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ACA Group (ACA), the leading governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) advisor in financial services, today announced that Russell Investments has selected ACA’s ARRMA (ACA Regulatory Reporting Monitoring & Assurance) service to help manage its transaction reporting arrangements. ACA has provided MiFIR assurance reviews for Russell Investments since May 2021 and the partnership has now been extended to include EMIR reporting as well.
The service, which uniquely combines technology and specialist consulting, will help Russell Investments quickly identify and remediate transaction reporting issues.
This move comes against a backdrop of external challenges over the past year, including geopolitical issues, compliance demands and industry changes, which have led to significant increase in reporting obligations for many financial services firms.
What’s more, ARRMA has so far identified transaction reporting errors in 97% of firms using the service, typically across more than 30 unique error types under the MiFIR transaction reporting and EMIR trade reporting regimes.
Mark Smith, Compliance Director, EMEA at Russell Investments, said: “What ARRMA provides is completely independent assurance, with an additional layer of technical insight and practical, pragmatic support through consulting expertise. We are delighted with the service ACA provides and we believe they will help improve the efficiency of our reporting processes over time.”
Matt Chapman, Managing Director and co-lead on ACA's Regulatory Reporting & Assurance (ARRMA) Service, said: “We believe that ARRMA puts firms in a strong position to evidence the robustness of their reporting systems and as necessary, leads to the early identification and rectification of reporting issues.
“We are delighted to be able to strengthen Russell Investments' monitoring arrangements with the ARRMA service. Maintaining the necessary level of compliance is a full-time job. We’ve made it ours so clients like Russell Investments can focus on what they do best.”
ARRMA can be combined with ACA’s ComplianceAlpha® surveillance solution, of which Russell Investments is already a customer. This allows for further analysis of the system’s findings, making the data even more valuable to the business. This integration is available via a direct file upload mechanism on ACA’s ComplianceAlpha® platform.
Charlotte Longman, Director and co-lead on ACA's Regulatory Reporting & Assurance (ARRMA) Service, added: “Firms face increasing industry-wide demand from external stakeholders for comprehensive and transparent compliance oversight. ARRMA is a multi-award-winning, cost-effective solution that helps firms of all types and sizes with their reporting, from sophisticated and established firms like Russell Investments to boutique start-ups. We continue to evolve the solution with new features and enhancements based on feedback from Russell Investments and other clients, as well as the priorities of different regulators, and guidance from our subject matter experts.”
