The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reports that it has charged Equitable Financial Life Insurance Company with fraud, “for providing account statements to about 1.4 million variable annuity investors that included materially misleading statements and omissions concerning investor fees.” Equitable has agreed to compensate harmed investors, most of whom are public school teachers and staff… Read More >>
Why Post-Trade Data Is Key to Digitization
(Firms engaged in securities trading are being pressured to undergo a digital transformation as soon as possible. It’s no surprise then that some firms are contemplating a big bang overhaul. But that would not be in a firm’s best interest, says Justin Llewellyn-Jones, head of capital markets, North America (equities and derivatives), Broadridge Financial Solutions…. Read More >>
Should Risk & Resilience for Ops Be One?
Should the securities operations industry rethink the gap between operational resilience and operational risk? Should those working in operations bring the two disciplines closer together, and by doing so, develop a stronger architecture for securities operations? Those are the questions that Guy Warren, CEO at ITRS Group, is pondering and he wants you to ponder… Read More >>
JPMorgan Pays $850K to Resolve FX Swaps Case
JPMorgan has reached a $850,000 settlement with the CFTC in a case involving charges that three of the investment bank’s units failed to comply with their reporting obligations as swap dealers. The CFTC order also requires JPMorgan and its swap-dealing entities to cease and desist from further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and… Read More >>
RA Capital Picks Xenomorph & Other News Briefs
Xenomorph to Support Key Groups at RA Capital Boston-based investment manager RA Capital has selected data management solutions vendor Xenomorph to provide enterprise data management (EDM) support for the firm’s bio-tech and financial data needs, officials say. “We were diligent in the selection of RA Capital’s data platform. We wanted more than a standard security… Read More >>
BlackRock Asks SEC to Streamline Climate Risk Reporting
With $10 trillion in assets under management (AUM), BlackRock is generally considered one of the world’s top asset managers. So, when it sends a comment letter about a regulatory matter, people tend to pay attention. Earlier this month, BlackRock sent its list of suggestions to the SEC about the regulator’s push for new regulation that… Read More >>
Greenwashing Crackdowns Should Spur ESG Funds Review: Q&A
(For financial services firms, the term “greenwashing” refers to misleading marketing about investments based upon Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and sustainability concerns. The practice has been getting a lot of attention recently as major media have reported upon a raid by German authorities of Deutsche Bank’s DWS offices in an effort to gather evidence… Read More >>
Merrill Lynch to Give Back $15.2M to Customers
FINRA, the self-regulatory organization for broker-dealers, has ordered Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith (MLPF&S) to pay $15.2 million-plus to “thousands of customers who purchased Class C mutual fund shares when Class A shares were available at substantially lower costs.” Looking at it from street level, you might be reminded of the shell game separating… Read More >>
Cowen Digital to Deploy SS&C Eze’s OEMS
Reflecting the range of its offerings, SS&C Technologies has news for cutting-edge, digital asset efforts and for established, institutional securities operations. For the cutting edge, Cowen Digital, the new digital asset division of investment bank Cowen, Inc., reports that it will be deploying an order/execution management system (OEMS) from SS&C Eze in support of clients… Read More >>
Ex-SWIFT CEO Campos Joins PPRO & Other News
PPRO Appoints Campos as Independent Chairman Former SWIFT CEO Lázaro Campos was appointed the first independent board chairman for PPRO on April 25, according to the provider of digital payments infrastructure technology. SWIFT provides global financial messaging software, services, and systems. Campos was appointed to the board “to strengthen … governance in the next phase… Read More >>
