrators, leading banks and technology companies. It is neither lobbyist nor consultancy and revenues are restricted to membership fees and content sales. The JWG-IT Think-Tank is designed to help members and participants manage regulatory-driven change better, quicker, cheaper and with less risk.