Bloomberg finally got its wish for FIGIs– acceptance of its securities ID codes as a standard– but whether that equates to popularity for trade and post-trade operations managers remains to be seen. Trade, middle, and back-office operations, and compliance managers at buy and sell-side firms can now be certain that Bloomberg’s financial instrument global identifiers […]
Broker-Dealer Alert: Filing Suspicious Activity Reports Could Get Harder
Anti-money laundering analysts and compliance managers at US broker-dealers may need to work a lot harder and worry a lot more before filing suspicious activity reports if Alpine Securities, a US penny stockbroker, loses its appeal to the Supreme Court over whether the Securities and Exchange Commission has the right to enforce the Bank Secrecy […]
Uncleared Margin Rules Phase Six: Five Step SCOPE Approach
With the fifth phase of initial margin requirements for uncleared swap transactions recently effective, collateral management and compliance managers at hundreds of fund management shops need to start preparing for the final phase of uncleared swap rules to avoid finding themselves in hot water with regulators or counterparties, warn operations and legal experts. Fund management […]
Symbiont Scores Legal Win Against Ipreo, IHS Markit
US syndicated loans operations managers must bid farewell to a wannabe blockchain-based competitor to IHS Markit’s ClearPar platform based on a recent decision by a Delaware state judge who also awarded Symbiont a whopping US$70 million in its lawsuit against former partner Ipreo and Ipreo’s parent IHS Markit. Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of Delaware’s […]
Europe’s SFDR: Shades of Green Cause Ops Headache
Non-green, light green and dark green. Investment, compliance, and legal managers at fund management shops who must classify their funds in one of those three categories under Europe’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) are finding the road to explaining how their investments are helping or harming the environment and society paved with good intentions but […]
Cryptomarket Rejects New Certification for Trading, Ops Execs
Should Wall Street executives trading and processing digital securities transactions be legally required to pass licensing or mandatory in-house training programs? The answer to the question raised in a comment letter sent to the US Securities and Exchange Commission in April concerning its December 2020 framework for the custody of digital securities appears to be […]
Legal Experts Debate Personal Liability for Chief Compliance Officers
Chief compliance officers need a new operating model, not a new legal framework, to avoid being personally penalized unfairly by the US Securities and Exchange Commission for regulatory infractions, say some legal experts. The New York City Bar Association’s recent framework suggesting that the SEC be more understanding of the challenges faced by chief compliance […]
Archegos Debacle Prompts Holistic Counterparty Risk Management
The recent implosion of family office Archegos Capital Management should renew interest in counterparty risk management and the need for a holistic program, say some broker-dealer risk management experts. By JP Morgan’s estimates the fallout may have cost some prominent prime brokers, such as combined as much as US$10 billion in trading losses. Archegos’ betting […]
Crypto Industry to SEC: Safe Harbor for Broker Custodians Isn’t Safe
The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision to give broker-dealers a five-year reprieve from any regulatory sanctions to custody digital security assets in a trial run under limited circumstances isn’t all that sound, caution some broker-dealers, cryptoasset market players, and legal experts. While praising the SEC’s effort, respondents to the SEC’s request for feedback and others discussing […]
Securities Class Action Settlements: Don’t Leave Money on the Table
Recovering monies from class action settlements should be a risk-free revenue generator, but that’s not the case for many money managers, broker-dealers and their custodians. Instead, the process is fraught with operational errors, which results in billions of dollars in uncollected compensation each year. The COVID-19 pandemic has not only changed the types of securities […]