The US Securities and Exchange Commission has the right intention in wanting to update its outdated rules for transfer agents, say investment funds transfer agents and their legal counsel, but its approach in regulating shareholder recordkeepers of buy-side firms may be flawed. Among the growing list of concerns is whether investment fund transfer agents might […]
Syndicated Loans Market: An Evolution is Coming
Nineteen days and counting. That’s the average time it takes to settle a US syndicated loan. It’s a far cry from the two or three days for other asset classes, but fund managers, broker-dealers, agent banks and even regulators are waking up to the fact the gap must be closed to reduce risks and costs. […]
Johannesburg in Final Sprint to T+3 Settlement (Updated)
(Editor’s Note: This article was updated on February 29 to reflect the JSE’s announcement on February 26 that it had selected July 11 as the go-live day for T+3.) South Africa is in the last lap of a longstanding project to shave two days off its current five day settlement cycle, even though the […]
Securities Finance Data: Useful or Not for European Regulators?
In asking market players to shed more light on their securities finance transactions, European regulators have unintentionally opened an operational and legal can of worms. The newly passed European Securities Financing Transactions (SFT) legislation includes a requirement that managers of new European traditional and alternative investment funds disclose their policies involving securities finance transactions in […]
FINRA’s TBA Margin Rule: No Meeting of Minds with Industry
The pleas of fund managers and broker-dealers for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to change proposed rules requiring the collateralization of agency mortgage-backed securities and other transactions are falling on deaf ears and time is running out. The SEC is requiring that final comments on FINRA’s new proposal published last month be submitted by […]
Mutual Funds to SEC: We Can’t Swing Prices
When proposing new rules, the US Securities and Exchange Commission often plays catch-up to the changing technological or market times. Not so when it comes to the practice of swing pricing, part of its new proposed rules for liquidity management.by US registered investment funds. Nothing short of a revolutionary change in operational capabilities would be needed […]
US Registered Funds: Say Hello to Derivatives Risk Managers
Must have knowledge of derivative products, risk management, compliance procedures, technology implementation and project management. An MBA or graduate degree in financial engineering is required. A certified financial analyst designation is preferred. Those are the likely employment requirements for the derivatives risk manager that many US registered investment funds will have to hire if the Securities and Exchange Commission […]
Fund Transfer Agents: SEC Toughening the Rules
Providers of shareholder recordkeeping services for US mutual funds and non-equity accounts could soon face more regulatory oversight if the US Securities and Exchange Commission has its way. The SEC’s lengthy concept release issued late last year suggests that the US regulatory agency wants rules to keep up with the changing times. To that end, […]
TrueEx: A True Alternative Swaps Post-Trade Provider?
Does the swaps market really need another standalone post-trade service provider? That’s the question emerging from trueEx’s announcement that it has split off its post-trade services from its swap execution platform for interest rate swaps. The answer: it isn’t clear. It could well-be that the new truePTS will offer “next-generation” services as TrueEx’s Chief Executive […]
Target2Securities: Are Fund Managers Paying Enough Attention? (Updated)
(The information in this article was updated on December 11 to reflect the European Central Bank’s new changes to the T2S migration timetable). When first envisioned in 2008, Target2 Securities (T2S) was hailed by the European Central Bank as a single settlement platform to reduce the post-trade processing costs associated with domestic and cross-border European securities […]