US financial firms, concerned about how to implement blockchain technology without running afoul of future regulations, might soon find some long overdue guidance from the Securities and Exchange Commission. The US regulatory agency has been called to action by Ouisa Capital, a New York broker-dealer that operates an alternative trading system (ATS) for trading unregistered securities. […]
Colorado Raises the Bar in Buyside Cybersecurity
Banks might not be the only financial institutions needing dedicated chief information security officers (CISOs) to oversee and enforce a cybersecurity program. As FinOps Report goes to press, the Colorado Division of Securities is set to finalize rules which, as of July 15, will make the state the first in the US to require fund managers and broker-dealers […]
US T+2: SEC Joins the Bandwagon
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 […]
Building Smarter 3rd-Party Cyber-Risk Programs
Financial firms needing to manage the cybersecurity risk of companies outside their own walls as well as they do their own can now count on a new risk assessment-as-a-service platform for help. Launched in March, the Denver-headquartered CyberGRX aims to take the gruntwork out of the due diligence process for third-party cybersecurity risk managers. It […]
ADR Lawsuits: Depositary Banks on the Hotseat
When it comes to their handling of American Depositary Receipts, depositary banks have more than just an investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission to worry about. BNY Mellon, Citi and JP Morgan are being targeted with class action lawsuits filed in a New York court by disgruntled investors, alleging overcharges in foreign exchange […]
Blockchain 2017: Regulatory Reality from FINRA
Straight from the horse’s mouth, US broker-dealers have just been advised about the many ways their use of blockchain could impact their compliance with rules imposed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) — including recordkeeping, clearance and settlement, anti-money laundering, trade reporting and customer statements. FINRA , the US self-regulatory agency for broker-dealers, has issued a […]
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 […]
New York Raises Bar on AML and Sanctions Programs
Some US and foreign banks with New York offices will soon face the challenge of proving that their transaction monitoring and sanctions filtering programs for catching criminal activity really work. The New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) believes that although banks and banking-regulated institutions may already have AML programs, there are still too many illegal […]
RegTech 2017: Taking FinTech the Extra Mile
Those who think that RegTech is only about technology geared to meeting regulatory requirements should think again. The term, say operations consultants and IT specialists, also represents a new state of mind, oriented toward maximizing the use of current applications, eliminating unnecessary ones, and reducing data discrepancies. “Whereas financial technology, or FinTech for short, focuses strictly […]
Judge’s Ruling Questions Attorney-Client Privilege for Mutual Fund Trustees
Independent mutual fund trustees will likely think twice before they say anything incriminating to their external legal counsel about how they administer mutual funds. The rights of mutual fund investors to fair advisory fees trump the rights of independent mutual fund trustees to attorney-client confidentiality, says a Washington State federal district court judge in a […]