Arcontech Group Regulatory News (ARC)

30 Oct 2006 07:01

Knowledge Technology Solutions PLC30 October 2006 RNS release 30 October 2006 KTS offers MiFID solutions for financial securities firms KTS PLC (AIM: KTS), providers of market information services in the financesector, is today announcing a number of new MiFID solutions. These additionalservices will be fully integrated with KTS' real-time market data displayservice, MarketTerminal. The new solutions will assist investment firms, asset managers and stock brokersto comply with MiFID, the European Markets in Financial Instruments Directivewhen it is introduced on 1 November 2007. The purpose of MiFID is to createtransparency throughout the European Union for traders dealing in allsecurities. It is hoped MiFID will lead to greater competition in financialmarkets. However, MiFID imposes a number of compliance issues on financialfirms. Some of these are expected to require significant investment by marketparticipants, particularly in the areas of information technology, data accessand storage. KTS is initially addressing MiFID requirements in three major areas which arecurrently already well defined: pre-trade transparency, post-trade analysis andcompliance reporting. Additional functionality is now offered on KTSMarketTerminal, the company's proven financial information application currentlyused by 130 client organisations throughout the UK, to assist financial firmsaddress MiFID. First, KTS is adding to MarketTerminal the capability to display quotes ororders from multiple transaction venues. This allows clients to simultaneouslyassess trade opportunities available at all transaction venues included in itsbest execution policy - a requirement under MiFID. The choice of transaction venues is set to increase substantially in numberunder MiFID as investment banks acting as "systematic internalisers" competealongside multi-lateral trading facilities with traditional exchanges such asthe London Stock Exchange. Integrated within MarketTerminal, the composite pre-trade quote view also offerscustomisable best-execution cost evaluations in real time. This enables clientsto carry out comprehensive transaction cost analysis in real time and allowsbetter and more efficient identification of best execution venues. A second element of the suite of KTS MiFID solutions on MarketTerminal is itspost-trade transaction analysis functionality. This allows clients to assesscompliance with best execution more readily. Customers' compliance officers canconfigure MarketTerminal to tag any of their firms' trades which fall outside ofnormal price parameters e.g. those significantly above the market's volumeweighted average price (VWAP). Clients will therefore be able to identify anyunusual trades, and shortlist those for further internal investigation. The third major benefit for users is compliance reporting and data storage.Clients will be able to access every transaction made and every quote offeredover a minimum of five years, as required under MiFID. Not only this, there willbe a convenient report macro built into the platform, that in a few mouse clickswill produce a standard report for clients or the financial industry regulatorto demonstrate compliance with the firm's stated best execution policy. Dr Marc Pinter-Krainer, Chief Executive of KTS PLC, said: "Our technology offers a powerful and cost-effective solution to many MiFIDrequirements. We have worked closely with the industry and our research showsthat, above all, clients want a MiFID solution that is easy and quick toimplement. Firms may see MiFID as merely a compliance issue, however, it is ourview that MiFID presents them with a real business opportunity for which thespeed, versatility and efficiency of our MarketTerminal platform will give thema genuine advantage." Contacts:Dr Marc Pinter-Krainer Neil BoomKnowledge Technology Solutions PLC Gresham PR Ltd.020 7256 2300 020 7404 9000 Financial firms can request a free illustration and evaluation of KTS's newsuite of MiFID solutions on MarketTerminal by telephoning 020 7256 2300. Notes to Editors About Knowledge Technology Solutions PLCKnowledge Technology Solutions PLC is an innovative provider of financial marketdata application services and the company is listed on the AlternativeInvestment Market of the London Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: KTS). Utilising its proprietary advanced technologies, KTS focuses on developing andproviding real-time market data services to the financial marketplace bydelivering essential market data and news via more cost-effective communicationschannels. KTS differentiates itself from other leading information providers as itsservices are technology driven. They are designed to run on standard PCs andlaptops without the need for any installation of dedicated hardware, software orinfrastructure, as the application runs on the server side on powerful clustersof highly resilient and secure servers. Financial professionals can log on to KTS's services by using a standardInternet connection from any geographical location across fixed and wirelessnetworks. KTS's "zero-client" application service requires no client-sidecomponents and upgrades are automatic. Other benefits include flexibility andcost savings in support and maintenance using any market data infrastructure.More than 130 client organisations currently subscribe to KTS's financialinformation service KTS MarketTerminal. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange