Trading venues, banks, and broker-dealers now know for certain how much more they will have to pay to create International Securities Identification Numbers (ISINs) for over-the-counter derivatives. It turns out that it’s a lot more. In a recent statement, the Derivatives Service Bureau (DSB) said that instead of a €65,000 annual fee, power users will have […]
EU’s SRD: Reworking Proxy Services
Custodian bank operations managers should start planning to get their hands a lot dirtier in the proxy plumbing process. The new version of the European Shareholder Rights Directive (SRD) calls for them to respond to European issuer requests for identifying investors who hold more than 0.5 percent of a company’s stock, to forward proxy information […]
FINRA to Broker-Dealers: Justify Order Routing Perks
Brokerage compliance managers might have to scale back their holiday plans. The US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is revisiting broker-dealer order routing, and it wants answers by the end of this month. Last month, the self-regulatory agency for broker-dealers sent an undisclosed number of broker-dealers a request for detailed information on how they quantify […]
North Korea Sanctions: Tracking the Unknown Cohorts
US President Donald Trump’s order to block any “significant financial transactions” related to North Korea is presenting US financial firms with a rigorous challenge to their anti-money laundering procedures. Trade finance, trade surveillance and other departments will have to dig far deeper into customer identities, business relationships, and transactions to protect their firms from costly […]
IRS 871(m) Withholding Tax: No More Relief for the Weary?
On October 2 when the US Treasury published its announcement of eight regulations scheduled for repeal or replacement, tax operations, compliance and legal experts found a major disappointment. Despite repeated industry requests for repeal, or at least more clarity about some of its provisions, the controversial Internal Revenue Service Section 871(m) on withholding tax for US […]
MiFID II and GDPR: Finding Where the Twain Must Meet
MiFID II and GDPR project teams had better get acquainted quickly. Although the objectives of the two European regulatory measures, might sound contradictory, financial firms must find a way to accommodate both, particularly when it comes to recording phone calls. They don’t have much time to create a strategy. MiFID II becomes effective in January […]
Mirror Trading: New Focus on Potential AML Violations
When it comes to following anti-money laundering regulations, global banks typically pay the closest attention to identifying their clients and payment transfers. However, in preventing regulatory fines, monitoring mirror trading activities may be just as important for trading and AML compliance managers. So warn AML compliance experts who point to Deutsche Bank’s US$600 million fines […]
Alt Fund Managers: What Needs to Be Fixed Before the SEC Exam
Hedge fund and private equity fund managers top the list of firms having the most angst, when it comes to worrying about passing an exam by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. They also are likely to have the the most work preparing for an exam. A recent survey of C-level executives conducted by compliance […]
Seeking Depository: Call Ireland’s Central Bank (Updated)
Update (May 3, 2018) Bank and broker-dealer members of Euroclear UK & Ireland now have to worry about where they will settle trades in Irish equities post-Brexit. They will no longer be able to do so through the shared UK and Irish depository and parent Euroclear recently announced that it has abandoned plans to set […]
MiFID II: Elaborate Exercise in Repapering
The second incarnation of the European Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) adds a whole new meaning to the song lyric “Getting to know you” as financial firms and their clients tackle the new rules of onboarding. For financial firms the increased amount of required client data and documentation will prompt changes to their […]