Quest CE Debuts Licensing and Registration Platform, Bridge

Online, October 2, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Quest CE, a leading provider of compliance management technology and continuing education training, announced today the highly anticipated debut of its securities licensing and registration platform, Bridge for Broker-Dealers.

Quest CE's Bridge is a web-based, multifaceted application that brings efficiency, automation, and robust reporting to the registration and licensing process. By utilizing industry leading technology, the Bridge platform communicates directly with FINRA's EFT, offering firms the ability to seamlessly bulk-submit form filings and intuitively analyze processed data through the aid of aggregate reports. Designed to alleviate the burden of collecting and sharing vital data, Bridge solves for the many limitations associated with using antiquated in-house applications or working directly with uneditable Web CRD post reports.

Quest CE's Bridge can be customized to ensure clients only pay for the functionalities of the system that bring efficiency to their corporate workflows. As such, Quest CE's solution can be utilized as a whole, or by function. Whether in need of a dynamic reporting depository to download/retrieve Web CRD data, or a centralized registration database to electronically submit Form U4, U5, BR, and NRF filings; firms can rest assured that the automation built within the Bridge system will aid their users on a path to firm-wide compliance.

"After investing a year's worth of work into the development of this platform, I'm extremely excited to introduce to the market a solution that brings unmatched automation and detailed data-analysis to the licensing and registration process," said Quest CE Chief Information Officer Patrick Torhorst. "At its core, Bridge's built-in, innovative technology streamlines data from a range of sources like never before, producing results that far exceed the sum of their parts."

Bridge's centralized management platform ensures that all form filings are properly reviewed before being sent to Web CRD, through the use of tiered hierarchy, real-time validation, and a live Submission Queue, which serves as a temporary storage repository for all forms to be bulk-submitted to FINRA's Web CRD. This Queue provides firms with a layer of separation from the regulatory authority, and acts as a protective step where compliance administrators can finalize, manage, and/or cancel filings, as needed. Additionally, with the ability to allow authorized representatives, supervisors, and/or compliance administrators to edit and submit form filings, paired with the system's automatic validation checks, which ensure all data submitted is in compliance with FINRA Guidelines, Bridge helps mitigate costly fines and penalties associated with department miscommunications and form re-submissions.

At the core of Bridge's platform is a user-configurable dashboard with dynamic report functionalities that allow for real-time monitoring, trending, and analysis of processed data from Web CRD's system. Through the reporting engine, Bridge automatically collects, streamlines, and organizes firm-specific data into detailed reports, replacing the manual, time-consuming process of monitoring conflicting platforms for registration updates. Bridge's reporting dashboard offers over 18 custom reports that can be filtered and sorted prior to export and directly manipulated in a variety of editable formats. Data can then be distributed at any time, on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, through the platform's internal email network. Additionally, all reports are archived within the system indefinitely, equipping firms with a defensible compliance history that is accessible at anytime.

"In today's data-driven industry, firms are looking for data precision, but more than ever they need data relevance. As a result, Quest CE's Bridge does more than just store/warehouse information, it gathers data, assures its quality, and uses it to create value for smart, firm-wide decisions," added Torhorst.

Quest CE's infrastructure has attained a SSAE 16 Type II certification, ensuring that its data center meets the highest security standards in the industry. Program administrators also have the ability to restrict user's login access and lock-down certain forms in a read-only format.

To learn more about Quest CE's licensing and registration platform, Bridge for Broker-Dealers, visit the product page or email [email protected].