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 […]
Etrading Software; Bloomberg-Kaiko Vie for Crypto ID Authority
If equities, bonds, and OTC derivatives have identification codes why shouldn’t digital assets? That’s the premise Etrading Software and the team of Bloomberg and Kaiko are betting on by recently throwing their hats in the ring to provide ID codes as the new registration authority for digital token identifiers (DTIs) expected to go live sometime […]
Crypto-Miners: Are They Broker-Dealers or Math Geeks?
If it quacks like a duck, it’s a duck, right. But does it quack? That’s the question broker-dealer Templum Markets has raised to the US Securities and Exchange Commission about crypto-miners which has polarized the crypto-community into deciding whether they should be regulated as broker-dealers. Fueling the debate are conflicting interpretations of the Securities and […]
Hedge Funds: Proactive Operational Risk, Finally
Failed trade settlements, bad valuations, bad reconciliations, shoddy vendor management and simple forgetfulness. These glitches aren’t new for hedge fund managers. What is new is that they are turning to management and technology consultants for help. As regulators, such as the US Securities and Exchange Commission, look under the hood during exams and investors become […]
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 […]
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 […]
Europe’s CSDR: Custodians Face Reporting Headaches
The European Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR) is quickly turning into a misnomer for the legislation. Operations and IT managers at custodian banks must quickly develop new data consolidation and message reformatting workflow and technology to deliver the right information on settled and unsettled trades to local regulators in July 2019. Given that the pan- […]
CUSIP ID Codes Enter World of Blockchain
Equities and bonds have identification numbers so why not tokenized asset offerings (TAOs). That’s the premise of a new agreement between blockchain startup Templum Markets and CUSIP Global Services (CGS) whose goal is to promote liquidity and post-trade operational efficiency for TAOs. North America’s national numbering agency will now issue CUSIPs or nine-digit alphanumeric codes […]
BofAML’s Fake Trade Reports: Governance Breakdown?
How could Bank of America Merrill Lynch get away with giving institutional customers phony trade execution, transaction cost analysis and expense reports for five years? Ten brokerage operations and IT managers contacted by FinOps Report can only speculate after reading the scant details in separate settlement reports issued by the Office of the Attorney General […]
FINRA New Ops Certification: Two Exams Better?
What is the difference between a stock, a bond, a derivative, an exchange-traded fund and other financial products? What are customer suitability rules, margin rules and custody rules? These might sound like simple questions, but for US brokerage operations managers who must abide by changes in test formats imposed by the US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority […]