The National Association of Private Fund Managers (NAPFM), the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), and the Managed Funds Association (MFA) have delivered a not-so-welcome holiday gift to the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) — a lawsuit. The trio of trade associations, represented by Jeff Wall and Judd Littleton of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, are calling on… Read More >>
Prometheum Dives Into Digital Asset Securities Custody
(Prometheum Inc. will launch a digital asset securities custody platform during the first quarter of next year, according to officials at the firm. This follows recent approval by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the self-regulatory organization (SRO) for U.S. broker-dealers, to allow the firm to operate a special purpose broker-dealer (SPBD) that will offer custody for… Read More >>
FinTech Brief: JPMorgan & Baton Take on Tri-Party Collateral
Baton Systems is working with the Collateral Services team at JPMorgan to help the investment bank’s tri-party clients automate and optimize their collateral management to meet the margin call demands of 13 central counterparty clearinghouses (CCPs) across the globe, officials say. For this collaboration, the Core-Collateral solution from Baton will be integrated into the CCP… Read More >>
T+1 Testing: Concerns Emerge Amid Progress
In the sprint toward the T+1 transition to shorter settlement in May 2024, the official line from the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. (DTCC) is that testing is proceeding smoothly. Behind the scenes, there are concerns regarding end-to-end testing, buy-side participation, and a dearth of operational testing. Val Wotton, managing director and general manager of… Read More >>
FinTech Brief: CME to Unify NDF Liquidity Pools
CME Group will combine its two non-deliverable forward (NDF) liquidity pools on the Electronic Broking Services (EBS) Market platform onto a single trading venue by October 2024, depending upon regulatory approval, officials say. The combination will bring together market participants “across regulatory jurisdictions” in a unified global trading environment to improve market efficiency, according to… Read More >>
FinTech Brief: ISO & SOC Certify Oxane’s Offerings
Oxane Partners, a solutions provider to private markets, has achieved global information security accreditations by completing Systems and Organizations Control (SOC) audits and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 27001 certifications, officials say. “The completion of SOC audits (SOC 1, SOC 2, and SOC 3) emphasize Oxane’s strong controls over financial reporting, and handling of… Read More >>
FinTech Brief: CAIS Expands Collaboration with Pershing
CAIS, an alternative investment platform for independent financial advisors, has expanded its relationship with the Pershing clearing, custody, and wealth management services division of BNY Mellon. The expansion was announced late last month “after the launch of CAIS Solutions, a new SaaS [Software as a Service] platform,” which applies CAIS technology to centralize and streamline… Read More >>
FinTech Brief: Northern Trust to Support Costco’s DC Plan
Costco Wholesale Corp. has selected custodian bank Northern Trust to provide custody, daily valuation, and brokerage services for Costco’s defined contribution (DC) retirement plan, with $29 billion in assets, officials say. Costco, based in Seattle, is known as the world’s third-largest retailer and operates 861 warehouses, including 591 in the United States and Puerto Rico…. Read More >>
FCMs Want Automation Over Headcount for Recs
Futures commission merchants (FCMs) offering sell-side clearing have been making “significant progress in automating” post-trade reconciliation since 2021 and want to apply technology rather than staff members to recs problems, according to the fourth quarter edition of the “Acuiti Sell-Side Clearing Management Insight Report.” However, firms have “some way to go to fully optimize the… Read More >>
Buy Side Faces Big Risks via T+1 for FX
The push for shorter settlement cycles — trading day plus one, or T+1 — could pose major settlement and operational risks for buy-side participants in foreign exchange (FX) markets, according to guidance from the Foreign Exchange Professionals Association (FXPA), based in Washington, D.C. “The introduction of T+1 is not intended to increase FX settlement risk…. Read More >>
