The operational and legal challenges of complying with the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s potential requirement to report information on securities loan transactions to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority could outweigh the benefits of transparency to investors, say operations and legal experts. Instead of offering any feedback to the SEC’s proposal, some industry players asked […]
Autism Center of Alleged Crypto Inventor Wright’s Fraud Trial
A brilliant autistic cryptocurrency developer or a brilliant con artist? That’s what a federal jury in Miami has to decide about Australian-born Craig Wright, who alleges he is Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of the most popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin and underlying blockchain technology. Ira Kleiman, the brother of the late Dave Kleiman, sued Wright in 2018 […]
Bloomberg’s FIGIs Win Nod From US Standards Body: Now What?
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 […]
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 […]
New FX Benchmark Aims to Save Buy-Side Big Bucks
Are we getting the best foreign exchange conversion rate? Pension plans and other asset owners asking their fund managers that question might hear a resounding yes, but that’s not always the case as highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Not all benchmarks are created equal, according to London-based Raidne, which claims it has come up with a […]
ADRs: Will Blockchain Create a Better Mousetrap?
Unsponsored American Depositary Receipts could be a lot less expensive and more efficient for investors to own and to receive dividends and other corporate action distributions thanks to a new permission-based blockchain platform designed by RISE Financial Technologies, according to the Boston and London-based blockchain technology firm. RISE Financial predicts its new blockchain-based infrastructure, set to […]
Citi’s $900M Blunder Casts Light on Poor Loan Ops
A New York judge’s recent ruling that lenders to financially ailing cosmetics giant Revlon can keep US$500 million in payments they mistakenly received from Citibank is prompting operations managers of syndicate loan desks at rival banks to take a closer look at their technology, internal procedures and any offshore work. Citibank is considered an anomaly […]
Want to be AML Whistleblower? Not So Fast
You work in the anti-money laundering department of a major bank or brokerage and overhear a conversation about how suspicious activity reports are not being filed on a particular client; how the transaction monitoring system is not working properly; or how wire transfers are being made to a country or individual on a US sanctions […]
Registered Investment Funds 2021: New Derivatives Risk Program
For US traders, risk managers, portfolio managers, and boards of directors of registered fund management firms trading in derivatives, 2021 will be the year they figure out which derivatives to trade and how many to trade for more reasons than just making higher investment returns. Complying with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new rule 18f-4 […]
SEI Loses Antitrust Suit Against SS&C; Use of Geneva Stands
Fund administrator SEI Global Services has lost a legal battle against SS&C Technologies for violating US antitrust regulations, but it appears to have won the critical legal war necessary to ensure the fund administrator can continue using SS&C’s Advent Geneva portfolio accounting system to service its alternative fund clients. On October 23, 2020, Judge Chad […]