Once the unsung sibling of the front and back office, the middle-office could finally get its long overdue recognition as the US prepares to shorten its trade settlement cycle from three days to two. Squeezed between traders praised for making lucrative deals and operations experts at the end of the line moving cash and securities around to meet settlement obligations, […]
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 […]
Investment Breaches: Prevention Better than Consequences
Portfolio compliance experts at fund management firms may not like to talk about their accidental breaches of investment guidelines, but they are quickly waking up to their need to do something about them. There is simply too much at stake. Portfolio compliance is a fundamental competence investors and regulators assume they’re getting. Admitting to even a few breaches doesn’t inspire confidence, […]
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 […]
Fund Managers: A Risk-Based Approach to Tackling Cybersecurity Threats
Although Wall Streeters often criticize Washington, DC bureaucrats for being out of touch with their daily realities, the new Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity issued in February by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) might just be a notable exception. It has apparently become a hit among US investment management compliance and data security experts […]
Compliance Officers: Taking the Regulatory Heat, Personally
Chief compliance officers at financial firms have always had it tough. Working long hours to address changing regulatory, investor and internal requirements, are an accepted part of everyday life. Yet, chief compliance officers and legal experts now say that the stress is hitting closer to home on a personal level. Securities watchdogs are drawing even […]