FIF has performed an initial gap analysis on the Industry Technical Specification released for publication on September 7th.  FIF held its initial meeting on Friday, September 15th to discuss initials concerns, with additional meetings to be held Monday, September 18th @ 2:00 PM, Wednesday, September 20th @ 2:00 PM, Friday, September 22nd at 2:00 PM, and Monday, September 25th @2:00 PM with the goal of raising industry member concerns with the Plan Processor by September 25th.  If you have any questions, please email the program office at fifinfo@fif.com

On September 7, 2017, Thesys CAT, LLC published the first draft of the Industry Member CAT Technical Specification.  The CAT Operating Committee is soliciting feedback on the initial draft of the Tech Spec by October 16, 2017.  FIF will be scheduling working group meetings shortly to address issues raised in the spec.

On Thursday (8/31) the Financial Information Forum is launching a Reg SCI Best Practices Working Group to assist Reg SCI entities with Reg SCI compliance, as well as to educate and assist member firms that are not yet Reg SCI entities (Broker-Dealers, ATSs, Service Bureaus) with gaining a better understanding of Reg SCI best practices for incorporation within their firm.  For more information, please contact the program office at fifinfo@fif.com.

FIF will be hosting a quarterly event, sponsored by Morgan Stanley on Monday, September 25^th.  The event will feature a panel of industry experts who will discuss various topics related to the implementation of CAT followed by a networking reception. 

An event page will be posted on https://fif.com/news/events later today which will include all of the specific details on the event, including the schedule, location, panelists and topic.  Due to limited number of seats and high demand, we will initially be offering two tickets per FIF member-firm. If additional tickets become available, they will be offered on a first come first serve basis.

In discussing with members and in response to CAT Industry Outreach efforts, FIF has initiated two new subgroups: The CAT Allocations Subgroup and the CAT Options Subgroup, with meetings starting last week.  The calls have been well attended, including representation from SIFMA, with each group working through specific use cases as well as current or anticipated reporting challenges. These meetings, combined with FIF’s involvement in more frequent meetings with the Plan Processor, Thesys, continues to support CAT implementation efforts for our members and the industry.  If you have interest in joining either of these two subgroups, email us at fifinfo@fif.com.