Next year, the securities finance industry will begin a massive transformation as a result of the Securities Finance Transaction Regulation (SFTR), which aims to bring greater transparency and reporting obligations to securities lending and repo markets.

Given the ambitious objectives of regulators, many firms are still trying to understand what they actually need to do to comply with SFTR.

At the recent International Securities Lending Association's 27th Annual Securities Finance and Collateral Management Conference, IHS Markit joined other industry stakeholders for an SFTR workshop that is aptly titled "Making Sense of it All" - where we shared our expertise on the comprehensive implications under SFTR.

For the benefit of readers, here is an overview of what IHS Markit is doing to help firms make sense of SFTR:

• SFTR Reporting Solution - IHS Markit offers a comprehensive data and reporting solution for SFTR that sets an industry-wide standard and provides the foundation for reconciling trading activity down to the UTI and LEI level. The solution offers participants turnkey connectivity to all trade repositories and connects directly with infrastructure firms and other vendors to consume data directly at each stage of the transaction lifecycle, limiting manual intervention and significantly reducing required development work. The modular, EU hosted offering leverages a proven track record of delivering innovative reporting solutions and more than 10 years of partnership with the SF community.
• Industry Collaboration - Since 2017, we have made a number of public announcements our collaboration with leading firms, such as BNY Mellon, Brown Brothers Harriman, Citi, Deutsche Bank Agency Lending, eSecLending, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Rabobank, RBC, UBS and Vanguard - to name a few. We've also announced SFTR reporting alliances with DTCC, REGIS-TR and UnaVista.
• Focus on Interoperability - This past year, a key area of investment for IHS Markit has been regulatory reporting and the required technology infrastructure surrounding it. For SFTR, early investment in cutting-edge architecture and strategic alliances with more than 30 design partners has enabled us to rapidly design for deployment (well ahead of the 2019 deadline).
• Broader Service Focus - With an eye on the future, IHS Markit anticipates a successful roll-out of the SFTR reporting solution later this year, and is working to build other opportunities where we can partner with clients and infrastructure firms in building technology for their future needs. We are keen to enable firms to better leverage data, analytics and human capital, and we look forward to helping our industry partners in their pursuits.

As you can see, IHS Markit is dedicated to working with our clients, partners and other industry participants in the lead up to SFTR - and beyond. We know from experience that collaboration drives innovation, while creating greater value for more stakeholders across ecosystems.

So let's keep the conversation going - feel free to get in touch with our SFTR team if you have any questions or ideas about how we can work together.

For more information about the IHS Markit SFTR Reporting Solution, visit: https://ihsmarkit.com/products/sftr-solution.html.

S&P Global provides industry-leading data, software and technology platforms and managed services to tackle some of the most difficult challenges in financial markets. We help our customers better understand complicated markets, reduce risk, operate more efficiently and comply with financial regulation.

This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.