Ironic, isn’t it, that just when cryptography enthusiasts are touting the capability of the blockchain to memorialize complex sequences of transactions, major units of a big bank find themselves in trouble over their own record-keeping? FINRA, the broker-dealer industry’s self-regulatory authority, charges Wells Fargo Clearing Services and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network — two units… Read More >>
Remote Staffing Boosts Cloud’s Appeal: Q&A
(Cloud computing got a major boost during the pandemic when most staff members at financial services firms were compelled to work remotely, says Olga Orekhvo, chief operating officer (COO) at CompatibL Technologies. In fact, many financial services firms have embraced more than one cloud provider, which presents a new set of challenges. Orekhvo joined CompatibL… Read More >>
BNY Mellon Buys Optimal’s Indexing for ‘Pershing X’
Other BNY Mellon Units to Get Direct Indexing Too The Pershing clearing and custody services business of BNY Mellon is acquiring Optimal Asset Management, a direct indexing solutions provider, and will offer Optimal’s capabilities to advisory clients within Pershing, and to institutional and retail clients within BNY Mellon’s Investment Management business. If the acquisition… Read More >>
FINRA Fines Citi for Alleged U4 Filing Woes
Citigroup Global Markets has been censured by FINRA, the financial-industry’s self-regulatory authority, and will pay a $375,000 fine for alleged failures regarding Form U4 filings for its registered representatives. A form U4 is the Uniform Application for Securities Industry Registration or Transfer. Those forms would have disclosed the Citigroup reps’ “unsatisfied tax liens and judgments,”… Read More >>
Most Global Funds Still Support Pollution: CDP
“Money makes the world go round. The world go round.” So sang Joel Grey and Liza Minnelli. But don’t take it from “Cabaret,” set in the inter-war Weimar Era, or even from Christopher Isherwood’s “The Berlin Stories,” on which the big-screen, Oscar-winning musical was based. Money has always been the siren song of Wall Street,… Read More >>
SEC Updates Filing Fee Disclosure & Payment Methods
SEC Modernizes Fee Payments U.S. financial markets regulator, the SEC is revising “most fee-bearing forms, schedules, and related rules” and requiring companies and funds to “include all required information for filing fee calculation in a structured format,” officials announced. The regulator has “adopted amendments to modernize filing fee disclosure and payment methods” that will… Read More >>
BofA Global Research Launches Coverage of Digital Assets
BofA Research Publishes Crypto Primer Bank of America reports the publication of an instruction and information book entitled “Digital Assets Primer: Only the first inning,” marking the start of the bank’s cryptocurrency research coverage. The bank’s head of global cryptocurrency and digital asset strategy, Alkesh Shah, led the primer’s publication, according to a BofA… Read More >>
Fiserv Plans N.J. Hub for 2,000 New Jobs
Berkeley Heights Is Site of New Fiserv Campus Payments and financial technology vendor Fiserv is expanding its presence in New Jersey via a new location in Berkeley Heights that will bring approximately 2,000 jobs to the area, officials say. “The planned Fiserv campus will serve as a strategic center of excellence for technology and product… Read More >>
SIFMA, ICI, DTCC Seek SEC’s Help with T+1
The major backers of the move to shorten the U.S. securities industry settlement cycle from T+2 to T+1 by 2023 are moving full speed ahead as they reach out via a letter to the SEC about potential regulatory changes. Officials from the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), the Investment Company Institute (ICI), and… Read More >>
$1B in Misused 1MDB Funds Returned to Malaysia
Justice Department Sends Back Misappropriated Funds U.S. Justice Department officials report that they have returned “an additional $452 million in misappropriated 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds to the people of Malaysia, bringing the total returned to over $1.2 billion.” The repatriation of the funds from the former 1MDB investment development fund follows a scandal in… Read More >>
