(Prerak Sanghvi and his New York City-based employer Clear Street, which describes itself as “an independent, non-bank prime broker” are on a mission. They want to help the capital markets industry move beyond mainframe-based, legacy infrastructures and onto Clear Street’s cloud-native clearing and custody system. Getting there will require application programming interfaces (APIs), which are links… Read More >>
Merrill Lynch Pays $12M to Resolve SAR Charges
Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. and its parent company BAC North America Holding Co. (BACNAH) have settled with the SEC and FINRA over charges that the broker-dealer failed to file approximately 1,500 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) from 2009 to late 2019, resulting in penalties and fines totaling $12 million. The SAR shortcomings came… Read More >>
Paxos Takes On Settlement for the Commodities Market
The people behind the regulated blockchain and tokenization infrastructure platform Paxos want to make a point about the need for a more efficient settlement infrastructure for the commodities market. To help make their point, the Paxos system offers “multilateral payment netting and simultaneous settlement for the unallocated, over-the-counter (OTC) precious metals market,” officials say. In… Read More >>
Group Proposes Standards for the ‘E’ in ESG
While a major backlash is underway against investment strategies based upon environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) released in late June a proposal for global sustainability disclosure standards that could bring some clarity to investing based on environmental concerns — the “E” of ESG. If adopted, the standards will… Read More >>
CFTC Taps BNY Mellon & Franklin Templeton & Other News
Officials from Key Firms Join Digital Assets Subcommittee The CFTC recently announced that its Digital Asset Markets Subcommittee will have co-chairs from BNY Mellon and Franklin Templeton. Caroline Butler, global head of digital assets at BNY Mellon, and Sandy Kaul, senior vice president, head of digital and industry advisory services at Franklin Templeton, will serve… Read More >>
The Crypto Cowboys Must Play by the Rules
In mid-June, the state of New York stopped CoinEx, a Hong Kong-based firm, from offering its virtual currency trading platform to investors in all U.S. markets. CoinEx’s global platform helps investors buy and sell cryptocurrency via its website and mobile app. But there was a catch for its U.S. clients. The company did not register… Read More >>
Carbon Markets Fraud Is On the CFTC’s Radar
Fraud in the burgeoning carbon credit markets is on the radar of the CFTC’s Whistleblower Office in the Division of Enforcement, which recently issued an alert asking the public to report potential Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) violations in this marketplace. The regulator notes that voluntary carbon markets “can support the transition to a low-carbon economy… Read More >>
Growth Will Cause an Ops Revamp: Survey
Asset managers by a large majority expect there will organic growth in their markets and that they will be deploying new technology to help them deal with that growth, according to a new survey conducted by Coalition Greenwich and sponsored by Northern Trust. But the survey reveals a reluctance among firms to implement large-scale redesigns… Read More >>
PIMCO Settles Disclosure & Procedure Case for $9M
Pacific Investment Management Company LLC (PIMCO) has agreed to a $9 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over two enforcement actions concerning alleged disclosure violations and policies and procedures woes directly related to two funds that the bond giant oversees. “In the first action, the SEC found that, from September 2014 to… Read More >>
Old Ops IT Systems Can’t Support T+1: Q&A
(Editor’s note: Earlier this year, Sam Farrell was appointed as head of North America for Torstone Technology, maker of a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for post-trade securities and derivatives processing. Based in Toronto, he oversees U.S. and Canadian operations. A key focus for Farrell will be the North American push for trading day plus one (T+1)… Read More >>
