Opus, parent of Alacra, has introduced Resolve API, an application programming interface designed to help firms search multiple entity databases in real time and speed up the integration of entity reference data with businesses processes. A couple of early adopter banks are using the solution to maintain a single and accurate view of client records across their organisations, while prospects are considering the product for use cases such as Know Your Customer (KYC), client onboarding and regulatory compliance.

Resolve API has been built to provide quick, easy and complete access to all major identifiers and content for legal entities. It includes a type-ahead function, which is based on the name of the entity or any of its public identifiers, to support rapid retrieval of entity reference data and can search across databases including financial institutions’ databases that are maintained by Opus, the Alacra Authority File, and databases held by premium providers in the Opus portfolio of data partners.

Kelvin Dickenson, head of compliance and data solutions at Opus, says firms have traditionally searched for and retrieved entity data records from their own and other entity databases using large batch files that must be processed to make data available for business applications. The focus on data quality has been minimal.

Moving forward, he explains: “There is an increasing desire to mobilise clean data across the enterprise. The Resolve API allows a rapid search of multiple databases simultaneously. It avoids cumbersome batch processes and delivers a real-time transactional process that is easy to use to search entity data.”

Data quality is improved through the ability to retrieve entity data from one database and simultaneously look at internal records and those held in other databases. Dickenson comments: “You could start KYC with golden copies of entity data and ensure data quality from day one.”

While Resolve API can access entity data rapidly and make reference data more available to processes such as KYC, Dickenson suggests it won’t replace batch processing, but rather augment it, perhaps when there is a need to source one accurate entity data record.