CFTC Says Firms Need to Embrace SOFR Soon The CFTC wants participants in derivatives markets and the swap execution facilities (SEFs) to remember that they could face “financial, conduct, litigation, operational, and reputational risks” if they fail to adequately prepare for “a smooth and timely” London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (Libor) transition to the Secured Overnight… Read More >>
Cowen to Use RBC C&C for Correspondent Clearing
RBC Clearing and Custody (RBC C&C) and Cowen’s Correspondent Clearing group have signed an agreement to move a subset of Cowen’s clients to the RBC clearing platform, officials say. The Cowen agreement fits in with RBC C&C’s strategy to expand the reach of its clearing platform to broker-dealers with institutional clients, and registered investment advisors… Read More >>
Compliance Costs for Fighting Financial Crime Soar: Report
The “projected total cost of financial crime compliance across all financial institutions reached $213.9 billion in 2021, surpassing the $180.9 billion recorded in 2020.” That projection is from the “True Cost of Financial Crime Compliance Global Report,” a white paper from LexisNexis Risk Solutions. Not surprisingly, the white paper also concludes that the “majority of… Read More >>
Top Banks Test Drive Intraday FX Swaps Platform
Tests Involve DLT & Non-DLT Technology NatWest Group, Deutsche Bank, Bank of Ireland, and Banca Mediolanum have been working with treasury teams at other large banks to test a platform for intraday foreign exchange (FX) swaps trading that involves distributed ledger technology (DLT) and non-DLT systems, officials at Finteum say. “The banks’ initiative to create… Read More >>
Firm Fined for Alleged Regulation SHO Violations
FINRA, the financial industry’s self-regulatory authority, has charged Wolverine Execution Services with “inaccurately marking sell orders as long rather than short in 18,756 instances.” The firm, based in Chicago, also failed to “document compliance with the locate requirement in 556,388 instances during February 2018,” according to FINRA. Wolverine Execution Services, a subsidiary of Wolverine Trading,… Read More >>
Abel Noser to Acquire Competitor Trade Informatics
Abel Noser Bolsters Wares via Acquisition Brokerage Abel Noser Holdings is hoping to offer a comprehensive suite of trade analysis, compliance products, and agency-only brokerage technology services by acquiring competitor Trade Informatics LLC, officials say. Like Abel Noser, Trade Informatics provides equities trade cost analysis (TCA), officials say. Trade Informatics also offers the START systematic… Read More >>
Rep’s Strategies Spur FINRA Charges & Fine for Firm
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has hit a brokerage in Cincinnati, Ohio with a censure, a fine of $275,000, and the obligation to make more than $1 million in customer restitution. The broker is the O.N. Equity Sales Company, Inc. (ONESCO), which “offers various investment products, including deferred variable annuities, to the public through its 760… Read More >>
AllianceBernstein Jolts Corporate Bond Trading via A.I.
Asset manager AllianceBernstein applied artificial intelligence (A.I.) to a corporate bond block trade transaction and found that the effort yielded far greater access to liquidity than conducting the transaction over the phone. The firm used a patented protocol, dubbed RFX, that uses A.I. technology and is part of corporate bond trading platform from LTX, a… Read More >>
Electra Expands Global Operations & Adds Staff
Electra Information Systems, a provider of reconciliation and other post-trade services, is adding data centers and staff to improve its global infrastructure for operations processing that supports a growing number of clients across the United Kingdom (U.K.), Europe, and the Asia-Pacific regions, officials tell FTF News. In particular, Electra has added data centers in Sydney,… Read More >>
Northern Trust Launches Holistic Consulting for Op Risk
When the pandemic compelled Ops staffs to work remotely, it’s likely that many firms got new perspectives on the operational risks plaguing their front, middle, and back offices. Custodian and service provider Northern Trust is hoping that its new take on the matter — its bespoke Operational Risk Consulting service — will help firms bolster… Read More >>
