AML Tech Upgrade: To avoid doing business with the wrong customers and counterparties, financial firms can now rely on a new generation of software applications that go beyond traditional rules-based screening to far more sophisticated data analysis, says a new research report from Celent. The costs of not complying with anti-money laundering rules can be […]
News to Use: SEC, Omgeo and OpsCheck
Another SEC Cybersecurity Reminder: Fund managers have just received a few pointed suggestions from the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Investment Management on just how they should monitor their cybersecurity risk. Although the new guidance doesn’t carry the force of a rule, it does put fund managers on alert for what the SEC will be looking […]
US T+2: Getting Rid of Paper Stock Certificates
Will the US finally go paperless? When it comes to issuing certificates that evidence share ownership, that is. This is the hope of Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. (DTCC), transfer agents and other industry participants, now that a two-day settlement cycle could be just around the corner for the US. For more than a year they […]
Crime Prevention: Breaching the Veil of Omnibus Accounts
For operations and compliance professionals, the definition of financial crime is rapidly expanding to meet the threats of cyber crime, but the more common threat is money laundering or fraudulent wire transfers conducted by unscrupulous companies or individuals. For depositories and custodian banks, this traditional abuse of the financial system has acquired an additional level of […]
Tracking Beneficial Ownership: Finding Those Needles Can Hurt Plenty
For financial institutions finding the beneficial owners of the companies they do business with isn’t like looking for a needle in a haystack. It’s even worse. “It is more like looking for a needle in a stack of needles,” says Debra Geister, manager of Navigator Consulting Group, a St. Cloud, Minnesota-based regulatory compliance and operations […]
News to Use: Omgeo, SEI, and Broadridge
Custodians on Alert: Custodians and prime brokers will be able for the first time to input standing settlement instructions (SSIs) to Omgeo’s ALERT database, potentially reducing the number of trades which fail to settle on time. SSIs refer to the last leg of the post-trade communications process when asset managers tell their custodians or prime […]
Post-Trade Matching: No Quick FIX
After offering a new alternative to fund managers and broker dealers to match the economic details of securities transactions, FIX Trading Community is finding that the industry pickup is slow. Although early adopters report that it’s just as good as central matching — and better in some ways — no one expects a mass migration away […]
KYC Utilities: How Many is Too Many?
When is four too high a number? When it is the number of virtually interchangeable third-party services specializing in helping financial firms meet their know-your customer and other regulatory requirements, acknowledge fund managers and even the providers themselves. Of course, just how many should be left standing and who that should be is a difficult question […]
News to Use: Whistleblower Update, Lending vs. Voting, and New TA Utility
SEC Chills Pre-taliation: The Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement of rules against whistleblower retaliation has just taken another giant step forward with the US regulatory agency’s first announcement it has penalized a firm for restrictive language in an employment agreement. Although the US$130,000 fine was against KBR Inc., not a financial services firm, attorneys specializing […]
Fund Managers: Fixing EMIR Reporting Glitches
Now that more than a year has passed since they’ve had to deal with new reporting requirements under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), fund managers are belatedly waking up to the fact they could soon face whopping regulatory fines for not submitting correct data on their derivative transactions to accredited trade repositories. Regulatory operations […]