Predict and prevent– that’s what back-office operations managers at buy and sell-side firms preparing for Europe’s Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR) settlement discipline regime are starting to think about so they won’t have to pay hefty financial penalties or endure buy-in requirements if they fail to settle their European trades on time. Instead of bemoaning […]
CSDR: Partial Settlement Means a Full Ops Headache
In permitting partial settlement of securiies transactions to relieve financial penalties, the new European Central Securities Depository Regulation (CSDR) will unintentionally cause fund managers, broker-dealers and others more operational grief. The CSDR is designed to harmonize the operating rules for all national European securities depositories, including using the same methodology to calculate fines when trades […]
Europe’s SFTR: Coming to US Shores?
US securities finance operations and compliance managers had better brace themselves for a US version of Europe’s Securities Finance Transaction Regulation (SFTR), caution industry consultants and market practicioners. So far, US post-trade operations and compliance managers have been spared from dealing with a US equivalent to the onerous SFTR. However, they shouldn’t be lulled into a […]
OTC ISINs: Few Users Pay Much More
Trading venues, banks, and broker-dealers now know for certain how much more they will have to pay to create International Securities Identification Numbers (ISINs) for over-the-counter derivatives. It turns out that it’s a lot more. In a recent statement, the Derivatives Service Bureau (DSB) said that instead of a €65,000 annual fee, power users will have […]
New Year’s Message: Pay More for OTC ISINs?
Update 12/30/2017: This article has been updated to include more details about the DSB’s €8.8 million figure for overhead. Data, operations and vendor procurement managers whose buy- and sell-side firms need international securities identification codes (ISINs) for over-the-counter derivative contracts could end up with some bad news come January 15. Financial firms might discover they […]
EU’s SRD: Reworking Proxy Services
Custodian bank operations managers should start planning to get their hands a lot dirtier in the proxy plumbing process. The new version of the European Shareholder Rights Directive (SRD) calls for them to respond to European issuer requests for identifying investors who hold more than 0.5 percent of a company’s stock, to forward proxy information […]
MiFID Challenge: Which OTC Derivatives to Report?
To report or not to report over-the-counter derivatives under MiFID II. That is the question that compliance and regulatory reporting managers will face when it comes to deciding which trades to include in their transaction reports the day after trades are executed. The wrong answer could cost them hefty fines but finding the right answer will […]
Global Network Management: Are My Assets Safe?
Global network managers of custodian banks are redefining the word relationship when it comes to monitoring local agent banks that safekeep assets of underlying clients in multiple countries. It is no longer enough to make a sporadic visit or have a phone call. Global network managers have become detectives sifting through mounts of data to […]
Unique Product IDs: Can the OTC-ISIN Win the Job?
Can International Securities Identification Numbers (ISINs) become the foundation for unique product identifiers (UPIs)? The new Derivatives Service Bureau (DSB) which will allocate ISINs for over-the-counter derivatives, appears to think so. It also thinks that it might be the organization issuing the UPIs, although it is willing to work with others. If such a scenario […]
MiFID II: Reporting on Corporate Action Decisions
Update 11/27/2017: Under MiFID II, a financial firm must still report shares received as its entitlement from a voluntary corporate action even it never explicitly told the issuer its choice of payment. On November 12, in response to an inquiry from Scorpeo Analytics, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) said that investors may intentionally […]