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 […]
Operational Resilience 2021: The Human Factor
Operational resilience will replace business continuity as the mantra for operations, IT and risk managers at fund management firms, banks and brokers in 2021 requiring a whole new combination of procedures, human interactions and even a bit of technology spend. Operational resilience goes far beyond business continuity. “Operational resilience takes a much broader approach to […]
Fund Middle Office 2021: Year of Fair Valuation
Middle-office accounting managers at US fund management firms will likely be talking a lot more in 2021 with C-level management, third party valuation agents, and boards of directors to figure out just what the terms fair and material mean when it comes to pricing non-exchange traded assets in their portfolios following the Securities and Exchange […]
Blockchain Attorney Klayman Battles MoFo Over Blocked Partnership
Did Joshua Ashley Klayman, one of the US’ top blockchain attorneys, cost herself a partnership in a prominent global law firm, because she chose to focus on the novel field of blockchain and smart contracts, because was female, or because she got pregnant and took three maternity leaves? Those are among the many questions that […]
Wells Fargo’s Comp Plan: Will SEC’s Ops Rules Hurt Investors?
The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s plan for how investors in Wells Fargo’s stock will be compensated a total of US$500 million for the bank’s past wrongdoing could end up marred in operational snafus making it harder for some investors to be paid and disincentivizing others from filing the paperwork to collect any compensation. That’s […]