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Market Innovation: How O₂ Crafted a Mobile Wallet

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 00:00:00 -0500

In the established world of UK financial services, creating the O₂ Wallet by Telefónica — a telecommunications company — was a bold, innovative and complex undertaking. Realising the concept of “putting your wallet on your mobile phone” involved the integration of multiple parties and vendors, technologies and operating models — and all at different stages of maturity. Faced with this challenge, Telefónica approached Navigant in order to leverage expertise in financial services and the telecommunications markets. Navigant helped to structure the complex change programme, reviewing contracts, assessing application security, and aligning the interests and deliverables of all contributing parties. The result was a focus on key activities in the build up to launch, and on 26th April 2012 the Telefónica team launched the O₂ Wallet into the UK market.

Navigant's Unclaimed Property Compliance Solution

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Navigant's Financial Services' Unclaimed Property Compliance Solution helps Insurers comply with the evolving Unclaimed Property regulation. Our end-to-end solution includes strategy and governance advisory, matching of administrative records to public deceased records, complex data analytics, regulatory response guidance, settlement and exposure (reserves) projections, and both operational and IT readiness. The cornerstone of our solution is a rules-based matching engine that can be tailored for the most recent regulatory requirements to support Insurers in adhering to the dynamic regulatory landscape.

NYREG200: Includes Regulation 200 fuzzy logic reporting requirements.
Policy-finder or Similar State Self-Identifying Lists: Ability to match to state files; reducing the level of manual research required.
State Regulatory Settlements: Navigant's matching engine mimics the John Hancock and Prudential settlement agreements including fuzzy matching logic. It is a proven and tested solution and has been supporting the execution of a Global Resolution Agreement with exceptionally high accuracy rates.
DMF Matching: Over 40 million Life, Annuity and Group policies / contracts matched using exact and fuzzy matching logic.
Readiness Reviews: Assess operational readiness for supporting Global Resolution and Regulatory Settlements as well as newly evolving regulations.

Read more on Navigant’s thoughts on the Unclaimed Property Compliance Solution by clicking here.

RDR Health Check Overview

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Most firms have made significant progress with their RDR preparations and have spent time developing the propositions which they will take to market later this year/next year. In a period of economic difficulty it is critical to get the proposition right at both macro and micro levels: the proposition must work for the firm, investors and advisers; how will your firm's compare to the competitors? The practical and commercial implications of the rules now need to be worked through in detail - and there are some complexities to consider. In addition, the FSA have stated that they are 'focused on constantly reviewing how you are implementing RDR'.

Navigant has developed a 3-pronged diagnostic review of RDR Programmes to assess whether they are set up to achieve timely compliance and proposition objectives. These reviews can cover any or all of the following elements, as required: compliance, proposition and delivery.

RDR Health Checks are tailored for each type of retail financial services firm. We have worked closely with many providers and distributors and as experienced industry practitioners understand the risks, challenges and opportunities RDR brings to complex businesses in a highly competitive market.

We are seen as industry experts by our clients for platform and post-RDR strategies; we seek long term partnerships with our clients and we are passionate about helping them succeed. The attached slides show how we would undertake a review on your behalf. You may also view them here.

An Olympic Tug of War

Fri, 18 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Tug of War was an early Olympic sport requiring strength, grit, tactics and knowledge of the grounds on which the competition would take place. As 2012 progresses and product providers, advisers and platforms vie for revenues post-RDR, we discuss the need for the qualities required in a tug of war, looking at the tensions that will play out as market participants develop and negotiate pricing and revenue streams for 2013 and beyond.

In summary, we foresee power plays that shift the market in a number of directions over time, each of which need to be played out in strategy planning for both the short and longer term. We believe that price positioning which is merely reactive to current market forces may not deliver the best outcomes either for providers, platforms or investors and the results will emerge in a shorter time scale than many have predicted. Continuing economic difficulties and depressed investment pricing mean that holistic and longer term planning that considers all of these forces and their impact on overall profitability is essential for the survival of all involved in servicing the retail market post-RDR.

Client Money Changes for SIPP Trustees

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0600

Before the twelfth day of Christmas the FSA slipped an additional present under the tree!

With plenty of other distractions during the current economic crisis, it may have slipped under some firms’ radars, but the recent changes to the FSA rulebook could mean some significant changes for trustees of Self-Invested Personal Pensions. Under the old version of the Client Assets Sourcebook rules, trustees were able to benefit from a carve-out from some of the client money regulations. This meant that only certain clauses were applicable to trustees – which included SIPP trustees, although not all trustees chose to use the exemptions. In the area of client money reconciliation, trustees still had to perform regular reconciliations to bank statements but crucially they were excluded from the requirement for regular (usually daily) internal reconciliation between client entitlements and the firm’s records of client money balances. Under the new rules, trustees are still exempted from certain requirements; however the scope of these has now changed, bringing trustees into line with other market participants by requiring the regular internal client money reconciliations and hence funding adjustments to be performed. The insurance company provisions still apply, of course, however many SIPPs extend beyond purely insurance business and would therefore be included in these requirements.

Seven Key Steps to Help Private Fund Advisers Prepare for Regulatory Change

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0600

With the passage of financial reform, private fund advisors are now faced with significant registration changes under the Advisers Act. This article outlines seven key considerations and tips for private fund advisors on how to structure their organization, how to make and retain documentation supporting their business activities, and how to prepare for regular examinations by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Client Money – Acting on Principle or Counting the Pennies?

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 07:38:40 -0500

Everyone thinks they understand the principles of Client Money, but the rules are complicated.

The law in this area is even more so: these facts have been demonstrated by the unexpected complexity of unwinding the Lehman positions. Issues such as the difficulty in defining the entitlement to assets and the liquidators’ right to be paid from client money have caused a rethink by regulators and firms about how safe their clients’ assets may be.

Managing Material Non-Public Information

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 12:36:44 -0600

Today’s private equity and hedge fund firms are more often than not offering multiple public and private markets investment strategies, which have introduced several risks that these new firms need to contemplate and manage. One of the top risks regulators are looking out for is access to and the potential misuse of material non-public information. To effectively manage the flow of information and monitor how that information is being used requires that firms adopt information barriers and insider trading policies and procedures, enhance the monitoring of personal and proprietary trading activities, and implement forensic testing programs. This article provides practical advice for CCOs on the steps they can take to ensure proper management of MNPI.