Workiva Inc. (NYSE:WK), the company powering transparent reporting for a better world, today applauded Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) and Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) for their introduction of the Financial Data Transparency Act (S.4295) in the 117th Congress.

The Financial Data Transparency Act (FDTA) would direct eight major U.S. financial regulatory agencies to adopt uniform, machine-readable data standards for the information they are already required to collect from regulated entities. This proposal complements other legislative efforts to transform government data into open, smart, searchable, and downloadable formats without proprietary restrictions.

“At a time when bipartisan support for issues is hard to come by, the Financial Data Transparency Act demonstrates that innovation and capital market efficiency are areas for agreement,” said Workiva Inc. CEO Marty Vanderploeg. “With the technology available to our financial regulatory agencies today, this legislation is a game-changer, ensuring consistency and transparency across the board. We commend Senators Warner and Crapo’s leadership on this truly transformative bill and urge Congress to pass this common-sense legislation in short order.”

The FDTA seeks to modernize financial regulatory filings to gain similar efficiencies and benefits found in government innovation programs in tax, banking regulations, and open data reforms. For example, in the 1990s, the IRS and state tax authorities harmonized data standards for tax returns, which transformed that industry by enabling e-filing. In 2005, the FDIC adopted data standards for collecting call reports from U.S. banks, reducing logical and mathematical error rates by more than 90 percent and cutting weeks of time between the submission of the data to the regulator and its subsequent availability to investors.

The eight major financial regulatory agencies that would be directed to adopt uniform, non-proprietary machine-readable data standards under the FDTA include the Department of the Treasury; the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency; the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; the Federal Reserve Board; the National Credit Union Administration; and the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Investors and regulators need reliable, quality information in a timely manner. With advances in areas of machine-learning and artificial intelligence, the modernization proposed by the FDTA will address both the needs and the growing opportunities for greater smart data reliability that drives more efficient and automated compliance reporting solutions.

About Workiva

Workiva Inc. (NYSE:WK) is on a mission to power transparent reporting for a better world. We build and deliver the world’s leading regulatory, financial, and ESG reporting solutions to meet stakeholder demands for action, transparency, and disclosure of financial and non-financial data. Our cloud-based platform simplifies the most complex reporting and disclosure challenges by streamlining processes, connecting data and teams, and ensuring consistency. Learn more at workiva.com.

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