Genpact and Markit have kicked off q partnership to develop a centralized service for end-to-end management of client onboarding and other know-your-customer (KYC) requirements in the financial markets.

The service is expected to enable the industry to streamline operations, reduce costs and enhance compliance through better data management and quality.

By centralizing non-proprietary processes for onboarding new clients, managing client reference data, and remediating existing client accounts to new standards, this service will provide an industry-wide golden copy of certain client reference data, faster initiation of trading relationships with new clients, cost savings through operational and technological efficiencies and a shift toward a variable cost model, and an improved experience for buyside firms, reducing multiple demands for documents and information.

HSBC and Morgan Stanley are the first banks to work exclusively with Markit and Genpact on the initial scope and design of the service. Expertise from their teams of professionals will help ensure that the service meets the complex onboarding needs of large financial institutions. Asset managers will also contribute to the design and development process.

“We are pleased to be involved in the design of this service,” said David Burnett, chief operating officer, HSBC Global Banking and Markets. “An industry solution for client onboarding and KYC has the potential to deliver benefits to our clients and help drive higher standards, consistency and best practice.”

Robert Casper, managing director and global head of enterprise data and services at Morgan Stanley, said: “Morgan Stanley is excited to partner with this group to develop a solution that could deliver real benefits for our clients while helping us achieve efficiencies in the constantly evolving space of client data.”

Genpact and Markit have been providing client onboarding and KYC services to the financial industry for many years and both firms have deep expertise and purpose-built technologies that will be combined in the new service.

Markit’s Counterparty Manager service provides a hosted document management system used to streamline account onboarding. It also provides the technology backbone for compliance solutions for Dodd-Frank, Emir and Fatca. Today, 75 broker dealers, 700 buyside firms and nearly 4,000 corporations use Markit Counterparty Manager to meet their regulatory needs.

Genpact developed the first Remediation as a Service platform which offers transparent workflow and document management paired with analytics, reporting, traceability and governance features that can be customized to ensure complete compliance with the requirements of regulators as well as business needs.

“Together, Genpact and Markit offer unique expertise, robust technology and a track record in providing solutions for account onboarding and KYC document management,” said Jeff Gooch, managing director and global head of processing at Markit. “Centralizing the collection and management of KYC documentation creates massive efficiencies for the industry and can save large firms tens of millions of dollars per year. Through technology and the standardization of processes, we can increase data quality, speed operations and improve compliance.”

Genpact’s capital markets expertise combines process expertise based on Genpact’s Smart Enterprise Processes (SEPSM) framework for delivering measurable business impact along with technology solutions, consulting and analytical insights.

“Our partnership with Markit will be truly innovative because we are developing a targeted solution that will make capital markets client onboarding and KYC processes much more effective, providing the regulatory compliance and transparency needed while helping financial institutions to enhance their client service,” said Sandeep Sahai, senior vice president and business leader, capital markets and IT services at Genpact. “Even more importantly, we will bring end to end thinking and frameworks to our shared services solution, which will be cost effective and flexible, allowing these clients to become better able to adapt to market volatility and changing regulatory requirements.”