News from FSL – January 2022

CGiX Upgrade Update:

FSL have continued to build upon improvements to its software release process and are pleased to announce we provided more CGiX releases in 2021 than any previous year.

We are now looking forward to 2022 with even more quality releases planned. Your FSL BA will be in contact in the coming months to discuss your 2022 release plan.

CGiX Version Release Highlights:

• Calculation Rewrite: The CGiX calculation code has been converted to C# to bring further efficiencies within the calc engine. This change has delivered significant improvements in performance, stability and future maintenance.
• Application Security: Security of the CGiX application has been further enhanced including increased validations, additional checks and updating of required fields.

For further details on these and other fixes and enhancements please visit the Release Highlights section of the Customer Portal.

Log4J Cybersecurity Announcement:

On 9th December 2021, a vulnerability to Log4J was disclosed via Twitter.  Log4J is a Java-based logging utility used in many forms of software, including cloud platforms and web applications.  Cybersecurity researchers warned that across the world there were over 100 attempts to exploit the vulnerability every minute.

FSL’s security team picked up the announcement early and were swift to deployed mitigations across our network to ensure we were not vulnerable to a Log4J attack.

If you have any questions, please log a Zendesk ticket.

We are delighted to announce a collaboration with EnlightenESG.

EnlightenESG is a profiling tool that educates and guides financial advisers, wealth managers and corporates in assessing the ESG preferences of their clients and employees.  The aim is to bring personal sustainability context to the already well-established risk profile and suitability framework.

EnlightenESG utilises a framework of questions that are designed to identify three areas of motivation to generate a personalised EnlightenESG score.

1)  Lifestyle: Day-to-day, how do you incorporate sustainability choices?

2)  Policies: How do you feel about ‘big-picture’ sustainability issues?

3)  What If’s: How would you feel having undertaken a sustainable investment versus a conventional one?

FSL believe this collaboration will assist our customers in assessing the suitability of ESG investing with their clients.  When EnlightenESG is used in conjunction with ETHiX, it will empower front office personnel:

EnligthenESG identifies relevant areas of focus within ESG investing, and

ETHiX analyses client portfolios and models potential adjustments to effectively align the portfolio with the end client’s identified areas of interest.

To find out more about either EnlightenESG or ETHiX please contact:

Paul.Webb-Jones@financialsoftware.co.uk

OTS CGT Review Response:

The Government has accepted some of the recommendations made by the OTS.  Find out which ones in this article.

ESG News:

Several articles on ESG including headlines from COP26; research on the top ESG investor concerns; how the FCA is targeting ESG data providers and the IOSCO’s recommendations for ESG ratings and data providers.

New Members of the FSL Team:

More news about hires during 2021.  Meet the new members of the Infrastructure, Development and Business Analysis teams.

Autumn Budget News:

A summary of the budget announcements and some additional details about changes to the deadline for reporting CGT on residential properties.

We would like to thank everyone that took the time to complete our first feedback survey.

Satisfaction with CGiX was exceptional, with 96% saying they were satisfied with the tool and the same figure satisfied with the service received.

The ORF solution also received high ratings, with 88% of respondents satisfied with the data they receive and 100% satisfied with the service levels.

We also collected data to calculate our Net Promoter Score, a metric to measure customer loyalty, for which FSL scored 44.5.  We are very pleased with the result as the benchmark for Business-to-Business software and applications ranges between 30-42*.

We are very pleased with the results and continue to analyse the data.  All comments will be considered when evaluating and planning future product development.

*  Retently; CustomerSuccessBox; ClearlyRated