Guest Contributor: Devin Redmond, Nexgate CEO and Co-founder No longer are financial brands and organizations able to focus solely on storefronts, email aliases and toll free numbers for customer engagement and support. Nowadays, a brand must engage customers 24/7 in social media. However, as we have seen with the rise in social media spam, the
Compliance
Insurance and Innovation: Are you In or Out?
Guest Contributor: Sheryl Brown, Social Media Coordinator, Ash Brokerage So when you say “financial services” or “insurance” do you immediately think of the word “innovation”? Um … likely not. (Hint: We are not the cool kids on the bus. I hate to break it to you this way.) Why is that? Why, as a group of
Compliance
Information Technology Responsibility for Social Media
Guest Contributor: Blair Rugh, Chief Compliance Officer, Temenos Social media and other forms of electronic communication are becoming the principal advertising and marketing tools of many financial institutions. First, they are inexpensive. Second, they can be targeted as narrowly or broadly as the bank wishes. Finally, the readership percentage is pretty high compared to print advertising.
Back-Office
Exchange Traded Derivatives in an Automated World
Guest Contributor: Ted Leveroni, Executive Director – Strategy & Buy Side Relations at The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation Global regulatory reform and market changes are impacting how the buy- and sell-side function in the exchange-traded derivatives (ETD) space. The increased focus on central clearing over the counter derivatives (OTC) and trade reporting has placed
Compliance
Investor Protection: The Next Focus of Automated Compliance and Surveillance Systems
Guest Contributor: Magnus Almqvist, senior product specialist, SunGard’s Protegent The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is turning up the heat on national regulators to enforce and monitor MiFID conduct of business rules, where Article 37 of the MiFID Implementing Directive aim to ensure that firms 1) sell only suitable products to their clients and
Compliance
The Conversational Advisor: You mean I have to talk on social media?
Guest Contributor: Sheryl Brown, Social Media Coordinator, Ash Brokerage Social media is a communication mecca. Whether you’re introvert or extrovert, social media is the line drawn in the sand and makes both communication styles equal. For financial advisors, this is both exciting and overwhelming at the same time. It tickles me when advisors ask me, “You mean
Compliance
Greek Mythology and the Boulder of Compliance
Guest Contributor: Stephen Taylor, Senior Market Manager, U.S. Enterprise Risk & Compliance, Wolters Kluwer Financial Services In Greek mythology Sisyphus, the King of Ephyra, was punished by the Gods for his wrong doing. His sentence? Roll a very heavy boulder up a steep hill, only to watch it roll back down. Repeat this action for
Back-Office
Manage Risk, Comply with Regulations and Increase Alpha with an IBOR
Guest Contributor: David Kubersky, President and Managing Director, SimCorp North America Fragmented position-keeping across the trade lifecycle presents significant risks to buy-side firms. As the SimCorp Journal paper, “The Investment Book of Record: One Version of Truth from Front- to Back-Office,” explains, “When investment processes and asset classes are supported by multiple systems across the
Compliance
Putting Your Social Media Policy into Practice – A Techie’s Guide
Guest Contributor: Terry Ray,Vice-President, Software Development, Temenos In January of 2013, the FFIEC released proposed guidance for financial institutions regarding social media. As the year draws to a close, if your institution has not already written, revised and gotten board approval for your social media policy, you would be wise to do so now. Great!
Buy-Side
Valuation Considerations for Illiquid OTC Derivatives
Guest Contributor: Matthew McFarland, Director, Business Development, CBOE Mandated clearing of certain interest rate swaps and credit default swaps was recently completed with the addition of Category 3 participants on September 9. While the advent of mandatory clearing presents several challenges, one aspect that has garnered little attention is valuations. OTC market participants, accustomed to valuations
