Thomson Reuters, the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, today announced that BlackRock, a leader in investment management, risk management and advisory services for institutional and retail clients worldwide, has selected Thomson Reuters Org ID (Org ID) to complement its existing rigorous counterparty due diligence process. 

“We have very robust counterparty due diligence processes in place and have selected the Thomson Reuters Org ID service to further augment the screening and ongoing monitoring of trading counterparties,” said Robert Goldstein, Chief Operating Officer of BlackRock. “Thomson Reuters ability to leverage other assets across their suite of risk solutions in an integrated offering provides us with an effective resource to complement BlackRock’s counterparty risk management program.”

“We are thrilled to be working with BlackRock to further enhance its counterparty due diligence process,” said Steve Pulley, Global Managing Director of Org ID at Thomson Reuters. “Our solution has been uniquely designed with the requirements of leading asset management and alternatives firms such as BlackRock in mind. We recognise the importance of screening and continuous monitoring of clients and counterparties to the on-boarding and refresh process, something we firmly believe differentiates our offering.”

The agreement with BlackRock follows Thomson Reuters Org ID recently becoming the first KYC managed service provider to successfully complete an ISAE 3000 audit, conducted by PwC, in relation to the design of and adherence to internal processes, controls and compliance policy. It demonstrates trust in Thomson Reuters to develop innovative solutions for the market that reduce the burden of regulatory compliance, while accelerating the ability to conduct global business with confidence. 

In March 2014, Thomson Reuters launched Org ID, an end-to-end client identity service that collects, verifies, screens, determines ultimate beneficial owners, and monitors a legal entity for change. The managed service is used for client on-boarding as well as enhancing and refreshing existing portfolios to a global standard. The service facilitates the exchange of identity information through a secure web-based portal and streamlines the distribution of documentation to financial institutions. Thomson Reuters Org ID provides a real-time "passport" which represents a validated and screened entity, thereby simplifying the account opening process needed to conduct business globally.

Thomson Reuters and Org ID recently won ‘Best KYC and Client On-Boarding Solution’ at the second annual Data Management Summit Awards 2014, hosted by A-Team Group. The  Data Management Summit Awards recognize outstanding products and services in data management and are voted on by senior managers from financial institutions and readers of Reference Data Review.