FinOps takeaway: You can’t second-guess the investor; be ready for everything. Although the third phase of the US Internal Revenue Service’s new rules on cost-basis reporting — those affecting accounts in debt instruments — technically became effective in January 1, 2014, broker-dealers and other financial intermediaries have plenty more operational blood, sweat and tears to spill […]
European Transaction Tax: The Taxing Job of Getting Ready
Let’s face it. Consumers aren’t eager to pay sales taxes, but neither are retailers eager to charge and collect them. Taxes not only raise prices and potentially reduce the number of sales made, but tax collection also creates operational and technological burdens to administer. Now imagine operations and IT specialists across the globe having to […]
FIXing Post-Trade Matching: Made to Order
“If it ain’t broken don’t fix it” is a common sentiment in the financial industry. But to afficionados of the FIX message protocol, the process of matching trade details is broken, so it needs solutions Providers of order management systems think they are just the right folks to fix the problem — the so-called monopoly enjoyed by post-trade communications provider […]
Cybersecurity: Monitoring Risk in the Supply Chain
Outsourcing providers may promote themselves as trusted partners to their clients, but when it comes to cybersecurity risk, financial services firms would be wise to treat them as an extension of their own business — with all the hard scrutiny and ongoing monitoring of vulnerability they do inside their own corporate walls. And maybe more, […]
Mind the Gap: Brokers Address US-European Settlement Discrepancy
Europe’s move to a two-day settlement cycle in October will cause a lot more stress for broker-dealers than just trying to communicate with their fund managers more quickly. The reason: their clients among US asset managers may have difficulty funding more of their purchases of European securities in at least ten European markets come October 6. From that […]
October 8: The Witching Day for European Settlement
With at least ten European markets set to implement a two-day settlement cycle on October 6, financial firms need to get ready to complete more than just one goal. They should brace themselves for a double-duty workday on October 8, warn settlement experts. That’s when they will have to settle trades in equities in at […]
Asia-Pacific Post-Trade Operations: “Automation is Critical”
While Asia-Pacific is often touted as fertile ground for expansion by fund managers, broker-dealers and their asset-servicing providers, a range of bottlenecks remain in how trade details are acknowledged before settlement. In fact, Asia-Pac fund managers tell FinOps Report, newcomers may be surprised by additional operational and staffing costs to cleanup trades that don’t settle on […]
Phone Monitoring Records: Mining for Profit?
Three years after the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) began requiring financial firms to record all mobile phone communications related to securities transactions, compliance remains dangerously weak. “Financial firms need to start thinking about just how they will comply and what additional benefits they can obtain for the costs involved,” says Rik Turner, senior analyst at […]
Europe’s Consolidated Tape: Reality or Pipedream?
While the European Parliament has finally voted its support for the new version of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), one of its most controversial goals — establishing a central source of post-trade prices from regulated markets — is still far from fruition. The new MiFID mandate may include some stepping-stone dates, but the language of […]
DTCC’s Issuer Chills: Unfreezing Sparks Debate
Chills typically precede colds or fevers, which can be treated through medication. But when the chills are related to cancellation of settlement and other services by the US market infrastructure Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. (DTCC), they can be as deadly as the Bubonic plague, say critics, who are now battling the efforts of its […]