How Robotic Process Automation Help Implementing MiFID II Regulation

Society is ever-evolving, and laws are made within this dynamic context to protect society’s greater interests. There are several examples of laws being changed and modified, or at times reversed, in line with contemporary ideals and current affairs. One such evolution that has spanned almost a decade is MiFID and MiFID II. 

In 2007, MiFID was brought in as a cornerstone in the EU’s efforts to create a single financial market. It was a quirk of fate that as MiFID was implemented there were storm clouds brewing across the Atlantic which resulted in the greatest financial crises witnessed in a generation. It also exposed the inherent flaw in MiFID to focus on equities alone. With this backdrop, a modified version was conceived and after several delays, it came into force on 3rd January 2018 and became known as MiFID II. 

 

Today, MiFID II has changed the financial industry for the better. Affecting banks, wealth managers, asset managers and the like, the consumer is at the forefront of this regulation with MiFID II ensuring that financial institutions are completely transparent with their clients. This means that there has been an increase in data processing and handling as the essential actions for firms are transaction reporting, ex-ante and ex-post cost disclosure, and reporting losses. 

 

The implementation of MiFID II was a high impact because although the regulation looked to curb any grey areas, its nature made it exceedingly difficult to implement manually. Technology is required for this level of data handling and, in 2016/2017 in the run-up to the deadline, IT and FinTech companies were tasked with catering to their clients’ regulatory needs. 

 

This was either by making changes to already implemented systems or by offering new platforms that had built-in compliance mechanisms. By now we are sure that all financial institutions will have put in the relevant leg-work to ensure compliance. However, even when the law was conceived it aimed to leverage emerging technologies to its benefit, and we can’t help but notice that MiFID II is tailor-made to today’s world and seems to be perfectly complemented by Robotic Process Automation (RPA). A software robot or Digital Workmate can be trained to process data and information that is repetitive in nature and perform tasks that use computer systems by following a fixed logic or set of rules. When such an activity is executed by a Digital Workmate, it is known as Robotic Process Automation or RPA. 

 

At Cevitr, we have established for our clients an RPA platform - Jo, based on best of breed technology. The platform has been deployed on an Azure Cloud infrastructure and is highly resilient and scalable, with the necessary security protocols in place to ensure a high performance and secure environment to process business transactions. Jo takes away the dreary mundane tasks of reporting from a dynamic workforce and frees them to pursue value add tasks. Jo also enables organisations to seize control of their regulatory compliance. 

 

While MiFID II requires businesses to store and handle vast amounts of data, Jo makes it a painless exercise. Our RPA as a service (RPAaaS) offering, quickly and efficiently sifts through large amounts of data in minutes to find what all parties are looking for. Being compatible with other technologies and systems that are already in place, Jo complements existing systems. Spikes in the volumes of data during business seasons are effectively handled by Jo in a highly efficient and practical manner. Cevitr’s RPAaaS market offer is comprised of two unique commercial propositions –Zero CapEx and savings-based charging model. This means that our clients are able to automate tasks without having to spend any money upfront and can subscribe to our services with total flexibility. Jo operates in conjunction with existing systems and enables efficient reaping of rewards even from smaller organisations.