With the two-day settlement cycle on the horizon in the US, market players have their hands full, ensuring they have adapted their front, middle and back-office operations correctly before September 5. However, one major concern about the changeover has just been relieved. The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq have eliminated September 5 as an […]
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 […]
DSB Floats a New Payment Plan for OTC ISINs
Swaps dealers and other financial firms which need international securities identification numbers (ISINs) for over-the-counter derivative contracts will pay for receiving the codes based on one of three new categories they select from a new pricing model released by the Derivatives Service Bureau (DSB), being launched by the Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA). The […]
Dole Class Action Ruling: Short-Selling Clawback Next?
US brokerage and bank operations and compliance managers will soon have to face an onerous back-office and legal challenge — figuring out how to make short sellers pay back $2.74 plus interest for each share of Dole Foods shorted more than three years ago. That money would be used to compensate beneficial investors who are considered the […]
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 […]
OTC ISIN Fees: Who Pays What, When and Why
Financial firms will need to start preparing their 2018 budgets early now that the Association for National Numbering Agencies (ANNA) has given them some inkling of the fees needed to obtain new international securities identification numbers (ISINs) for over-the-counter derivative contracts. The largest swaps dealers and trading platforms would pay the most, while low-volume OTC […]
Euroclear Bank Taskizes Failed Settlements
Banks and broker-dealer members of international securities depository Euroclear Bank in Brussels will now find it a lot easier to clean up trades which failed to settle on time. Euroclear, which specializes in settling Eurobonds and cross-border transactions of domestic equities and fixed-income instruments, is offering its participants a free cloud-based platform to communicate information […]
Blockchain’s Smart Contracts: What’s Smart, What’s Not
Can smart contracts be made smart enough to be accurate, ensure the right balance between confidentiality and transparency, and reach widespread acceptance? Yes, but not without a lot more work. That is the consensus of a group of blockchain developers, advocates and analysts that spoke and attended a recent event held by the Wall Street Blockchain […]
T+2 in Canada: Affirmations in the Headlights Again
Canada and the US are in lockstep to shorten their settlement cycle from three days to two days on September 5, 2017, but Canada is taking its preparations one step further when it comes to the critical post-trade function of matching trade details. The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), the umbrella organization representing all of Canada’s […]