Zantaz datacentres play host to UK firms

Archiving system may appeal to firms trying to comply with Mifid rules

Digital archiving and discovery firm Zantaz has begun hosting local customers in UK datacentres as the deadline for the sweeping Mifid European regulations on cross-border financial instruments approaches, creating a new wave of governance activity.

Zantaz is among a crop of firms developing software that tracks and tags the movement of email and other documents, making it easier to hand over files when requested by regulators or auditors. Unlike some, however, it offers its programs hosted as well as on-premises to help companies with rules such as Mifid, due to take effect on 1 November.

“Mifid is a many-splendoured thing,” said Glenn Perachio, Zantaz European sales director. “You have to balance your risk against your profile and people are putting a lot more effort into policy management to control this risk.”

By adopting Zantaz’s capabilities as an online service, firms can reduce their administration chores, Perachio added.

Mifid is creating headaches for financial services firms and the IT departments charged with implementing elements contained of the framework. Last week, [5 September], for example, a KPMG report commissioned by lobby group the Future and Options Association, suggested that benchmarking best prices would be a time-consuming and inefficient method of showing best practice.

According to a recent survey by Zantaz rival Iron Mountain, 12 percent of financial services firms still have no formal procedure for archiving email and 20 percent are not confident of their ability to react to demands for information within mandated times.