The Securities and Exchange Commission may have just given its official blessing to a shortened trade settlement cycle in the US come September 5, but the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. (DTCC), its member firms and service providers have already been working long and hard on operational adjustments and industry-wide testing. All this effort will hopefully […]
Pre-Release ADRs: More SEC Fines on the Way?
First ITG. Who is next? That is the question fund managers and other investors are asking themselves after learning that the US Securities and Exchange Commission fined broker-dealer ITG $24.4 million for violating regulations on how it used the pre-released shares of American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). The SEC says that ITG violated Section 17(a)3 of […]
T+2 in Canada: Affirmations in the Headlights Again
Canada and the US are in lockstep to shorten their settlement cycle from three days to two days on September 5, 2017, but Canada is taking its preparations one step further when it comes to the critical post-trade function of matching trade details. The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), the umbrella organization representing all of Canada’s […]
Fund Managers Outsource More Mid-Office Ops
Gone are the days when the middle office is maligned as being strictly a cost-center dragging down investment performance. Today more fund managers are concluding that more effective management of their middle office can not only reduce operating expenses, but also give them a competitive edge with investors and keep regulators at bay. Fund management […]
Asset Owners Put Managers on the Operational Hotseat
How do you run your business? If it sounds like an open-ended question for pension plans, endowments and other institutional investors to ask fund managers, it is intended to be. Institutional asset owners hope it will elicit a lengthy discussion over the policies, procedures and technology the fund manager uses to make money 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 […]
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 […]
Custodian Banks: New Landscape, New Strategies
A new research report authored by Morgan Stanley and consultancy Oliver Wyman has resurrected the debate over how some of the world’s largest custodian banks will need to rethink their time-honored strategy. Gathering more assets from more clients won’t be enough to sustain profitability. Earnings are under pressure from low interest rates and a historical […]
US Braces for Testing T+2 Preparedness (Updated)
(Editor’s Note: After the publication of this article, DTCC published a document which outlines the testing requirements from its subsidiaries NSCC, DTC and Omgeo for impacted organizations and instruments. The paper entitled “T+2 Test Approach: DTCC’s High-Level Testing Framework” can be found here). Testing, testing, testing. That is the next critical focus for achieving a successful transition […]