SWIFT Revamps Trade Reporting In Compliance With EMIR Standards

SWIFT cooperative, a global provider of secure financial messaging services, has announced a February 12 start date for its derivative trade reporting, in compliance with European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), in a company statement.

Belgian-based SWIFT specializes in the transfer and exchange of financial information to over 200 countries, focusing specifically on transactions of foreign exchange, trades, swaps, NDF, derivatives and options. This announcement comes on the heels of the European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) mandated approval of six trade storage locales. In order to meet EMIR obligations, clients are obliged to report their OTC trades starting February 12, 2014.

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February Derivatives Reporting Aimed At Promoting Greater Transparency

These trade repositories represent central hubs of financial information, in particular detailing derivatives trading records – the underlying function of these entities is to foster a greater means of transparency and risk reduction. Swift is also reporting that such firms or organizations whose operations are not being affected by EMIR are eligible to reuse their existing infrastructure within SWIFT, thereby absorbing the widespread advantages of a uniform messaging solutions initiative. Furthermore, SWIFT confirmations allows for the use of forex and metals derivatives to be utilized and shared via the Unique Traders Identifiers (UTIs), a paramount component for the transparency.

“The February 2014 deadline is not far away, and SWIFT’s simple, reliable, automated solutions offer a speedy route for affected entities to get ready to report their derivatives trades,” noted Joe Halberstadt, the Senior Treasury and Derivatives Market Manager at SWIFT in a recent statement.

SWIFT FileAct Specializes In Bulk

Indeed, SWIFT’s most widespread service, FileAct, allows for secure and reliable transfers of financial files and data. The system supports a multitude of solutions for market infrastructure communities and operations, user groups, and global financial institutions. The primary advantage afforded to the system is its suitability for bulk payments, securities value-added information, and intra-institutional correspondence.

According to Luc Goossens, Project Manager at Belfius Bank in an accompanying statement, “We considered using a web service-based solution to send trade details to REGIS-TR, but we opted for SWIFT FileAct because it offers better availability and reliability, allows us to send large files and enables better error handling through automated message monitoring.”