Asset managers and broker-dealers will have to revamp some of their relationship terms, as well as those with the underlying investors, to meet the pending margin requirements for to-be-announced (TBA) transactions and other forward-settling fixed-income transactions. Panelists and attendees at a recent afternoon conference held by the Securities Industry and Financial Market Association about the Financial Industry […]
Catching an Insider Data Thief
Ten percent of employees will never commit a crime, ten percent of employees will, while 80 percent will only do so if the opportunity arises, predict fraud experts. It is that opportunity which asset management firms need to prevent through a combination of compliance controls and technology, say panelists and attendees at a recent symposium […]
New US AML Rules: Tough Enough to Catch the Bad Guys?
The US Treasury’s new rules on how financial firms must handle their responsibilities to know their customers and prevent money-laundering will be operationally challenging to follow, but perhaps not entirely effective in identifying the bad guys. The most controversial aspect of the new requirements — finding out the identities of the beneficial owners of the customers […]
Hedge Fund Managers: Five Areas of SEC Exam Focus
We have nothing to fear as much as the Securities and Exchange Commission itself. That is what hedge fund managers should be thinking about the US regulatory agency, warn legal experts. “A little paranoia will go a long way to ensuring they are prepared for a grueling round of exams this year,” says Ron Geffner, […]
Fund Managers: Reducing Costs of Collateral Fails
US$3.6 million. That is the average cost a fund management firm could incur for correcting failures to settle their collateral requirements for bilateral swap transactions in 2020. The amount comes to US$2.4 million for a broker-dealer. These sobering figures, delivered in a document entitled “Implications of Collateral Settlement Fails: An Industry Perspective on Bilateral OTC […]
US Registered Funds: Say Hello to Derivatives Risk Managers
Must have knowledge of derivative products, risk management, compliance procedures, technology implementation and project management. An MBA or graduate degree in financial engineering is required. A certified financial analyst designation is preferred. Those are the likely employment requirements for the derivatives risk manager that many US registered investment funds will have to hire if the Securities and Exchange Commission […]
UK Watchdogs Put C-Level Execs on the Hotseat
When it comes to accepting liability for regulatory wrongdoing, the top UK bank executives will no longer be able to hide behind the Queen’s royal we. As of March 6, C-level officials at UK banks and other bank-like organizations will find themselves individually liable for not only their own wrongdoing, but also for the financial […]
US Swing Pricing: Getting the Process Right
The US mutual fund managers may soon be following in the footsteps of their European peers in adopting swing pricing, but how ready are they to overcome the operational and compliance challenges? If the tone of discussions at a recent standing-room-only event hosted in New York City by the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI) is any indication, the answer is […]
FCMs: Fund Managers Swap One Cost for Another
Fund managers can no longer assume all is well in their relationships with their futures commissions merchants. As many face changing or even lost relationships with their FCMs, the big question they are forced to answer: What do we do now? Their choices: either find another FCM, reduce the number of centrally-cleared swaps transactions they trade, or […]
Registered Investment Advisers: FinCEN Says Welcome to the AML Party
Registered investment advisers may have it a little easier than their banking brethren when complying with long-awaited anti-money laundering rules just proposed by the US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), but they shouldn’t feel too relieved. They will still have to go through most of the same hoops to ensure their clients are not engaged in […]