BearingPoint, an international management and technology consulting firm, is one of the largest management consultancies in Europe. It also holds a particular expertise in technology systems based on open-source platforms, like the technology foundation of the ANNA DSB.

“The financial services division of BearingPoint brings a depth of expertise that massively magnifies our own knowledge in the processes of establishing a robust and forwarding-looking business foundation for the DSB,” said Dan Kuhnel, chairman of the ANNA board of directors. “We expect their presence to accelerate the coalescing of resources and industry support, leading to an initiative that is well managed from day one and well prepared for the inevitable changes in scope that are characteristic of both the derivatives and standards related realms.”

Specific areas of activity for BearingPoint will include support of DSB stakeholders, validation of DSB formation and envisaged governance, validating of the DSB funding model, and support of the RFP-based selection of the service provision partner to manage the technical infrastructure.

“We are delighted that ANNA has selected us as their management consulting partner to support their important next steps towards smooth DSB operations and collaborations with the financial services community. This will ultimately facilitate 2018 MiFID II reporting requirements and introduce transparency to the OTC derivatives markets,” said Gabriele Hoehler, Partner at BearingPoint.
About the ANNA Derivatives Service Bureau (DSB).

The DSB will provide rapid allocation of the International Securities Identification Number (ISIN) for OTC derivatives contracts. These identifying codes will be issued to counterparties and trading venues for business operations and regulatory reporting. The DSB is based on an automated real-time allocation platform developed by ANNA with Etrading Software, a London-based professional services technology firm, and built on state-of-the-art, open-source architecture.

The selection of BearingPoint for management consulting services, in addition to the contribution of Etrading Software as the development partner, is an additional forward in the coalescing of expert resources in the DSB development. Still to be announced are the management services partner to operate the DSB and the service provision partner to be responsible for its infrastructure.

The development schedule of the DSB includes full implementation and testing by relevant financial entities by early January 2018 when the second version of the Market in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID 2) goes into effect. MiFID 2 requires reporting of OTC derivatives transactions.

ANNA will make the engine and connectivity specifications available to the marketplace to the following timeline:
• 25 October 2016: Publication of the DSB product governance framework`;
• Q4 2016: Publication of the FIX open standard technical specifications to enable participants to connect their trading platforms to the engine;
• Q4 2016: Public preview of the engine through a web interface to allow market participants to test and provide early feedback;
• Q1 2017: Technical access for formal industry testing of the engine.