(Editor’s note: It looks as if industry veteran Bill Meenaghan, founder and CEO of SSImple, a fintech startup is on a mission to resolve the “age-old” problem of manually-based Standard Settlement Instruction (SSI) systems via distributed ledger technology (DLT). Meenaghan, who has more than 20 years of financial services experience, the relatively new company want… Read More >>
FINRA to Tag Errant Firms as ‘Restricted’
If you’re a broker-dealer firm, you might want to mark June 1, 2023 on your calendar. That’s the enforcement start date for a new FINRA designation: Restricted. Restricted as in there’s a history of misconduct allegations against the firm. And restricted because the firm presents a “high degree of risk to the investing public.” So… Read More >>
SEC Whistleblower Awarded Nearly $279M & Other News
Biggest SEC Whistleblower Award to Date A whistleblower somewhere recently got a check or two for nearly $279 million from the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to the SEC, which adds that it is the “largest-ever award” to date. The whistleblower’s “information and assistance led to the successful enforcement of SEC and related actions,” according… Read More >>
Mizuho Capital Markets Settles CFTC Case for $6.8M
Mizuho Capital Markets (MCM) will pay more than $6.8 million to settle allegations brought by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that the swap dealer mishandled key foreign exchange (FX) forward transactions and put its clients at a disadvantage, officials say. The CFTC order settles charges against the New York-based bank holding company and will… Read More >>
Firms Can Consolidate Ops Silos: Q&A
(In early March, financial information provider SIX announced that its global pricing, market, and reference data can be delivered to investment accounting platform FundGuard’s investment book of record (IBOR), accounting book of record (ABOR), and net asset value (NAV) solutions. The partnership means that FundGuard has access to SIX’s end-of-day market prices, core security master… Read More >>
Barclays Capital Fined $2.5M via LOPR Reporting Case
Barclays Capital Inc., a member of FINRA, the broker-dealer industry’s self-regulatory authority since 2007, has agreed to a censure and a $2.5 million fine for allegedly failing to report, or inaccurately reporting, over-the-counter (OTC) options positions to the Large Options Positions Reporting (LOPR) system. That alleged reporting hiccup happened approximately 4.3 million times from January… Read More >>
Bittrex Exits U.S. Markets as SEC’s Charges Linger
Bittrex and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) appear to be heading to court over the regulator’s allegations that the crypto asset trading platform Bittrex, Inc., and its co-founder and former CEO operated an unregistered national securities exchange, brokerage, and clearing agency. Bittrex, Inc.’s foreign affiliate, Bittrex Global GmbH has also been accused of “failing… Read More >>
Derivatives Firms Take Ransomware More Seriously: Q&A
(Editor’s note: In late January, ION Cleared Derivatives, part of the ION Group, reported “a cybersecurity event,” which was a ransomware attack that set off a crisis for the global processing of cleared derivative instruments. The attack got the attention of the CFTC and the Futures Industry Association (FIA) as company officials worked to resolve… Read More >>
Reporter’s Notebook: Merrill Lynch & the FX Fees Case
When crypto companies allegedly scam their clients, it’s often a disaster for the kids and old folks who are convinced to “invest.” But we expect better, much better, from Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, a pillar of the financial services world. That’s one reason it’s troubling to learn that the U. S. Securities and… Read More >>
SWIFT Optimistic After Applying Blockchain to Corporate Actions
Six major financial services firms and the SWIFT financial messaging cooperative report that late last month they pilot-tested a blockchain-based solution that streamlines the communication of “significant corporate events to investors” by getting rid of multiple data problems. In an announcement and a report, SWIFT provided details about this latest collaborative experiment with six securities… Read More >>
