Vendors debut compliance partnerships

US governance risk and compliance management software vendor Compliance 360 is to launch a compliance solution designed to provide users with information on regulatory updates and changes after signing a partnership agreement with news service LexisNexis.

The alliance, which is the first of its kind according to Compliance 360, was announced last month and will see compliance related information from LexisNexis automatically workflow enabled and fed into firms' legal or compliance departments.

Compliance 360's chief executive Steve McGraw said in a statement that the new alliance would help firms keep better track of changes to the law and ensure they remain compliant.

"Having the ability to track [regulatory] changes through lexis Nexis and then easily integrate updates into their enterprise governance, risk and compliance management solution for immediate action can improve compliance and reduce risk of fines and other liabilities," he added.

In related news corporate governance software specialist Iconium today announced it has signed a technology and sales partnership with compliance consultancy North Cardinal.

Under the terms of the deal, the two companies will jointly develop new modules for Iconium's Policy Manager suite designed to report and monitor firms' Sarbanes Oxley and Market in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid) compliance efforts.

Nigel Kilpatrick of Iconium said there was growing interest amongst financial services firms about tools for aiding compliance with Mifid, which is expected to come into effect from 2007 and will impact how companies record all cross border transactions. "It is one of the biggest regulatory changes in Europe in a decade," he added.