September 30, 2013 - The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has teamed up with a group of major global banks in a bid to develop a global service to collect and manage the client entity reference data necessary to meet regulatory requirements.

Barclays, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase are among the banks to have signed the memorandum of understanding committing to a new client data and documentation platform.

The DTCC says that while interim releases will be rolled out to address specific regulatory needs, "over time" the service will cover everything from legal entity hierarchies, standing settlement instructions, regulatory compliance data for things like Dodd-Frank and Emir, client on-boarding, and tax and Fatca.

Michael Bodson, CEO, DTCC, says: "Our ultimate aim is to support the industry's call for a comprehensive, centralised platform to effectively manage virtually all client reference data. We are very pleased that we now have an MoU with a group of the industry's top multinational participants."

The DTCC says that by developing standardised processes and data formats in cooperation with market participants and regulators, it also hopes to improve the control environment surrounding client onboarding and to streamline supervisory examination of these processes.

Colin Hall, chief data officer, investment banking, Credit Suisse, says: "We firmly believe that our collaboration with the DTCC and other peer firms has the opportunity to deliver significant benefits to the broader market from control, regulatory and client service perspectives."