George Orwell was mostly right in 1984 when he warned us against a Big Brother government that runs every aspect of our lives. What Orwell didn’t foresee was the emergence of other Big Brothers such as Wall Street behemoths facing off an overreaching government. He also couldn’t foresee the mess we’re in because of this… Read More >>
It’s a Long Road to Nirvana
The buy side is a long way from an operational efficiency Nirvana when it comes to over-the-counter derivatives and operational data management. A recent survey finds that 82% of 135 North American executives polled are relying on error-prone workarounds for cleared and executed OTC trading. Another survey says firms are still battling data silos and… Read More >>
Ops Risk and Compliance in an Age of Scandal
Operational risk and compliance staffs are surely on alert after federal prosecutors charged SAC Capital Advisors with criminal acts of fraud. This growing scandal closely follows the CFTC’s monetary penalties and one-year trading ban for high frequency trading firm Panther Energy Trading, which allegedly used algorithms to place buy orders and then swiftly cancel them to… Read More >>
Blazing a New Trail for Cross-Border Derivatives
The rally on Wall Street today spurred by the Fed indicating that its looser money policies will remain for the long term overshadows the good news that European Union regulators and the CFTC have come to major agreements over U.S. derivatives rules. This development will provide much-needed clarity for derivatives markets participants striving to keep… Read More >>
The 2013 Sifma Wrap
Cloud computing has quietly permeated a wide range of financial technology offerings as evidenced by the SEC’s cloud-based, industry-wide market data analysis system, and third-party product news at the Sifma Tech 2013 technology conference, which took place this week in New York. Vendors say the greater acceptance of the cloud among buy-side firms, which were… Read More >>
Top FCMs Help Buy Side with Central Clearing Deadline
Commodity pools, private funds, banks and securities firms began the second phase of required clearing yesterday for Category 2 credit default and interest rate swaps and top U.S. clearing brokers serving as futures commission merchants are taking steps to help buy-side firms meet their requirements mandated by the CFTC.The CFTC has waived the clearing requirement… Read More >>
Getting Ready for Newly Minted SEFs
The CFTC has today published the final rules for swap execution facilities (SEFs) with the Federal Register, giving swaps dealers and other firms two months to register with the CFTC for approval of their venues for cleared and executed over-the-counter transactions.Most of the new rules will become effective August 5, 2013 and the official compliance… Read More >>
Sifma Takes on New SEF Rules
The CFTC’s new rules for swap execution facilities have spurred controversy and Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr., acting president and CEO of securities industry advocacy group Sifma, has recently voiced his opposition to key provisions of the final rules.In mid-May, the CFTC gave the initial green light to the rules governing the exchange-like SEFs. With the… Read More >>
Bloomberg Takes CFTC to Court
Bloomberg is challenging the CFTC in court over a new rule for margining that the media giant says favors futures over swaps. The legal move is seen as an effort to thwart a potential market shift away from swaps transacted via forthcoming swap execution facilities (SEFs) and toward established futures exchanges.Bloomberg, which is laying the… Read More >>
UBS Fills Top Posts as Former HedgeCo Networks Exec Joins I.A. Englander
UBS Fills Two Top Posts William Vereker will leave Nomura and join the investment bank division of UBS on June 1 as head of corporate client solutions, EMEA. Also starting in June, Oliver Bussmann will be moving to UBS from enterprise software provider SAP to become group chief information officer (CIO), say officials.The hiring of… Read More >>
