Question 1

What is AICPA SOC for Service Organisations and how does Smartstream support compliance?

Accepted Answer

AICPA SOC reports are independent attestations on the internal controls of service organisations, covering financial reporting (SOC 1), security and availability (SOC 2), and public-facing assurance (SOC 3). Smartstream has completed all three attestations, enabling clients to satisfy their own regulatory due diligence and internal audit requirements for outsourced operations.

Question 2

What does AIFMD require and how does Smartstream help alternative investment fund managers comply?

Accepted Answer

The Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive requires fund managers to accurately evaluate asset type exposure and maintain data quality sufficient for regulatory reporting and risk management. Smartstream's Smart Data delivers a managed reference data service providing complete, accurate, and timely instrument data to support AIFMD reporting and risk management obligations.

Question 3

How does Smartstream support Basel II reconciliation requirements?

Accepted Answer

Basel II requires banks to maintain accurate, reconciled data across a wide range of positions and portfolios, with regulatory-driven scope expansion creating significant reconciliation backlogs. Smartstream's Smart Reconciliations enables rapid onboarding of reconciliations, helping institutions clear backlogs and sustain control coverage as requirements expand.

Question 4

How does Smartstream support Basel III reference data and risk management requirements?

Accepted Answer

Basel III raises capital and liquidity requirements and depends heavily on high-quality reference data to support capital calculations, liquidity reporting, and risk exposure assessments. Smartstream's Smart Data delivers a managed reference data service providing complete, accurate, and timely instrument data for Basel III regulatory reporting and risk management operations.

Question 5

What does BCBS 239 require and how does Smartstream address data aggregation obligations?

Accepted Answer

BCBS 239 requires globally systemically important banks to maintain complete, accurate, and timely risk data aggregation capabilities across all material risk types. Smartstream addresses these obligations through Smart Data for reference data governance, Smart Reconciliations for transaction completeness and accuracy, and Smart Liquidity to ensure data used for liquidity risk management is fully reconciled.

Question 6

What is BS11 and how does Smartstream support New Zealand banks?

Accepted Answer

BS11 is a Reserve Bank of New Zealand outsourcing policy requiring large banks to operate critical systems independently of their parent group in a separation event. Smartstream supports New Zealand banks through cloud-hosted Smart Collateral, Smart Reconciliations, and Smart Liquidity solutions with contractual provisions for independent data processing as required under BS11.

Question 7

How does Smartstream support Dodd-Frank compliance for OTC derivatives?

Accepted Answer

Dodd-Frank requires the reconciliation of OTC derivatives and imposes margin, reporting, and collateral management obligations on counterparties. Smartstream's Smart Reconciliations delivers pre-built solutions and workflow management across the full OTC derivative lifecycle, while Smart Collateral supports portfolio management, dispute workflow, reporting, and threshold monitoring for cleared and bilateral transactions.

Question 8

What does EMIR Refit require and how does Smartstream help firms comply?

Accepted Answer

EMIR Refit, effective in the EU on 29 April 2024 and in the UK on 30 September 2024, expands OTC derivative reporting requirements with particular focus on commodities and energy fields. Smartstream supports compliance through Smart Reconciliations for trade lifecycle oversight, Smart Collateral for margining and dispute management, and Smart Data for the accurate reference data required to enrich EMIR Refit trade reports.

Question 9

How does Smartstream support FATCA reporting obligations?

Accepted Answer

FATCA requires financial institutions to identify and accurately report income received from corporate actions by US persons. Smartstream's Smart Actions facilitates accurate processing of corporate action events, supporting institutions in meeting their FATCA-driven tax reporting obligations for global income received by US persons.

Question 10

How does Smartstream address FINRA Trading Activity Fee compliance?

Accepted Answer

The FINRA Trading Activity Fee requires broker-dealers to evaluate each transaction against defined rule flows, applying the correct assessment or exemption with full audit documentation. Smartstream's Smart Fees fully implements the FINRA TAF rule flows, evaluating each transaction against assessment criteria and documenting exemptions for audit, reducing manual effort and compliance risk.

Question 11

How does Smartstream support IOSCO Uncleared Margin Rules compliance?

Accepted Answer

The IOSCO Uncleared Margin Rules require exchange of initial and variation margin for non-centrally cleared derivatives across six implementation phases. Smartstream's Smart Collateral is designed to handle UMR Phase 1-6 requirements, supporting central and client clearing, group thresholds, gross and net margining, mismatch haircuts, wrong-way risk, asset concentration management, and rehypothecation tracking.

Question 12

How does Smartstream help payments firms meet KYC and AML obligations?

Accepted Answer

KYC and AML regulations require payments firms, card issuers, and remittance processors to verify customer identities, monitor transactions, and detect suspicious activity in an automated, controlled, and auditable manner. Smartstream's Smart Reconciliations enables issuers to detect transaction issues and resolve them across all relevant payment and card processing flows.

Question 13

How does Smartstream support card issuers responding to the EU Interchange Fee Regulation (MIF)?

Accepted Answer

The EU Multilateral Interchange Fee regulation caps credit card interchange fees at 0.3 percent, placing significant pressure on issuers to reduce operational costs. Smartstream's Smart Reconciliations automates control processes across card operations, reducing manual costs and mitigating operational risks and losses for issuers responding to the interchange fee cap.

Question 14

How does Smartstream address MiFID II and MiFIR reference data and reporting requirements?

Accepted Answer

MiFID II and MiFIR require access to significant quantities of reference data for every financial instrument traded in Europe, covering pre-trade transparency, post-trade reporting, and transaction reporting. Smartstream's Smart Data delivers all required reference data including ToTV determination, ANNA DSB interaction, and Systematic Internaliser classifications, while Smart Reconciliations supports validation of the expanded mandatory data fields.

Question 15

How does Smartstream support PCI-DSS compliance for payment data security?

Accepted Answer

PCI-DSS establishes requirements for the secure handling, storage, and transmission of cardholder data across organisations that process card payments. Smartstream's Smart Reconciliations platform and its OnDemand SaaS services are certified at the highest PCI-DSS security level, enabling clients to process and reconcile payment data within a verified, secure environment.

Question 16

How does Smartstream support PSD II compliance for payment service providers?

Accepted Answer

PSD II extends payment services regulation across the EU, introducing requirements for payment initiation services and access to account services with robust transaction monitoring and exception management obligations. Smartstream's Smart Reconciliations provides the tools to reconcile and monitor transactional content, tracking exceptions and process breaks across PSD II-regulated payment flows.

Question 17

How does Smartstream support SEC Section 31 fee compliance for exchanges and SROs?

Accepted Answer

SEC Section 31 requires exchanges and self-regulatory organisations to calculate, account for, and remit fees based on transaction volumes within defined timeframes. Smartstream's Smart Fees provides fully automated support for Section 31 fee calculation, accounting, billing and collection, and payment, reducing manual processing and compliance risk for exchanges and SROs.

Question 18

How does Smartstream support SFTR reference data requirements for securities financing?

Accepted Answer

The EU Securities Financing Transaction Regulation requires both parties to report SFTs to a registered trade repository, with each report requiring accurate instrument reference data. Smartstream's Smart Data simplifies the sourcing of essential security reference data, providing the accurate, timely instrument information required to enrich SFT reports under SFTR.

Question 19

How does Smartstream support Solvency II data quality requirements for insurers?

Accepted Answer

Solvency II requires insurers to prove the quality and accuracy of data underpinning internal models and regulatory submissions, with transparency required across the entire data lifecycle. Smartstream's Smart Data delivers a managed reference data service providing complete, accurate, and fully audited instrument data to support Solvency II regulatory reporting and internal model validation.

Question 20

How does Smartstream support SRD II compliance for shareholder rights and proxy voting?

Accepted Answer

The Shareholder Rights Directive II places obligations on intermediaries to facilitate accurate, timely, and transparent shareholder identification, disclosure, and voting across the investor communications chain. Smartstream's Smart Actions delivers automation and proactive controls supporting intermediaries in meeting SRD II obligations for shareholder identification, voting facilitation, and disclosure transparency.

Question 21

How does Smartstream support ISO 20022 adoption for financial messaging?

Accepted Answer

ISO 20022 is the mandated international standard for financial message exchange, with the ECB directing full implementation from November 2022. Smartstream's Smart Reconciliations natively supports the full complexity of ISO 20022 message structures, enabling clients to process next-generation securities and payment messages without compromising data fidelity.

Question 22

What does CSDR require and how does Smartstream support settlement discipline compliance?

Accepted Answer

The Central Securities Depositories Regulation introduces shorter settlement cycles, mandatory buy-ins, and cash penalties for settlement failures, requiring CSD participants to reconcile records daily. Smartstream's Smart Reconciliations applies the controls needed to prevent settlement breaks and enables daily reconciliation with CSD information, while Smart Data supports associated reference data and reporting requirements.

Question 23

How does Smartstream support BCBS 248 intraday liquidity management and reporting?

Accepted Answer

BCBS 248 requires banks to measure, monitor, and manage intraday liquidity positions in real time, producing regulatory reports and running stress tests across multiple time horizons. Smartstream's Smart Liquidity delivers real-time intraday liquidity aggregation, BCBS 248 regulatory reporting, and intraday stress testing across four scenarios, while Smart Reconciliations ensures the data integrity required for liquidity risk management.

Question 24

How does Smartstream support IFRS 17 insurance contract liability reporting?

Accepted Answer

IFRS 17 requires insurers to provide reconciliations of opening and closing balances of insurance contract liabilities with detailed disclosures across financial statements. Smartstream's Smart Reconciliations provides greater transparency and comparability in the reporting of insurance contract liabilities, supporting firms in producing the reconciliations required under IFRS 17.

Question 25

How does Smartstream support T+1 trade settlement compliance?

Accepted Answer

T+1 compresses the US securities settlement cycle to trade date plus one business day, effective 28 May 2024, tightening operational windows across trade matching, corporate actions, collateral, and liquidity. Smartstream addresses each challenge through Smart Reconciliations for faster matching and exception resolution, Smart Actions for corporate action automation, Smart Collateral for real-time margining, Smart Liquidity for intraday cash visibility, and Smart Data for timely reference data.

Question 26

How does Smartstream support ECMS compliance for Eurosystem collateral management?

Accepted Answer

The Eurosystem Collateral Management System is a unified platform for managing collateral in Eurosystem credit operations, built on ISO 20022 Securities messaging standards. Smartstream's Smart Reconciliations supports clients in processing the full complexity of ISO 20022 Securities message structures, enabling accurate reconciliation of collateral positions within the ECMS framework.

Question 27

What does DORA require and how does Smartstream support digital operational resilience compliance?

Accepted Answer

The Digital Operational Resilience Act requires financial entities and critical ICT providers to meet defined standards for IT security, incident management, resilience testing, and third-party risk oversight, effective January 2025. Smartstream, designated as a critical ICT provider by several financial entities, holds ISO 27001:2022, PCI-DSS, and SOC 1, SOC 2, and SOC 3 certifications covering the risk, incident, and resilience domains aligned with DORA requirements.

Question 28

What is CPS 230 and how does Smartstream support APRA-regulated entities?

Accepted Answer

CPS 230 is an APRA prudential standard effective 1 July 2025 requiring regulated entities to strengthen operational risk management, business continuity planning, and third-party risk oversight. Smartstream supports APRA-regulated clients by applying its ISO 27001:2022, PCI-DSS, and SOC 1, SOC 2, and SOC 3 certifications and proven risk management practices to help demonstrate operational resilience and third-party compliance under CPS 230.

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