The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) announced today that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a group of large global banks that includes Barclays, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase and others to jointly develop a comprehensive service to collect and manage client entity reference data necessary to meet regulatory requirements and other normal course of business activities.

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.

“Our ultimate aim is to support the industry’s call for a comprehensive, centralized platform to effectively manage virtually all client reference data,” said Michael C. Bodson, DTCC President and Chief Executive Officer. “We are very pleased that we now have an MOU with a group of the industry’s top multinational participants. With their partnership, and the support of our Board of Directors, we are moving forward aggressively to bring this solution to market.”

In addition, by developing standardized processes and data formats in cooperation with market participants and the regulatory community, the parties to the MOU aim to effect substantial improvements in the control environment surrounding client on-boarding and to streamline supervisory examination of these processes.