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 […]
Middle Office Takes Center Stage in T+2
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
“Let Us Do It”: Data Utilities Target Mid-Office Data Drudgery
Data utility — it’s a buzzword, which has cropped up sporadically in the data management arena and is now making a comeback, albeit in diverse flavors. The latest wave of incarnations: a reference data utility launched by IBM and GoldenSource, and a know-your-customer (KYC) data utility disclosed by global messaging network SWIFT. Their unveilings earlier this […]
ISO 20022 for Corporate Actions: A for Effort; C for Completion in US? (Update)
Where SWIFT goes, Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. follows. Not a phrase heard very often, if ever. However, when it comes to moving the US financial industry to ISO 20022 messaging for corporate actions, DTCC appears to have relaxed some of its demands. Nearly a decade ago, SWIFT pressed the financial community hard to convert from […]
T+2: Coming to US Fund Managers
How much difference can it make that a US trade group representing mutual fund advisors adds its support to longstanding efforts by the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. to move the US to a two-day settlement cycle? Enough to make it clear that the ball is now rolling, and deadlines are being considered. The […]
Fund Managers: Get Ready for Margin Call Tsunami
Five hundred to one thousand percent. That’s the eye-popping prediction of the coming increase in margin calls in a new report from US market infrastructure Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. (DTCC), “Trends, Risks and Opportunities in Collateral Management.” The trigger: new regulations and recommendations requiring far more transactions in far more asset classes to be collateralized. Relying on […]
Global LEIs: A ‘Virtual’ Turn of Events?
With little information emerging from the Regulatory Oversight Committee (ROC) on how a central operating unit (COU) would work as part of a global initiative for new identification codes for business entities, market consensus appears to have emerged suggesting a virtual model for data distribution is the best way to move forward. Under such a […]