FATCA clarification confirms urgency for FFIs
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- Published on Thursday, 16 February 2012 08:30
5 European countries join US in supporting disclosure of income on US clients. An intelligent, elecronic review of client data is the viable option for compliance.
Johannesburg, 16 February 2012 - Recent updates to FATCA (the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) have provided limited relief to financial instiutions, with some details being added to the legislation. However, the core requirement - to report on the trading activity of US persons or face a 30% withholding tax on all US trades - remains.
In particular, the limit for electronic review of US clients has been increased to any existing account with a value of less than US$1million, substantially reducing the need for manual verification. An intelligent electronic review of client data is more relevant than ever.
Two principle challenges must be addressed. In order to identify the US$1million threshhold traders must report on the amalgamated total of all client trades - an accurate client muaster is necessary across product lines and business units. Alternatively, all accounts must be checked.
Secondly, a simple check of (say) "Country" field is only valid if this field is correctly captured. An electronic check must be able to deal with inaccurate residential information such as "1 Avenue of The Americas, Manahatten, South Africa" as well as checking for other US indicators.
The check must also not incorrectly cause the FFI to report on non US clients - as this would be in breach of privacy legislation.
FFIs can no longer afford to sit on the fence! While the regulation will undergo further revisions, the joint announcement by five major European countries on intergovernmental cooperation on the prosed legislation is the strongest signal yet that this law will not only not go away, but that it is likely to impact more than US clients.
Foreign Financial Institutions should seriously consider the Trillium FATCA Readiness Assessment to enable them to accurately scope their exposre and begin to address the requirements of the Act. This assessment utilises Trillium Software's unique understanding of international client data to accurately identify US clients, quickly and cost effectively.
Simplify integration to QlikView and Microsoft Excel with native support from expressor software
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- Published on Wednesday, 08 February 2012 14:31
Metadata-driven integration platform creates holistic view of enterprise data
Johannesburg – 8 February 8 2012 – Master Data Management are the South African implementation partners for expressor software, who recently announced native support for the QlikView Business Discovery platform. expressor for QlikView provides a simplified, powerful, and affordable metadata-driven integration platform for QlikView customers. expressor enables business users to better manage their multiple instances of QlikView and other on-premises and cloud data to create a more holistic view of their business data.
“expressor is a unique, metadata-driven integration solution that enables organizations to create a holistic and consistent view of their business data. Combined with QlikView’s powerful user-driven analysis capabilities, our joint customers will be empowered with the rapid decision making their businesses require,” said Peter McQuade, vice president of Alliances and Partner Sales at QlikTech.
The platform now also support native Microsoft Excel connectivity, eliminating the need to access the Excel files through ODBC or convert them into CSV format before being processed.
"expressor enables business users to integrate departmental data sources such as Microsoft Exel with decision support systems such as Qlikview. This gives them the 360 degree view they require to make better business decisions," said Gary Allemann, Managing Director at Master Data Managment.
QlikView and Excel support are immediately available as part of expressor 3.5.1 (or higher) Desktop Edition and Standard Edition. Users can download a free 30-day trial at http://go.expressor-software.com/desktop-edition-etl-tool.html.
About expressor
expressor software delivers simplified data integration software that is easy to use, powerful, and affordable. Unlike traditional approaches, expressor is powered by an innovative metadata foundation that simplifies data mapping and enables reuse to improve time-to-value.
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FACTA penalties loom for financial institutions
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- Published on Wednesday, 14 December 2011 08:28
Financial institutions have less than a year to comply with the requirements of FATCA (foreign account tax compliance act) or accept a 30% withholding tax on U.S. revenues and proceeds from sales of instruments which yield revenues from U.S. sources. The Trillium FATCA Compliance Data Assessment service enables organizations to gain an early and accurate perspective on the data management challenges they will face in meeting these requirements.
Johannesburg, 12 January 2012 – Master Data Management, the South African resellers for Harte-Hanks Triliium Software announced that they will be providing the Trillium FATCA Compliance Data Assessment service to assist financial institutions (FFIs) that must comply with FATCA or accept significant penalties.
FATCA is a new directive of the United States government that requires FFIs with U.S. client accounts to share information on those clients with the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to ensure that U.S. citizens report income above certain levels earned outside the United States. This impacts any FFI, including banks, insurance companies, brokers, and investment firms, that deals with U.S. individuals or trades in U.S. markets.
According to the South African Institute for Financial Markets the scope of FATCA is significantly broader than the current Q1 regime and the act cannot be adhered to with existing processes and systems. Participating FFIs must prove (annually) that they have identified all relevant clients and report the relevant client information to the IRS, or accept a 30% withholding tax on payments.
The Trillium FATCA Compliance Data Assessment helps FFIs measure the state of their data for enabling the identification of U.S. accounts and the sharing of necessary information as required by the act. The assessment provides a detailed ‘map of the gaps,’ allowing firms to determine and plan any data or process remediation activity that will be required to ensure that data is fit to support the requirements of the act on an on-going basis.
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