Predict and prevent– that’s what back-office operations managers at buy and sell-side firms preparing for Europe’s Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR) are starting to think about so they won’t have to pay hefty financial penalties or endure buy-in requirements if they fail to settle their European trades on time. Instead of bemoaning the cost of […]
COVID 19: Custody Network Management Revisited
If fund managers can outsource middle and back-office operations and even trading desks, why can’t global custodians outsource network management due diligence and monitoring? That’s the question over a dozen former global custody network managers who spoke with FinOps Report over the past month are asking as concerns mount that the COVID-19 pandemic could eventually […]
Fund Managers Find COVID-19 Makes Best Ex Best Effort
Complying with “best execution” requirements is nothing new for fund managers, but some could easily end up failing to meet their fiduciary obligations this year due to circumstances beyond their control — the unprecedented market volatility and remote working generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. About a dozen operations managers at US fund management firms who […]
SEI Sues SS&C For Threatening to Shut Advent/Moxy Access
Fund administrator SEI Global Services has sued rival SS&C Technology Holdings and subsidiary SS&C Advent for allegedly trying to put SEI out of business by cutting off its access to critical portfolio accounting technology SEI needs to service its fund manager clients. The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court in the SEI’s backyard in […]
CSDR: Partial Settlement Means a Full Ops Headache
In permitting partial settlement of securiies transactions to relieve financial penalties, the new European Central Securities Depository Regulation (CSDR) will unintentionally cause fund managers, broker-dealers and others more operational grief. The CSDR is designed to harmonize the operating rules for all national European securities depositories, including using the same methodology to calculate fines when trades […]
Coronavirus Plagues AML Compliance Managers
The new coronavirus pandemic is testing the ability of anti-money laundering (AML) analysts and compliance managers to adjust their methodologies and technology quickly enough to catch criminal activity. Financial firms must still conduct due diligence when onboarding customers and file suspicious activity reports (SARs) if necessary within 30 to 45 days after an alert is […]
Coronavirus: How CCOs Can Manage (Virtually)
For chief compliance officers at financial firms, following the five Ps — prioritize, plan, protect, preserve, and paper– with the help of IT managers will become critical to ensure employees working remotely meet corporate and regulatory requirements. “Even the best designed business continuity plans likely didn’t take a global pandemic into account,” says Kristin Koloniaris, […]
SEC: CAT Reports Can Omit Some Customer Data
Data management units at US broker-dealers and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) will be creating bogus codes for sending trade execution reports required by the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) to conceal the identities of investors and mitigate potential damage from cybersecurity breaches. The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s long-awaited decision earlier this month to […]
New Trade Execution Transparency Tests Data Exchange
Complying with a new US regulatory requirement for brokers to give investors more information on trade routing decisions under the amended Rule 606 could come down in the short-term to technologists creating the right packaging as much as operations managers finding the right data. With less than a month left to prepare for the April […]
Vote Confirmation: Devil in the Operations Details
Determining whether a vote was actually counted at a corporate meeting has resurrected a sparring match among transfer agents, financial intermediaries, issuers and Broadridge Financial over how to operationally get the job done. Among the participants on a new end-to-end vote confirmation committee set up by the Securities and Exchange Commission to address the issue, […]