Thomson Reuters has moved to bring compliance out of the back office and onto the trading floor with a new version of its Eikon desktop that includes regulatory information.
The Thomson Reuters Eikon for Compliance Management combines the desktop's market data, news and analytics with global regulatory intelligence, enabling "simple, timely and auditable compliance communication with the front office," says the firm.
The new offering is designed to help traders in a post-crash world where they are overwhelmed with regulatory changes and increased oversight that can see their employers hit with heavy sanctions.
Thomson Reuters says its own poll of over 250 compliance managers and traders shows that while the front office approach is generally constructive, there are still significant gaps in regulatory changes filtering through to and being translated by the trading floor.
Of the traders polled, just under a third are aware of all the regulatory rules associated with their activity at any given time. Only 33% of traders report receiving training related to compliance issues within the past three months. Additionally, only 56% of compliance managers believe that traders have easy access to internal policy documents.
To tackle these problems, Thomson Reuters is offering daily intelligence from more than 230 regulators and exchanges around the world, which can be used to manage the lifecycle of the compliance process from notification of a new regulation, through responding to regulatory audits.
David Craig, president, financial and risk, Thomson Reuters, says: "If the financial crisis has taught us anything it's that the culture of compliance needs to be embedded right at the trader's workstation. The effective flow of regulatory information to the trading floor helps protect firms from the risk of sanction and enforcement and helps demonstrate to the regulatory authorities that compliance is front of mind across the organisation."