Custodians on Alert: Custodians and prime brokers will be able for the first time to input standing settlement instructions (SSIs) to Omgeo’s ALERT database, potentially reducing the number of trades which fail to settle on time. SSIs refer to the last leg of the post-trade communications process when asset managers tell their custodians or prime […]
Post-Trade Matching: No Quick FIX
After offering a new alternative to fund managers and broker dealers to match the economic details of securities transactions, FIX Trading Community is finding that the industry pickup is slow. Although early adopters report that it’s just as good as central matching — and better in some ways — no one expects a mass migration away […]
News to Use: EquiLend, 4sight and Russia’s NSD
Match, Game On: Borrowers and lending agents in securities transactions executed through EquiLend, an electronic trading platform, will now be able to reconcile far more transaction details and enable lending departments to work smarter. Although EquiLend’s new matching engine is still geared to US and foreign securities, the company expects it to have greatest uptick in […]
ECB’s Target2-Securities: Message Transformation Morass? (Updated)
This article has been updated to include comments from Incentage provided after its initial publication. Question: When are ISO 20022-compliant message types not like any ISO 20022 message types that are currently in use? Answer: When they are the messages used by the European Central Bank’s Target2 Securities (T2S) platform to communicate with European securities […]
News to Use: ISITC, BNY Mellon, Custom House and More
Oversight Pointers: Fund managers will soon have practical guidance for best practices in overseeing outsourced operations contracts with custodian bank, fund administrators and other post-trade service providers. The ISITC, trade group representing operations specialists from over 100 buy and sell-side firms, is publishing a white paper with its recommendations in the fall. The guidelines, ISITC officials […]
Custody Network Management: The Rise of the Super Risk Manager
Second article of our two-part series on third-party risk management. For the first article, click here. Hands-on relationship manager. System Analyst. Recruiter. Negotiator. Risk Manager. Hatchet man. Whoa! Too many job descriptions requiring far different different personalities and skills. They couldn’t possibly all be handled effectively by any single individual. These are just a some of […]
Pre-Trade Swaps Credit Check: It’s Time to Study the Options
Once there were two pre-trade credit checking hubs for swaps. Now there is only one left standing. Time for fund managers to ask their clearing agents some tough questions. Futures commission merchants (FCMs) are backing Traiana’s pre-trade credit checking hub over Markit’s, which was forced to shut down for lack of traffic. Concerns about the potential for […]
Futures Commission Merchant: Four Steps to the Right Choice
It’s the phone call no operations manager wants to get. The trading desk just tried to execute a swap contract, and discovered that the newly hired futures commission merchant (FCM) doesn’t handle transactions in that currency. Or doesn’t accept that kind of collateral. Or isn’t a member of the necessary clearinghouse. Who’s to blame? Good question, […]
T+2 in Europe: Smooth Sailing or Turbulence Ahead?
A non-event. That is how European securities depositories; their bank and brokerage participants, fund managers and software vendors describe the migration of over two dozen European markets to a two-day settlement cycle on October 8. Yet they are all realizing that they must keep up the good work in ensuring seamless middle office procedures. Relying […]
EU Settlements: More Corporate Actions Claims?
In focusing strictly on settling domestic and cross-border trades, the new central settlement platform, Target2Securities (T2S) may end up causing unintended operational glitches and additional costs when it comes to how corporate actions of European issuers are processed. Or so fear some managers who apparently aren’t buying the assertions made by custodians and securities depositories […]