Are you ready for monthly Client Money and Asset Return (CMAR)?
As part of increased focus from the FSA on the protection of client money and assets, (See CP11/4: Client Money and Asset Return (CMAR): Operational Implementation) from October 2011 medium and large firms will be required to report monthly Client Money and Asset Return (CMAR), through the FSA’s online information gathering system – GABRIEL.
The introduction of the new return shows an increased focus by the FSA on the protection of client assets and is driven by the spate of failures of major financial institutions over the last few years. Firms will be obligated to meet reporting requirements including:
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Segregation of client money
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Client money requirement and resource
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Client money reconciliations (aged exceptions among other onerous details)
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Segregation of safe custody assets
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Safe Custody Assets Reconciliations (unreconciled items reported et al)
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Record keeping and breaches
While the collation and filing of the data for the return is in itself onerous, it is clear from Consultation Paper 11/4 that the FSA is using the CMAR to zero in on un-reconciled items on the client money and safe custody reconciliations. Regulated firms will be required to report the number, value and age of un-reconciled items in each return to the FSA. It should be expected that any firm underperforming the benchmark may be likely to be targeted for FSA inspection.
Prepare for monthly CMAR using AutoRek
AutoRek is the UK’s leading transactional reconciliation tool with capacity to load and match tens of thousands of records per second - including automated preparation and analyses of Client money reconciliations, asset reconciliations and dividend and distribution reconciliations - all of will be vital feeds into the new mandatory reports.
Our fully integrated reconciliation and reporting software has helped clients manage complex reconciliations, data migrations and suspicious transaction monitoring, allowing them to outperform the industry standard and minimise regulatory costs and disruption.
Find out more...
- Download our Client Money Checklist: 10 Steps to CMAR Compliance
- Read the FSA Guide to Client Money
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