Bloomberg and Castine’s respective research management technology and research payment solutions can now be integrated to provide an end-to-end solution for EU and global asset managers who will be operating under MiFID II guidelines starting January 2018.

The combined solutions allow asset managers to use P&L or client commissions to pay for research, whatever payment methodology the firm decides to use. While several large buy-side firms have elected to use their own funds to pay for research, many buy-side firms will be opting to pay for research using a Research Payment Account (RPA), which is charged to the client.
 
Bloomberg and Castine’s integrated RPA offerings will enable mutual customers to easily manage research subscriptions, track consumption, perform due diligence and compliance reviews, evaluate research quality, create MiFID-compliant budgets, attribute value (broker vote), manage invoices, generate user-driven trade reports, and process payments through their RPAs or otherwise.
 
“Castine has operated in the commission management space for 20 years and has provided industry-leading solutions as the regulations have evolved from soft dollars to CSAs and now to RPAs. Our cloud-based offering perfectly complements Bloomberg’s suite to answer client’s need for simplicity and completeness,” says Robin Hodgkins (pictured), President of Castine LLC. “Clients can build on the strengths of Bloomberg’s services with a solution for all of their MiFID II research procurement, compliance, budgeting, and payment processes.”
 
Robert Friend, Global Head of Sell-Side Solutions and Research at Bloomberg, says: “We are delighted to be working with Castine to help firms comply with MiFID II’s research rules easily and efficiently. The combined offerings allow Bloomberg to provide clients with a holistic suite of seamlessly integrated MiFID II solutions, including the ability to manage research payments through the seamless integration with Castine. ”
 
Castine, formerly known as Cogent Consulting, is an industry leader in buy-side systems for RPAs, CSAs, and compliance systems. Castine’s due diligence repository is used by over 600 firms worldwide. Castine also operates on the sell-side with cloud-based products for commission management, performance analysis, research pricing, compensation, and compliance.