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: Proving Best Execution Is Data Challenge
With the arrival of MiFID II, trade execution will no longer be solely the concern of the trading desk. It will take a village of compliance, operations, portfolio managers, IT managers and even website designers for financial firms to prove they have met the best execution requirements of the second incarnation of the Markets in […]
SEC’s Liquidity Rule: How to Bucket Your Assets
Highly liquid, moderately liquid, less liquid, and illiquid. Classifying securities in one of those four buckets for the first time under the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s new liquidity rule will force compliance and risk managers at US mutual funds and exchange-traded funds to implement new operational procedures by next year. “Fund managers will have […]
Corlytics: Can Analytics Reduce Regulatory Risk?
US$7.2 billion. That is what Deutsche Bank paid to the US Department of Justice this year for misleading invstors in the packaging, securitization, marketing, sale and issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities between 2006 and 2007 which contributed to the financial crisis. It might be the highest fine levied so far in 2017, but there will […]
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 […]
SEC Reporting Rules: Fund Managers’ Recon Challenge
The US Securities and Exchange Commission uses the word modernization when speaking of its new reporting rules for registered investment fund advisers, but that’s not how asset managers see things. They dread the approaching tsunami, according to panelists and attendees at a recent TSAM North America fund management event held in New York. Fund managers […]
New Tax on US Convertible Bonds: Taxing Air?
The US Internal Revenue Service wants withholding agents to collect tax on upticks of the rights of convertible bondholders, despite protests that the levy is nothing more than “tax on air.” That’s how some tax attorneys and operations specialists view the IRS’ Section 305(c) rule on taxing adjustments to the conversion ratio of US convertible financial instruments, as […]
Accounting Rule Upends Contract Management
A new global accounting rule that changes the way revenue is recognized and disclosed on financial statements is going to give fund management firms, financial technology shops and data providers a lot more stress. Contract management, financial reporting, IT, legal counsel and even human resource directors will have to work together more closely than ever […]
Alternative Funds Industry Tackles Data Culture
Chief data officer (CDO) may not the most sought-after position at hedge fund management shops, but that isn’t stopping the C-level executives from pushing hard to create a better data management culture — including finding someone to take on the role, with or without the title. To support this effort, a new group calling itself the Data […]
Building Smarter 3rd-Party Cyber-Risk Programs
Financial firms needing to manage the cybersecurity risk of companies outside their own walls as well as they do their own can now count on a new risk assessment-as-a-service platform for help. Launched in March, the Denver-headquartered CyberGRX aims to take the gruntwork out of the due diligence process for third-party cybersecurity risk managers. It […]