The London-based Schroders deployed the data automation offerings of Xceptor to move much of its key business onto the BlackRock Aladdin investment operations platform and wound up using Xceptor again for processes not involving Aladdin. “Schroders’ strategic aim was to get as much of their business onto Blackrock Aladdin and their core supporting platform,” Josh… Read More >>
T+1 Will Initially Mean More Settlement Fails: Q&A
(FTF News recently got time with Robert Walley, principal, financial services at consultancy Deloitte, to discuss the securities industry’s move to a shorter settlement cycle of trading day plus another day, a.k.a. T+1, which is underway in North America. Walley leads Deloitte’s capital markets and global financial markets industry sectors. He helps clients with transformations… Read More >>
UBS Embraces a DLT-Based Sponsored Repo Platform
Swiss investment banking giant UBS reports that it is live on a sponsored repo solution based upon distributed ledger technology (DLT), a.k.a. blockchain technology, that was developed by provider Broadridge Financial Solutions. UBS is no stranger to Broadridge’s application of DLT to repo trades as the bank completed “its first cross-border intraday repo transaction on… Read More >>
T+1 Leaves Little Time for Settlement Fixes: Q&A
(The North American push for securities settlement within the trading day plus another day, a.k.a. T+1, is not going leave much time for fixing failed settlement efforts, says Jonathan Ehrenfeld, who is head of securities strategy for the Swift financial message cooperative. Ehrenfeld is responsible for Swift’s securities, foreign exchange, and digital assets strategies and… Read More >>
Baton Debuts Cash Settlement via DLT & Other News
Solution Uses DLT Workflows from Baton Systems Baton Systems has launched a real-time solution for cash settlement based upon distributed ledger technology (DLT), dubbed Core-Payments, which tracks and reconciles inbound cash settlements and helps firms “orchestrate the release of outbound cash payments,” officials say. The new solution, which Baton Systems says is being deployed by… Read More >>
T+1 Could Expose Ops Woes for Many Firms
The pain, suffering, and costs of doing business in the global securities industry are likely to increase as a result of the push for shorter settlement cycles, which is underway in the U.S. and Canada as firms there transition to trading day plus one, a.k.a. T+1. That was one of the unvarnished takeaways from a… Read More >>
SIFMA Criticizes SEC’s Rulemaking Under Gensler
SEC Chair Gary Gensler has recently come under fire for the 63 new rules that have been proposed during his time at the helm. One of the most prominent voices in the U.S. securities industry Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr., president and CEO of SIFMA, is taking on Gensler and is offering data to back up… Read More >>
SmartStream Picks a New CEO & Other News
Akber Jaffer Replaces Haytham Kaddoura as CEO SmartStream, the post-trade operations solutions provider, has appointed Akber Jaffer as its new chief executive officer (CEO), effective September 19. Jaffer replaces Haytham Kaddoura, who has stepped down from the CEO post. Kaddoura will join SmartStream’s board. Jaffer has “spent several years immersed in both start-up and scaled… Read More >>
JPMorgan & TCS Expand Alliance & Other SIBOS News
While SWIFT’s SIBOS conference and exhibit is known for serving many financial services sectors at once, the securities community at the weeklong event in Toronto last week had a lot to explore, including the news from JPMorgan, which added corporate actions processing support from TCS, EquiLend embracing DLT, and Duco exploring new technologies. JPMorgan Securities… Read More >>
DTCC & Others Want Ops Standards for Digital Assets
Clearing agencies DTCC, Clearstream, and Euroclear on September 18 called upon the financial services sector to develop industry standards for digital assets, including blockchain/distributed ledger technology (DLT) for trading digital securities and tokenized securities. Without industry standards, the growth of digital assets in the financial sector will slow and even stall, argue the agencies, which… Read More >>