Abide Financial, a global regulatory reporting specialist, is continuing on its growth trajectory, today announcing that it has successfully gained approval from ACER (Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators) to operate as a Registered Reporting Mechanism (RRM) for certain energy-market transactions.

The new registration essentially allows the company to process transactions on behalf of clients that are required to be reported to ACER under the new REMIT (Regulation on Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency) legislation.

We’ve got the RRM approval but now we need to operationalise that and get the customers on board.

This registration will allow the company to boost its share of REMIT-eligible transactions. John Abel, Founding Director of Abide Financial, said: “This is another significant milestone for Abide Financial. As an RRM, we are uniquely positioned to alleviate the burden of REMIT regulatory reporting for all eligible energy market participants.”

The challenge now, according to Mr Abel in an interview with Finance Magnates, is to grow the REMIT-related activities. “We’ve got the RRM approval but now we need to operationalise that and get the customers on board.”

The Growth Story

Indeed, Abide Financial has proven itself more than capable of acquiring new customers and growing market share.

Noting that the regulatory landscape was rapidly changing as jurisdictions have been striving to make OTC (over-the-counter) markets fairer and more transparent after a series of market manipulation scandals, the founding directors of Abide Financial realised that there was an opportunity to provide regulatory reporting services.

Since the company was forged in late 2010, it has proceeded to double its revenues annually.

Since the company was forged in late 2010, it has proceeded to double its revenues annually. It now currently processes over 50% of all EMIR reportable FX transactions, over 20% of MiFID transactions and is positioned to exceed 2 billion total transactions reported by the end of 2015.

To continue growing at such a rate and to ensure that its regulatory reporting services were operational when legislation becomes live, the company announced last week that its has taken on more capital.

ICAP Plc (LON:IAP), a leading market operator, has made a strategic investment. While Mr Abel was not at liberty to comment on exact figures, he did say that the sizable investment, coupled with organic growth, would allow the company to achieve its ambitious growth strategy.

“It’s a sizable investment and enough to fund Abide through its growth plans for the next 24-48 months.”

It’s a sizable investment and enough to fund Abide through its growth plans for the next 24-48 months.

The firm continues to act as an independent regulatory reporting specialist, with its founding directors retaining the majority equity stake.

In addition to getting the RRM operational, the company re-asserted its status as a single solution provider for market participants eligible to report under multiple regulatory reporting regimes.

Mr Abel also outlined plans to develop the company’s existing EMIR reporting services, with an eye on expanding services into new jurisdictions, and to continue to build its trade repository capabilities.

Abide Financial is an Approved Reporting Mechanism (ARM) for MiFID (future MiFID II /MiFIR). Since its inception, the company has continued to grow its client suite, servicing Investec, BNP Paribas, Instinet Nomura, Saxo Bank, CMC Markets and ICAP amongst others.