With 24-hour trading on US exchanges closer to becoming a reality, back-office operations managers at some US broker-dealers are starting to worry about possible glitches processing corporate actions. Twenty-four-hour trading doesn’t mean 24 hours literally. It only means that there will be longer after-hours trading with a short trading halt of about an hour. The […]
SEC Exams 2025: T+1 Post-Mortem?
T+1 settlement isn’t over for the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Chief compliance officers at US fund management firms and broker-dealers must be prepared to show how they are meeting the challenge of a one-day settlement cycle, otherwise known as T+1 settlement, if requested by an examiner from the SEC next year. The onus appears […]
SEC’s Short Sale Reporting Rule Comes Up Short
Fund management firms, soon required to report their short sale positions with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, could end up scrambling at the last minute to make the necessary operational changes while praying the regulatory agency agrees with their interpretations of some of its unclear requirements. Buy-side firms appear to be hoping the SEC […]
BNY Pershing’s US$1.4 Million FINRA Fine: Data Governance Flaw?
How could BNY Pershing have unintentionally stored and distributed the wrong interest rates on domestic and international variable rate securities to clients for years? Easily if the firm didn’t have the right checks and balances to ensure data quality, based on the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s account of why it fined the giant clearing firm […]
Private Fund Managers: Hello AML Compliance Officers
Chief compliance officers (CCOs) at private fund management firms could be saddled with the extra title of anti-money laundering compliance officer and a lot more work if a proposed AML rule from the FinCEN unit of the US Treasury takes effect. FinCEN, short for Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, has resurrected its longstanding desire for many […]
US Treasuries Central Clearing: Fund Managers’ Juggling Act in 2024
US fund managers will be spending the new year preparing for the operational and legal challenges arising from central clearing of most secondary trades in Treasury cash and repurchase agreements now that the Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the phased move. The mandated switch to central clearing for many transactions in US Treasuries will […]
SEC’s Private Fund Adviser Rules: Tackling the Dos, Don’ts, and Maybes
The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s new rules for private fund advisers are meant to increase transparency for investors, but they will also increase operational pain and cost for compliance managers even more, fund executives tell FinOps Report. Although the SEC has eliminated some of the more controversial provisions for the estimated US$22.6 trillion dollar […]
SEC Tells Mutual Fund Industry: Lost Accountholders Matter
Compliance directors at US mutual fund transfer agents and US mutual funds will have to follow the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules to a T and they will have more administrative work on their hands to inform investors about the perils of escheatment of unclaimed or “lost” accounts, based on the US Securities and […]
SEC’s Take on Predictive Data Analytics: A Failed Prediction?
Mindboggling isn’t a word often used when discussing proposals issued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, but the latest one for registered investment advisers and broker-dealers about addressing conflicts of interest when using predictive data analytics (PDA) and PDA-like technology appears to be a notable exception. If adopted as drafted, the SEC’s requirement would […]
T+1: Fund Managers Tackle Pain Points
Operations directors at fund management firms are starting to review post-trade communications, securities lending, liquidity management, and corporate actions as the critical processes keeping them awake at night when preparing for a one-day settlement cycle (T+1) for US securities in May 2024. Analyzing internal workflow and interactions with broker-dealers and custodian banks is essential to […]