Mako Fintech Selected by Ontario Securities Commission to Test Reimagined KYC Experience

MONTREAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mako Fintech, a financial technology platform that automates wealth management processes, announced today it has been selected by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) to reimagine the KYC Refresh experience, as part of OSC TestLab, Ontario’s new capital markets testing environment.

TestLab connects both market participants and technology providers to experiment, learn and improve their innovative solutions through testing with one another.

In late 2021, the OSC gathered external stakeholder feedback to determine “problem statements” to help solve with its TestLab. After surveying 128 registrants, 8 technology providers and 256 individual investors, the determined problem statements focus on improving client interactions and making information more accessible, especially around know-your-client (KYC), know-your-product (KYP), and suitability obligations. These areas have become a focus for participating stakeholders following recent client-focused reforms coming into effect at the end of this year. To tackle TestLab’s problem statements, Mako Fintech will be working with registered firm and test partner, Designed Wealth Management, on a streamlined, dynamic KYC refresh workflow.

“Being selected by the largest securities regulator in Canada to be part of such an intentional process for much-needed innovation is momentous for us and a tremendous opportunity,” said Mako Chief Executive Officer Raphael Bouskila. As one of seven technology firms selected to participate in this year’s test lab, Mako will be an integral part of helping provide innovative solutions to market participants to address the challenges they’ve identified related to client interactions and regulatory requirements.

The testing phase of the lab can last up to six months. At the completion of the program, successful participants will provide a report and work with the OSC to determine next steps. The OSC website states that the insights gained during the lab will also help their team “learn about how novel solutions contribute to our efforts to modernize regulation to reduce burden, promote economic growth and competition, and foster capital formation in Ontario’s capital markets.”

About Mako Fintech

Mako Financial Technologies launched a category-redefining platform in 2018 that allows wealth managers to bring client onboarding, renewal, and investment online seamlessly. Every player in the financial industry is experiencing digital transformation in their own way, and Mako uses this principle as its North Star. Mako's mission is to democratize the digitalization of wealth management by providing each firm with an automation solution adapted to its unique workflow processes and delivering it at a disruptively lower cost. Mako Fintech is headquartered in Montreal, Canada, and led by a team of finance and technology experts.

About OSC

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) is an independent Crown corporation that regulates Ontario’s capital markets by making rules that have the force of law and by adopting policies that influence the behaviour of capital markets participants. The mandate of the OSC is to provide protection to investors from unfair, improper or fraudulent practices, to foster fair, efficient and competitive capital markets and confidence in the capital markets, to foster capital formation, and to contribute to the stability of the financial system and the reduction of systemic risk. Investors are urged to check the registration of any persons or company offering an investment opportunity and to review the OSC investor materials available at http://www.osc.ca.