SEI has launched SEI Firm Compliance, a new global regulatory management framework that equips investment organisations to oversee and orchestrate compliance functions firm-wide, across investment products and regulatory jurisdictions.
SEI’s Investment Manager Services (IMS) division developed the compliance framework as an add-on to the customised global operating platform it provides to its investment manager clients.
SEI’s offering takes a new approach in that it centralises an investment firm’s internal and outsourced compliance functions in a single management framework tailored to the user’s mix of business activities. SEI has incorporated the compliance framework into the Manager Dashboard of SEI’s global operating platform, so executives can access and manage a firm’s entire range of compliance activities right from their desktops.
“Staying on top of a complex, ever changing regulatory landscape has become a daunting task, especially for alternative managers and global investment organisations,” says Steve Meyer, Executive Vice President of SEI and Head of SEI’s Investment Manager Services division. “SEI Firm Compliance is designed to help investment managers rein in the escalating resource drain, non-compliance risks, and personal liability resulting from the industry’s fast-growing body of regulation.”
SEI’s regulatory analysis has identified close to 500 financial regulators, exchanges, and industry groups around the globe, each with its own requirements.
Over the past 25 years SEI has steadily expanded its compliance-related services, which include automated outsourced regulatory filings, regulatory reporting, record-keeping for compliance functions, and support for Chief Compliance Officers (CCO).
Designed for all types of investment organisations, SEI Firm Compliance, adds:
• A comprehensive compliance program assessment and “gap analysis.” SEI’s team will review each firm’s program against a customised inventory of all regulations affecting its products, across all jurisdictions in which they are sold and regulated. Deliverables will include a gap analysis pinpointing deficiencies, risks of non-compliance, and remedial actions needed. SEI has partnered with EisnerAmper, a leading global compliance consultant, to develop and continually update an inventory of regulations covering a wide range of jurisdictions in North America, Europe, and Asia.
• A set of tools for centralised management of all internal and outsourced compliance functions. The toolkit includes a master compliance calendar, timelines and workflows geared to filing deadlines, and employee trading and risk assessment modules. SEI licensed an application developed by BasisCode Compliance, a financial services compliance software specialist, to help build those regulatory management and oversight components.
• Ongoing compliance updates and program monitoring. SEI’s services include a daily feed of global regulatory news headlines powered by Thomson Reuters as well as ongoing annual program reviews based on EisnerAmper’s global inventory of regulatory requirements.
“Previous regulatory solutions in our industry have been siloed, focusing on one product type, regulator, or regulatory regime. Our new offering is a major step forward, providing investment managers with a new level of control over regulatory monitoring, compliance, and risk management,” says Meyer.
