Was incompetence, gross negligence, collusion or a good faith mistake the reason operations executives from fund administrator SS&C Technologies authorized the transfer of almost US$6 million from a client’s commodities fund to Chinese hackers? That is the question readers of a lawsuit filed by hedge fund Tillage Commodities Fund against SS&C Technologies will likely be […]
New York Proposed Cyber Rules: Too Much, Too Fast
Cutting down one risk — that of a cybersecuity breach — is promising to add a lot more risk of other kinds. Those would be increased costs and liability. The New York State Department of Financial Services has gone further than its federal peers by mandating hard and fast policies instead of risk-based methodology to […]
Accenture, Broadridge, Synechron on Blockchain
The financial world is spending countless hours — and millions of dollars — hypothesizing how blockchain — the new distributed way of storing information — could eliminate huge operational costs. Banks, broker-dealers, exchanges, and securities depositories have started exploring its potential vast use with the help of technology providers. Blockchain could theoretically be applied to […]
Uncleared Swap Deals: Clarity Is Work in Progress
“It’s not that complicated.” Regulators might have thought that setting specific rules for margining uncleared swap transactions would make life easier for financial firms because they will won’t have to negotiate over how, or even whether to collateralize their deals. They couldn’t have been more wrong. So said panelists and attendees at the International Swaps […]
Outsourced Compliance Officers: Red Flag for SEC?
The decision of the US Securities and Exchange Commission to require fund managers to disclose on their Form ADV whether they have outsourced their chief compliance officer role is starting to cause some angst. Asset managers wonder if they will be targeted for additional scrutiny, only because they delegated their regulatory compliance work to an external provider. […]
OTC Derivatives Players: The ISIN Engine Emerges (Updated)
Editor’s Note: On September 20, ANNA announced that the automated allocation engine for international securities identification numbers for OTC derivatives would also support the derivatives product taxonomy created by the FIX Trading Community as well as other open-standard product taxonomies. The mapping of the FIX taxonomy with the ISO taxonomy is set to be completed […]
Artificial Intelligence: The Next Frontier in AML Compliance
Concerned about potential regulatory fines and skyrocketing costs, the world’s largest banks are turning to artificial intelligence to improve their compliance with know-your-customer and anti-money laundering regulations. “The value proposition for AI solutions is highest for large banks with significant volumes, complexity, multiple lines of business and geographical reach as these banks are affected most […]
Fund Managers Outsource More Mid-Office Ops
Gone are the days when the middle office is maligned as being strictly a cost-center dragging down investment performance. Today more fund managers are concluding that more effective management of their middle office can not only reduce operating expenses, but also give them a competitive edge with investors and keep regulators at bay. Fund management […]
Blockchain for US Settlement: Three, Two, One, Takeoff? (Update)
(Editor’s Note: On Sept 14 itBit announced that its flagship Bankchain and other post-trade projects would be run out of a new firm Paxos with the same management. The former itBit, would be a division of Paxos, and continue to operate its crypto-currency trading platform). If US blockchain afficionados have their way, the technology […]
Northern Trust Minds the Corporate Actions Gap
A successful investment strategy is about more than just buying and selling the right stocks at the right price at the right time. It also depends on picking the best option when it comes to voluntary corporate actions or being able to recognize a bad decision after the fact. Northern Trust is helping its asset […]