Sell-Side Technology Awards 2019: Best Sell-Side Middle-Office Platform—UnaVista

Middle-office functions have been dealt significant challenges over the last few years, particularly with the implementation of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid II) in January 2018. Global sell-side firms are having to consistently adjust to regulatory changes across multiple jurisdictions—a mammoth task with a considerable price tag, no doubt. The London Stock Exchange Group’s (LSEG’s), UnaVista platform has positioned itself as a one-stop shop for automating regulatory reporting obligations and easing the heavy compliance burden. Recently, it has taken significant strides in providing value-added reporting metrics, peer-to-peer analytics and improved user customization. As a result of those efforts, UnaVista wins the category for the best sell-side middle-office platform at the 2019 Sell-Side Technology Awards. 

UnaVista not only simplifies compliance processes, but enables firms to analyze their reporting data and create customizable dashboards that include real-time updates on trends. Using anonymized data, the platform offers peer-to-peer analytics, helping sell-side firms to compare their performance, prioritize resolutions, and remain one step ahead of their competitors. “We sit on a lot of data being a regulatory reporting platform and there is value and insight in that data, both from a regulatory reporting and compliance perspective, but also from a business perspective,” explains Tom Wieczorek, managing director, global product management, at UnaVista. 

The platform is built with user-friendly capabilities and is applicable to various workflows. Users can benefit from “import and export in any format” functionality, configurable user permissions and adaptable rules engine, matching and validation rules. It includes features such as a Microsoft Excel-like user interface, customization, built-in audit trail, compliance workflows combined with LSEG’s security, and maintenance services. 

Wiezorek says the regulatory conversation has been dominated by Mifid II reporting over the last 12 to 18 months, with UnaVista helping clients through that process. The firm has also recently launched functionality to support RTS 23, where trading venues are required to report reference data relevant to tradable instruments that are admitted to be traded. The platform also provides support for Finfrag, the Swiss equivalent of the EU’s Mifid II regulation. Over the next year, UnaVista is gearing up to prepare to become a registered trade repository for the upcoming Securities Financing Transactions Regulation (SFTR), set to go live in the second quarter of 2020. “Testing for SFTR will take place this summer and as the regulators are starting to provide a finalized version of the regulations and the technical standards, we are building out the entire system and working with partners to make sure that we have an ecosystem that is ready for the go-live date,” adds Wieczorek.