Fund management and custodian operations and legal experts are warning the US Securities and Exchange Commission that its proposed changes to its custody rule, which requires registered investment advisers to select a qualified custodian to safeguard their assets, are far too impractical and costly. “The new proposed rule is contrary to existing business practice and […]
Autism Center of Alleged Crypto Inventor Wright’s Fraud Trial
A brilliant autistic cryptocurrency developer or a brilliant con artist? That’s what a federal jury in Miami has to decide about Australian-born Craig Wright, who alleges he is Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of the most popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin and underlying blockchain technology. Ira Kleiman, the brother of the late Dave Kleiman, sued Wright in 2018 […]
Broker-Dealer Alert: Filing Suspicious Activity Reports Could Get Harder
Anti-money laundering analysts and compliance managers at US broker-dealers may need to work a lot harder and worry a lot more before filing suspicious activity reports if Alpine Securities, a US penny stockbroker, loses its appeal to the Supreme Court over whether the Securities and Exchange Commission has the right to enforce the Bank Secrecy […]
Symbiont Scores Legal Win Against Ipreo, IHS Markit
US syndicated loans operations managers must bid farewell to a wannabe blockchain-based competitor to IHS Markit’s ClearPar platform based on a recent decision by a Delaware state judge who also awarded Symbiont a whopping US$70 million in its lawsuit against former partner Ipreo and Ipreo’s parent IHS Markit. Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster of Delaware’s […]
Crypto Industry to SEC: Safe Harbor for Broker Custodians Isn’t Safe
The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision to give broker-dealers a five-year reprieve from any regulatory sanctions to custody digital security assets in a trial run under limited circumstances isn’t all that sound, caution some broker-dealers, cryptoasset market players, and legal experts. While praising the SEC’s effort, respondents to the SEC’s request for feedback and others discussing […]
Supreme Court Expert’s Decision on MoneyGram Unclaimed Checks: The Ops Effect
Unclaimed property operations and compliance managers at banks and broker-dealers are quickly reviewing their procedures for “lost accounts” in a wake of a recent recommendation by a legal expert appointed by the US Supreme Court that Delaware must return millions of dollars worth of uncashed “official checks” issued by MoneyGram to over 20 other states. […]
ADRs: Will Blockchain Create a Better Mousetrap?
Unsponsored American Depositary Receipts could be a lot less expensive and more efficient for investors to own and to receive dividends and other corporate action distributions thanks to a new permission-based blockchain platform designed by RISE Financial Technologies, according to the Boston and London-based blockchain technology firm. RISE Financial predicts its new blockchain-based infrastructure, set to […]
SEC’s New Fund Fair Value Rule: Ops and Fintech Solutions
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s new fair value rule for how fund managers should price some of their funds’ assets is causing fund managers and board of directors plenty of angst which can be eased though the right operational workflow and finech solutions, says Milestone Group. The SEC in December 2020 scrapped all of its previous […]
NYSE Puts FINRA in Hotseat For Proxy Distribution Fee Oversight
The issue of which self-regulatory authority will take over the job of setting the maximum fees issuers must pay broker-dealers and banks to mail proxy materials to beneficial shareholders has pitted the New York Stock Exchange against the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. leaving proxy operations managers and corporate secretaries in a lurch. The NYSE, which […]
Market Data Madness 2021: CME’s New Data Fees
The CME Group’s decision to require redistributors to soon pay a first-time ever annual fee for its historical commodities data has pitted a group of vendors against the world’s largest derivatives exchange calling the action illegal and anti-competitive. Effective January 1, 2021, says the CME Group, redistributors of its historical commodities data will have to […]