A landmark integration on the journey to the Target Market Determinations

Financial services tech company, Iress, has announced an integration with Objective Keystone which will be key to their goal to drive greater efficiency and compliance with the upcoming Design and Delivery Obligation (DDO) legislation.

October 5, 2021 is the deadline to comply with the DDO legislation around creating Target Market Determinations (TMDs). A TMD sets out the target market, product specs and other information required by distributors. One TMD is required for every financial product, and must be available on the issuer’s website as well as in the hands of all distributors.

It is crucial to avoid waiting until the last minute to create TMDs and they are better managed within a single source of truth. Accuracy and consistency between the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) are pain points to consider, as well as ensuring that the TMD is actionable, reasonable and can be updated over time.

Objective Keystone provides a systemised approach to TMDs and supports product issuers through template design, including the authoring, approval, and publishing processes. Through integration with Iress’ DDO solution, the organisation using Objective Keystone will be able to publish their approved TMD directly into the blockchain - enabling product issuers direct access to the messaging service with connected distributors, as well as ensuring access to the latest version.

This will be a game changer for TMD production, because not only do TMDs have to be well written and clearly describe the product and the intended distribution, they have to be workable. This means to avoid cutting corners and taking the time required to run TMDs past distributors to make sure that the distribution conditions can be met and complied with, as well as tracked and reported on.

To do this, it is imperative to get started early, and make sure that the process is backed up with rigorous process and fit-for-purpose technology – which this integration offers.

Iress chief commercial officer, Michael Blomfield, said: “We are delighted to announce the integration of Objective Keystone into the Iress blockchain-based DDO solution. This legislation represents a challenge no traditional system or process in this industry can overcome, or that any one party can solve in isolation. We’ve seen strong interest from across the industry in a solution which addresses this challenge of multilateral validation and communication in a way that doesn’t add unnecessary cost or complexity. Today’s announcement represents another step forward in achieving this.”

Objective’s CEO, Tony Walls said: “We are pleased to partner with Iress by integrating with its blockchain solution for managing DDO. We know that our Keystone solution helps organisations reduce costs while strengthening risk and governance protocols which is why our solution is purpose built to help financial services businesses manage the new TMD obligations. We are excited about the combined expertise of our software with Iress’ technology solution in further driving down cost and increasing efficiency in financial services.”

We are excited about the combined expertise of our software with Iress’ technology solution in further driving down cost and increasing efficiency in financial services.

Tony Walls

CEO, Objective