BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fidelity Investments® today introduced a new Risk & Compliance Hub for broker-dealer clients of its correspondent clearing business, National Financial®. The Risk & Compliance Hub is integrated into the award-winning2 Streetscape workstation. It combines Streetscape‘s proprietary pre-trade modules with SunGard’s® Protegent suite of post-trade surveillance solutions, including automated trade review, anti-money laundering, employee trading as well as security and fraud protection.
The Risk & Compliance Hub also features a social media oversight capability, which can help make it easier for financial advisors to engage with and attract clients on social networking sites like Facebook®, LinkedIn® and Twitter®.
Risk and compliance issues are top of mind for financial advisors. A recent Fidelity survey3 revealed that 75 percent of financial advisors were concerned that shifts in the regulatory and compliance environment will make their jobs more difficult. In the past 12 months alone4, 25 percent of financial advisors report having spent more time managing regulatory and compliance issues.
Time dedicated to managing regulatory issues, as well as concerns about compliance, may also be keeping financial advisors from engaging in new communications techniques such as social media. Of financial advisors surveyed, only 12 percent used Facebook and 6 percent used Twitter for professional purposes.
Yet, 42 percent said that financial advisors who do not embrace emerging communications channels like social media are missing out. An estimated five million high-net-worth investors are currently tapping into social media for financial planning and investment research activities5.
“Broker-dealers face a growing array of challenges in managing the evolving compliance and risk landscape. Simply keeping pace with required reporting and monitoring can make it difficult for firms to focus on offering compliance around new communications strategies like social media,” said Richard N. Hart III, head of platform technology for National Financial.
“The new Risk & Compliance Hub enhancement to the Streetscape workstation may allow broker-dealers to more confidently operate in today’s risk and compliance environment while also taking advantage of new marketing channels.”
Leveraging social media is particularly important for engaging the next generation of investors. Recent research by Fidelity Investments6 underscored this, showing that 34 percent of Gen X/Y investors felt it was important for their advisors to have a social media presence.
A Single, Automated Risk and Compliance Resource
Built to operate as a single, automated and centralized compliance and surveillance solution to monitor transactional and operational activity within a firm, the Risk & Compliance Hub combines Streetscape‘s proprietary pre-trade modules with SunGard’s® Protegent suite of post-trade tools into workflows that can help protect a broker-dealer’s business integrity. This comprehensive solution is designed to help firms manage risk more efficiently and with more cost predictability. Key features include:
- Social Media Surveillance —Can help enable firms to monitor and archive activity and content posted to social networking Web sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, no matter where or from what device the post was made.
- Pre-Trade Rules Engine —Evaluates orders submitted to mitigate operational and financial risks and aids in analyzing and managing trading and compliance processes, real-time pre-trade order review with real-time order alerts7.
- Post-Trade Sales Practice Review—Can help automate review of client trade activity against regulatory guidelines and a firm’s risk posture.
- Security and Fraud Protection —Can help manage access, protect user IDs, prevent fraudulent trading.
- Anti–Money Laundering —Can help strengthen ability to analyze and detect transaction patterns indicative of potentially suspicious activity with a customer’s profile, based on USA PATRIOT Act and Bank Secrecy Act guidelines.
- Employee Trading —Can help save time by automating compliance with personal trading regulations pertaining to employee activities, Investment Company Institute recommendations, Sarbanes-Oxley, and a firm’s specific code of ethics.
“The breadth and flexibility of our Web-based solution can help reduce the burden on compliance staff for the manual, day-to-day management of technology and data,” said Hart. “This not only improves the advisor and compliance experience, it also helps Chief Information Officers and Chief Compliance Officers enhance operational efficiency by streamlining costs and resource planning.”
Continuation of Fidelity’s Multi-Year Technology Investment Strategy
Delivering on National Financial’s multi-year strategy to deploy the industry’s most advanced technology platform for brokers and investors, the new Streetscape Risk & Compliance Hub follows the recent roll-out of a next-generation client householding tool and iPad® app for Streetscape®. Previous enhancements also include last year’s launch of myStreetscape® mobile apps and a completely revamped end investor portal.
The ongoing introduction of new capabilities is part of the continuing investment in the Streetscape workstation which was named by Aite Group as the “Broker Workstation Leader” for 2012. The Streetscape workstation is designed to help increase broker productivity, drive investor satisfaction and collaboration, and make home offices more efficient.
About National Financial
National Financial, a Fidelity Investments company, offers broker-dealer firms a comprehensive clearing platform that includes a dedicated service model, a powerful global trading platform, and a source of leading investment solutions, all designed to help them grow confidently. A leading clearing provider in the U.S. for over 30 years, National Financial leverages the strength, resources, and experience of the Fidelity organization, one of the world’s largest providers of financial services. As of September 30, 2012, National Financial serves nearly 270 broker-dealers representing over $425 billion in assets under administration. For more information about National Financial, please visit www.nationalfinancial.com.
About Fidelity Investments
Fidelity Investments is one of the world’s largest providers of financial services, with assets under administration of $3.8 trillion, including managed assets of $1.6 trillion, as of October 31, 2012. Founded in 1946, the firm is a leading provider of investment management, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, brokerage, benefits outsourcing and many other financial products and services to more than 20 million individuals and institutions, as well as through 5,000 financial intermediary firms. For more information about Fidelity Investments, visit www.fidelity.com.
About SunGard
SunGard is one of the world’s leading software and technology services companies. SunGard has more than 17,000 employees and serves approximately 25,000 customers in more than 70 countries. SunGard provides software and processing solutions for financial services, education and the public sector. SunGard also provides disaster recovery services, managed IT services, information availability consulting services and business continuity management software. With annual revenue of about $4.5 billion, SunGard is the largest privately held software and services company and is ranked 480 on the Fortune 500. For more information, please visit www.sungard.com.
The third party service providers listed are independent companies and are not affiliated with National Financial or Fidelity Investments, together "Fidelity". Listing them does not suggest a recommendation or endorsement by Fidelity.
Third party marks are the property of their respective owners; all other marks are the property of FMR LLC. The third party products mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.
The content provided in this presentation is general in nature and is for informational purposes only. This information is not individualized and is not intended to serve as the primary or sole basis for your decisions as there may be other factors you should consider. Fidelity does not provide advice of any kind.
Clearing, custody or other brokerage services may be provided by National Financial Services LLC, 200 Seaport Boulevard, Boston, MA 02210 or Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, 900 Salem Street, Smithfield, RI 02917, Members NYSE, SIPC.
SunGard, the SunGard logo and Protegent are trademarks or registered trademarks of SunGard Data Systems Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. All other trade names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
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1 Fidelity Investments Broker and Advisor Sentiment Index was conducted by Bellomy Research, an independent third-party research firm and fielded through an online survey during the period of March 15–29, 2012. Included 1,207 advisors from across multiple firm types who work primarily with individual investors and manage a minimum of $10 million in assets under management. The data reflect a margin of error of +/–3%.
2 Named by Aite Group as the “Broker Workstation Leader” for 2012; Participating firms are JPMCC (MORCOM), National Financial (Streetscape), Pershing (NetX360), and RBC CS. Each firm responded to a comprehensive survey in addition to providing a detailed product demonstration, including a thorough question-and-answer exchange. The survey consisted of 344 questions and were assessed for scoring participants on their broker workstation solutions. Each firm provided additional information as needed.
3 Fidelity Investments Broker and Advisor Sentiment Index; scores for brokers/advisors at Independent Broker-Dealers only, March 2012
4 Based on survey timing this refers to time period of March 2011 to February 2012
5 Cogent Research in partnership with LinkedIn Cogent Research survey of American and Canadian investors, May 2012
6 2012 Fidelity® Millionaire Outlook, March 2012; Primary research study conducted by Bellomy Research, an independent third-party research firm, among U.S. mass affluent and millionaire investors via online survey during the period of March 15-29, 2012. The mass affluent group had investable assets of at least $250,000 or $100,000 if they had an annual household income of $150,000 or more, the millionaire group had investable assets of at least $1 million; both groups’ investable assets were excluding workplace retirement accounts and any real estate holdings. The data reflects a margin of error of +/-3 percent.
7 System availability and response time is subject to market conditions.