Can smart contracts be made smart enough to be accurate, ensure the right balance between confidentiality and transparency, and reach widespread acceptance? Yes, but not without a lot more work. That is the consensus of a group of blockchain developers, advocates and analysts that spoke and attended a recent event held by the Wall Street Blockchain […]
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 […]
Fund Managers to SEC: Change DTCC, ICE Swaps Rules
Fund managers are asking the Securities and Exchange Commission to force Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. and ICE to adapt their rulebooks to match their limited reporting responsibilities for security-based swap transactions. The Asset Management Group (AMG) and Investment Company Institute (ICI) say that the DTCC’s Trade Repository and the ICE Trade Vault have overstepped the […]
Transfer Agents, DTC Still Chilly On Issuer Freeze Policies (Updated)
(Editor’s note: On December 6, 2016 the SEC finally published its acceptance of DTC’s rule changes affecting how it will impose chills and locks on US corporate issuers. The agency’s decision marks the end of a contentious debate between DTC, issuers and their transfer agents. Still, reservations remain. “The vast majority of the new rules […]
Bloomberg Takes on KYC Onboarding for Hedge Funds
With its new offering called Entity Exchange, Bloomberg is trying to take a bite out the market share — especially among hedge fund managers — of the existing utilities for automating know-your-customer requirements. Its strategy: give the buy side more control. Regulators require financial firms to know just who they are doing business with before they […]
Next Up on Blockchain: Reconciliation and Syndicated Loans
Start small, think big is what aficionados of blockchain technology see as the most effective strategy in implementing the newfangled architecture. Skipping the more complicated or broader reaching applications for the moment, blockchain appears to be gaining momentum in specialized operations serving smaller user groups . Although no one cited any live cases, representatives from FIS and Symbiont […]
Transfer Agents, Brokers, DTC Debate SEC’s Proposed Rules
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision to overhaul the rules governing transfer agents has prompted a debate among shareholder recordkeepers on the one hand and broker-dealers and their allies on the other. It could easily take up to a year for any new requirements to take effect, However, transfer agents for equities and investment funds […]
Bloomberg, SS&C, Omgeo and DTC Plan T+2 Hook-up
Financial firms wanting to use central matching platforms other than industry leader Omgeo to acknowledge their US trade details will no longer have to worry about meeting a two-day settlement cycle in the US. An otherwise chilly competitive relationship among Bloomberg, SS&C Technologies and Omgeo is now turning into a respectful friendship of sorts, as evidenced at a […]
Blockchain: DTCC Takes the Plunge with Repo Project
The decision of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) to try out distributed ledger technology for processing repurchase agreements has drawn plenty of attention from Wall Street and blockchain enthusiasts. It also has participants in the repo business at the edge of their seats, watching to see how their bottom lines could be affected. The DTCC’s announcement […]
Fund Managers: Reducing Costs of Collateral Fails
US$3.6 million. That is the average cost a fund management firm could incur for correcting failures to settle their collateral requirements for bilateral swap transactions in 2020. The amount comes to US$2.4 million for a broker-dealer. These sobering figures, delivered in a document entitled “Implications of Collateral Settlement Fails: An Industry Perspective on Bilateral OTC […]