UBS Financial Services has agreed to pay a total of $25 million to the SEC to resolve charges that it allegedly failed to give its financial advisors adequate training or supervisory oversight in support of a complex options trading effort, the Yield Enhancement Strategy (YES), that caused surprise losses for investors. SEC officials say that… Read More >>
Germany’s LPA Plans U.S. Expansion & Other News
Germany’s LPA Plans U.S. Expansion LPA, the capital markets technology and advisory firm headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, with offices in a dozen cities around the world, reports a United States expansion plan. The plan calls for a new office in New York City and the appointment of Serge Malka as the firm’s U.S…. Read More >>
Should Buy-Side IT Teams Embrace Open Source?
(FTF News recently reached out to Madeleine Dassule, partner and co-head, technology, at Wellington Management. Dassule has joined the Fintech Open Source Foundation (FINOS) board of directors, a move that coincided with Wellington joining the nonprofit organization. FINOS is a proponent of open source technology, open standards, and collaborative efforts among software development groups in… Read More >>
FTF Reveals the Winners of the 2022 FTF Awards
Financial Technologies Forum (FTF) is pleased to announce the winners of the 2022 FTF News Technology Innovation Awards competition and to confirm that there will be an in-person gala event later this year to celebrate the industry’s achievements in operational excellence. “I think it’s safe to say that it’s been a long two years. During… Read More >>
U.K. Authorities Push for Post-Trade Ops Overhauls
An influential U.K.-based task force focused on post-trade operations has issued a report calling for major changes in three “core areas:” non-economic trade data, client onboarding, and uncleared margin management. In addition, a key U.K. authority, the Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities Markets Standards Board (FMSB), has promised to act on the recommendations. The FMSB… Read More >>
WFE Paper Spotlights Human Rights Aspects of ESG
The World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), an industry group for securities exchanges and central counterparty clearing houses (CCPs), has published a briefing paper that focuses on human rights protections and spotlights the need for definitions of “responsible business” and human rights protections — key social aspects of ESG investing. The paper points out that “while… Read More >>
CNR & SEC Settle Client Fraud Charges for $30M
Boutique registered investment adviser City National Rochdale (CNR) will pay more than $30 million to settle charges that its “undisclosed conflicts of interest defrauded current and prospective clients,” the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reports. The $30 million-plus from CNR will be placed into an SEC fund for distribution to “harmed investors.” SEC officials… Read More >>
Coinbase Hires Goldman Sachs Ops Vet & Other News
Roger Bartlett Joins Coinbase Cryptocurrency exchange platform operator Coinbase Global, Inc. has hired a Goldman Sachs securities operations veteran Roger Bartlett to be its next vice president, global head of financial operations, according to media reports and Bartlett’s LinkedIn page. Coinbase has also made clear that it wants to expand its employee roster by 2,000… Read More >>
SWIFT Expels Key Russian Banks as Hackers Target Wall Street
Russian President Vladimir V. Putin’s bloody invasion of Ukraine has caused the expulsion of key Russian banks from SWIFT, spurred multiple economic sanctions, and increased the chances that Russian hackers will retaliate via attacks upon financial services organizations. In response to Russia’s aggression, President Biden, European leaders, and Japan have imposed a series of global economic sanctions that… Read More >>
FinCEN Proposes SAR Sharing to Foreign Affiliates
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that urges the establishment of a limited-duration pilot program for sharing suspicious activity reports (SARs), in accordance with Section 6212 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020. The FinCEN notice also solicits public comment about the program. Under the pilot program, a… Read More >>
