The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a self-regulatory organization (SRO) for U.S. broker-dealers, has received sweeping recommendations to overhaul its enforcement efforts, including modifications to its due process and “Wells process” practices, as a result of an effort “to better serve our self-regulatory mission,” officials say. “Last year, as part of FINRA Forward, FINRA engaged… Read More >>
USD Stablecoin To Be Explored for Tokenized Settlement
In a bid to help firms maximize the benefits of tokenization, financial services market infrastructure provider Euroclear and stablecoin issuer Société Générale-FORGE (SG-FORGE) will be exploring how a regulated USD stablecoin can be applied to the settlement and issuance of tokenized short-term funding instruments denominated in dollars, officials say. The initiative will happen at the… Read More >>
Why It’s Impossible to Predict the CAT’s Future
If the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) has nine lives like its namesake breed of household felines, it may need one of them as its future is being decided by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This massive and costly equities and options tracking and data-keeping system faces a far more complicated landscape than when… Read More >>
Ondo Finance Launches Tokenized Securities
Operating within U.S. regulatory guardrails, Ondo Finance has launched a tokenized version of the BlackRock iShares Core S&P 500 (IVV) exchange-traded fund (ETF) and Micron (MU) stock in partnership with Broadridge Financial Solutions, which will provide voting rights for tokenized equity holders, officials say. “Ondo Finance is a blockchain-based technology company focused on tokenizing real-world… Read More >>
Hunter Capital Management Taps INDATA
Chicago-based investment firm Hunter Capital Management (HCM) reports that it has gone live with INDATA’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) integrated platform for front, middle, and back-office investment management operations. In particular, the firm will be using the INDATA platform to support portfolio accounting, trading, reporting, and operational workflows and is replacing its previous vendor solution, officials say…. Read More >>
CACEIS Launches Nordic Branch in Stockholm
CACEIS, the asset servicing banking group of Crédit Agricole, has opened a full-service branch in Stockholm, Sweden, as part of the group’s foray into the Nordic region, officials say. The office, which has been operational since July 1, has received all necessary authorizations via the Swedish financial regulator, officials say. Henrik Reinfeldt, country managing director… Read More >>
Should the SEC Run the CAT System?
A major industry player — the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) — is pushing for the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) to be under the control of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In an odd twist, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a self-regulatory organization (SRO) for broker-dealers, is in general agreement with… Read More >>
Pico & LDA Technologies Collaborate to Bolster A.I. Workflows
Pico, an IT services, software, data, and analytics provider, and LDA Technologies, an ultra-low latency networking vendor, are collaborating to capture, analyze, and verify network data to support latency analysis, market data reconstruction, operational investigations, and A.I. workflows, officials say. Financial services firms are integrating network data into real-time analytics and A.I. pipelines, which means… Read More >>
Progress Report on ASX’s CHESS Moves
Officials at the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) recently acknowledged that they have settled with their regulator, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC), and ended the legal proceedings that were part of a major rebuke by ASIC in response to ASX statements made in 2022 about the status of a major back-office operations replacement project… Read More >>
NSCC Extends Clearing Hours to 24×5 Availability
The National Securities Clearing Corp. (NSCC) is extending its clearing hours to 24×5 availability, according to officials at the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. (DTCC), the post-trade market infrastructure provider for the financial services industry. The new hours via the NSCC, which is a DTCC subsidiary, will be from Sundays at 8:00 PM ET to… Read More >>
