Recovering monies from class action settlements should be a risk-free revenue generator, but that’s not the case for many money managers, broker-dealers and their custodians. Instead, the process is fraught with operational errors, which results in billions of dollars in uncollected compensation each year. The COVID-19 pandemic has not only changed the types of securities […]
SEI Loses Antitrust Suit Against SS&C; Use of Geneva Stands
Fund administrator SEI Global Services has lost a legal battle against SS&C Technologies for violating US antitrust regulations, but it appears to have won the critical legal war necessary to ensure the fund administrator can continue using SS&C’s Advent Geneva portfolio accounting system to service its alternative fund clients. On October 23, 2020, Judge Chad […]
Wells Fargo’s Comp Plan: Will SEC’s Ops Rules Hurt Investors?
The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s plan for how investors in Wells Fargo’s stock will be compensated a total of US$500 million for the bank’s past wrongdoing could end up marred in operational snafus making it harder for some investors to be paid and disincentivizing others from filing the paperwork to collect any compensation. That’s […]
COVID-19 Accelerates Buy-Side Outsourced Trading
The COVID-19 pandemic is adding fuel to the fire of interest from some fund management firms in outsourcing the execution of their trade orders to third-party specialists. Over the past few years, fund managers have decided that outsourcing isn’t only for middle and back-office functions. It can also be used for trade execution with cost […]
SEC Fines Northern Trust for Not Stopping Criminal Hedge Fund Manager
The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent US$152,553 fine against mega hedge fund administrator Northern Trust provides a clear sign the regulatory agency will continue to hold a service provider accountable for any wrongdoing committed by its client if the SEC thinks it could have prevented the bad apple’s actions. The New York headquartered L-R […]
BNY Mellon Gives Fund Managers New NAV Agent
Fund managers no longer have to rely on their fund administrator’s backup plan or their own when striking or validating a net asset value. BNY Mellon, the world’s largest custodian bank, says it can save the day by doing all the operational work using Milestone Group’s pControl platform which also allows for accurate backup NAVs […]
Treasury Operations: From Basics to Optimal
Where are my cash and securities and am I achieving the best bang for the buck? Treasury management staffers at hedge fund management shops are belatedly realizing that the difference between either knowing or not knowing the answer to the interrelated questions could translate into the difference between average and higher investment performance. The savviest […]
Striking an NAV: Fund Managers’ Contingency Options
(Editor’s Update on December 5, 2018: US fund managers are getting serious about striking back-up NAVs on their own. Milestone Group tells FinOps Report that it has nabbed two top-tier US headuartered fund managers to use its pControl Oversight platform to monitor their fund administrators and to strike back-up NAVs in-house, instead of relying on […]
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 […]
Morgan Stanley Fine: Lessons in Fee Recon Failures
Futures commision merchants had better pay far closer attention to their middle office fee reconciliation process, caution operations experts. Morgan Stanley’s recent US$500,000 fine from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for overbilling clients trading fees isn’t a large fine considering the FCM’s size. What is alarming is that Morgan Stanley is the fourth FCM […]