Intergovernmental agreements will help foreign financial institutions more easily meet the requirements of the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which aims to curtail tax evasion by US persons abroad. Or so financial firms around the world were told by the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and their local tax authorities. That’s not exactly a […]
Not in the CARDS? US Clearing Brokers Protest Customer Reporting
A new reporting plan designed to flag possible misbehavior by US brokers, is drawing backlash from their back-office correspondent clearing firms responsible for complying. Their complaints? They run the gamut from the overwhelming costs and liabilities involved in following new rules to questions of how the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is going to manage the flood of data […]
Fund Managers and FATCA: Behind the Curve Or Just Being Prudent?
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which aims to help the US Internal Revenue Service catch potential tax evaders outside its radar, has always been viewed as a difficult regulation for financial firms to follow and with key deadlines close at hand some fund managers still apparently overwhelmed. They are so overwhelmed that they are massively unprepared […]
Bad European Data Validation Rules Give Banks Reporting Jitters
It’s hard enough for bank operations and financial reporting specialists to fill out all the data points and formats required by regulators in filing mandatory documentation evidencing financial soundness. But when a major banking regulatory watchdog — the European Banking Authority — issues 290 incorrect data validation rules, the whole reporting process can go awry […]
Compliance and IT Experts: Strange Bedfellows in Managing Cybersecurity Risk
When it comes to newly heightened US regulatory oversight of cybersecurity risk, compliance directors face risks of their own. They will be on the front line when examiners from the Securities and Exchange Commission come calling to evaluate their cybersecurity programs. But to even answer the SEC’s questions, not to mention have an acceptable working program to […]
Custodians Whammied by New US Leverage Ratios
US regulators may be well-intentioned in mandating that eight systemically important banks maintain higher supplementary leverage ratios (SLRs) than their European peers, but for some of the world’s largest custodians their decision could spell higher costs of doing business — and a trickle down effect on fund management clients. With the new SLR requirements not taking effect […]
US Cost-Basis Reporting: Pay Up Now or Pay A Lot More Later
US tax experts are sounding a loud alarm bell for financial-firm clients this tax season. They had better be prepared to comply with the Internal Revenue Service’s new cost-basis reporting rules for debt instruments, or be prepared to face the music. They won’t like the tune. The IRS will fine not only investors, but also […]
AIFMD: No Pain, No Gain for Fund Managers
Alternative fund managers who might have been initially hot to take advantage of the new European Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) to more easily market their investment funds cross-border are quickly waking up to a cold reality: they might be ill-prepared to comply. With so little time left, they will need to warm up […]
Fund Managers Tell Off US FINRA on TBA Margin Rules
Fund managers are up in arms about new rules proposed by the US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) requiring the collateralization of many US-forward- settling agency mortgage-backed securities transactions, or those of similar asset classes, and their potential quick liquidation trades in a worse case scenario. While FINRA has direct oversight only over US broker-dealers, […]
European Regulators Tell Market: Failure Not an Option
Failing to settle or even match the details of European securities trades on time could become a lot more expensive and reputationally risky for banks, broker-dealers, and their fund manager customers, if European regulators have their way. Just how much more they will have to spend beyond the hefty internal administrative costs, and current fines […]