Second article of our two-part series on third-party risk management. For the first article, click here. Hands-on relationship manager. System Analyst. Recruiter. Negotiator. Risk Manager. Hatchet man. Whoa! Too many job descriptions requiring far different different personalities and skills. They couldn’t possibly all be handled effectively by any single individual. These are just a some of […]
Vendor Risk Management: Financial Firms under the Gun
First of a two-part series on third-party risk. For the second article, click here. Activities can be outsourced, liabilities can’t. Financial firms may understand the legal distinction, but when it comes to managing the risk involved with using external technology providers, they are too often falling asleep at the wheel, warn operations and IT experts. The reason: […]
Private Equity Funds: Coming Clean with Expenses, Fees
With the US Securities and Exchange Commission calling private equity fund managers to the carpet for their fees and expenses, managers had better start preparing to be a lot more forthcoming about their practices to investors. Regulatory exams are just around the corner, warn operations and legal experts. At issue is what expenses should be absorbed by private […]
Passing on the Business: Data Transit for Cost-Basis Reporting
A US investor decides to switch its account from one broker-dealer or bank to another. The transition is supposed to be a no-brainer which happens every day on Wall Street. However, when it comes to cost-basis reporting, a simple operational process could easily turn into an administrative and financial nightmare, warn tax operations experts. The ramifications can […]
2015: Top Ops Goals for Surviving the Regulatory Crush
With the beginning of 2015 just hours away, middle and back office operations specialists across the globe should count on a visit from C-level executives to set the tone for the new year. Forget about praise for all the hard work in 2014. Everyone now has to roll up their sleeves to address a host […]
Risk Data 2015: Silos Down, Linkage Up
Data and Risk. Besides having four letters, the two words have plenty in common based on an exhaustive list of “what’s in” and “what’s out” for 2015 released by the EDM Council, the global trade association advocating efficient enterprise data management. The profitability of financial services firms has always been based on risk analysis, and that […]
AIFMD Annex IV Reporting: Risk Scrutiny on Deadline
The Alternative Investment Fund Manager Directive Annex IV. The long phrase describes at least three hundred points of reference data and other risk metrics alternative fund managers must provide regulators if they want to grab a “passport” to market their funds across European borders. That passport allows them to operate by a single set of rules, rather than […]
Corporate Actions: Solving the Operational Disconnect
A capital charge, stock dividend, reverse stock split, tender offer or voluntary distribution. Those are just a few of the dozens of types of corporate action events — many of them them voluntary corporate actions in which a decision must be made — that management firms have to handle on a daily basis. Who has to deal with […]
Valuation Disputes: Process for Everyday Crisis
Internal analysis at a fund management shop sets the price of a non-exchange traded security at $US80 — the most recent trade price that could be found. However, the third party evaluations provider used by the fund manager says it’s worth no more than US$60 based on projected future cash flows and taking into account the illiquid market. What’s the […]
ISINs-Plus: Will ANNA’s New Data Offering Be Embraced?
When it comes to codes to identify and describe millions of financial instruments, the world certainly has no shortage. ISINs, LEIs, MICs and now FIGIs are just a handful of the acronyms used. But tracking down all the necessary codes and linking them together to use in multiple applications, let alone ensuring their accuracy, can be […]