Collaboration to minimise post-trade risk

Financial services firms are facing the most significant operational challenges in decades. Transactions must now be processed in a shorter time, with lower fail rates and at higher volumes, and all aspects of trading-related communications need to be recorded, captured and stored.   Banks and brokers are implementing auditable records in response to new conduct guidelines, national regulators, the AMLD and MiFID.

These new challenges have raised a debate about how the back office should communicate with counterparties to confirm, clear and settle transactions.  With budget cuts of up to 30%, COOs are considering their options to migrate back-office processes cost effectively, while providing a secure environment to track activity.

At Taskize, we have developed a utility that enables operations staff to communicate with third parties within a structured, secure and safe framework.  Failures in STP processes can be managed in Taskize which provides a transparent and auditable record, and as the platform sits alongside existing infrastructures, this makes it easy to access without the need for an expensive implementation project.

The new clearing and settlement rules from the CSDR, EMIR and BCBS-IOSCO have encouraged collaboration within the industry. This is made possible by utility-based solutions, new open-standards technologies, working groups, and industry bodies.  Similarly, collaboration in the back-office needs to be channelled in support of common challenges.

Collaborative tools, such as Taskize, enable the industry to work together within a standard environment.  Taskize connects staff based on their responsibility and their experience, making it highly efficient to connect staff resolving an issue with others who can put it right– even when they are in different companies.  Taskize also encourages structured communication, which can be faster and opens the door to process improvement.   Making the most of operational expertise is going to be key to minimising post-trade risks and costs, enabling the back office to deliver effectively on promises made in the front office.