For US broker-dealer operations managers failing to settle a transaction in US Treasury securities might never have been all that problematic, but with the number of fails rising dramatically during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic one megabank–BNY Mellon– has decided to offer a preventative service in a technology partnership with Google Cloud. As the […]
New IDs for Digital Assets: FIGIs or ISO-Backed Codes?
Does the financial services industry need more than one identification standard for digital assets? Can standards for identifying traditional assets even apply for the digital asset market? Those are the two questions trading, compliance and operations managers at fund management firms, custodians, exchanges, and issuers of digital tokens will soon answer now that they have […]
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 […]
Digital Asset Market 2021: The Year of the Institutional Investor?
This year has proven to be a turning point for institutional investment in the digital asset market as the price of Bitcoin continues to soar, while US state and federal regulators are making some significant announcements on how cryptocurrencies can fit into existing regulations designed for traditional assets. Institutional investors pumped $429 million into cryptofunds […]
Etrading Software Nabs Digital Token ID Authority
Traders and operations managers handling cryptocurrencies and other digital assets could soon find themselves using new identification codes issued by Etrading Software, pending approval by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the standards-setting body. The London-based Etrading Software has beaten the duo of Bloomberg and Kaiko in the bidding process to be named as the […]
FINRA’s CAT: Customer Account Data Management Challenge
Reporting correct customer data for the next phase of the requirements of the US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) system will end up being a time-consuming and costly exercise in data management for US broker-dealer regulatory reporting, trade compliance and IT managers. US broker-dealers are likely spending all their time addressing interfirm […]