ISS

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) confirmed today there will be no further delays in the mandate requiring Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs) for all issuers and counterparties to transactions under MiFID II. The MiFID II is the update of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, which ESMA developed to “strengthen investor protection and improve the functioning of financial markets making them more efficient, resilient and transparent. The Global LEI Foundation (GLEIF) says the “publicly available LEI data pool can be regarded as a global directory, which greatly enhances transparency in the global marketplace. The move empowers compliance experts to verify LEIs as part of an OFAC search, global sanctions check, or other compliance in AML or KYC screening.

Imagine you are a US-based payroll company or financial services firm taking on a new client with a stellar balance sheet, credit history, and growth potential. Setting aside philosophical arguments for a moment, the US company with a sophisticated screening process to identify marijuana-related businesses now faces a legal dilemma. The US considers marijuana an illegal drug, and Canada voted this week to legalize what officials are describing as a $7 billion market. We’ll see the end of criminalization, and we can start addressing Canada’s $7 billion illegal market.

Our latest enhancement of WorldWatch Plus went live today, and clients may never look at screening results the same way again. * ISS expanded its SmartMatch Plus™ tool to increase confidence in potential name alternatives (e.g., James, Jim, Jimmy, Jamie) and return results only with the strongest matches to search criteria. Clients can now organize results like a traffic light: searches with no results are given an automatic “green light,” while searches with a name and exact DOB match on a sanctions list are red flagged. The newest release of WorldWatch Plus went live for clients over the weekend, continuing a long tradition of system enhancements to meet the biggest market challenges.

ISS is pleased to announce that our services – and our clients – have begun the journey of compliance with the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as we support OFAC, KYC, AML, and employment screening across millions of business transactions. To help businesses throughout the world, the EU Commission created a website with tools, checklists, and an infographic explaining necessary steps for compliance. ISS is taking all the necessary steps to ensure our processes, policies, and systems operate in compliance with the new privacy regulations in the European Union,” said ISS Compliance Director Chris Campbell. High-profile sites include the New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, Orlando Sentinel and Baltimore Sun.