The SEC voted late last month to move ahead with the final phase of the consolidated audit trail (CAT) project, part of a proposed national market system (NMS) plan to “create a single, comprehensive database that would enable regulators to efficiently track all trading activity in the U.S. equity and options market,” officials say. The… Read More >>
SEC Closes Loophole for Security-Based Swaps
The SEC is moving to close a loophole in cross-border, security-based swaps trading that allows firms to sidestep U.S. regulation and facilitates regulatory arbitrage between markets in the U.S and the European Union. In a vote last week, the SEC adopted rules that “require a non-U.S. company that uses personnel located in a U.S. branch… Read More >>
SEC Puts Industry on Notice for 2016 Exams
Liquidity controls, public pension advisers, product promotion, exchange-traded funds and variable annuities are on the SEC’s radar as far as issues that have risen to the top for the regulator’s examination priorities in 2016. Through the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE), the SEC is setting priorities for the new year, and in addition… Read More >>
T+2 Systems Will Get Built in 2016: DTCC
(Editor’s note: The push for a shortened settlement cycle got major boosts last year when SEC Chair Mary Jo White gave a provisional nod to the two-day settlement cycle (T+2), and when the U.S. T+2 Industry Steering Committee (T+2 ISC) submitted its Implementation Playbook to the SEC and released it publicly. The T+2 ISC is… Read More >>
ISC Creates a Map for T+2 Move
The nitty gritty of shorter settlement cycles is getting clearer as the U.S. T+2 International Steering Committee (T+2 ISC) has submitted its Implementation Playbook to the SEC on December 18 and released to the industry on Dec. 21 to provide the industry with a timeline to help them move to a two-day settlement cycle (T+2)… Read More >>
SEC Targets Mutual Funds, ETFs via Curbs on Derivatives
As expected, the SEC has voted to propose new derivatives rules that would limit leverage and other risks for mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other registered investment companies in the derivatives markets. After a 90-day comment period, the commission is likely to move forward on the new rules. New rules are needed, the commission… Read More >>
Q&A: Firms Still in Limbo over T+2 Changes
(Editor’s Note: Matt Rodgers, senior manager at business consultancy Sapient Global Markets, thinks that it’s a little premature to know what IT infrastructure and solution changes will be required for the transition to trading day plus two settlement (T+2). The efforts of the DTCC, the Securities and Financial Market Association (SIFMA) and major industry players… Read More >>
SEC Pushes to Shed Light on Dark Pool Operations
The SEC has voted to propose new operational-transparency and regulatory-oversight rules for alternative trading systems that trade stocks listed on a national securities exchange (NMS stocks), including “dark pools.” So-called dark pools of liquidity, on private exchanges not available to the general public, have not — at least until now — been transparent, by definition…. Read More >>
SEC Enforcement Actions Jump 7 Percent in 2015
The SEC’s Enforcement Division reports that it had a seven percent increase in cases for fiscal year 2015 over the previous year and is breaking ground in several facets of the securities industry because of data and quantitative analytics and the help of the regulator’s other divisions. “The Enforcement Division’s leveraging of data, quantitative analytics… Read More >>
SEC to Respond to Op Risk Woes for Private Fund Advisors
Citing the SunGard Investone pricing crisis, SEC Chair Mary Jo White is clearly interested in the operational risk issues facing private fund advisors and stress tests and more will be forthcoming from the regulator, according to a speech she gave before the Managed Funds Association’s Outlook 2015 Conference in New York on Oct. 16. The… Read More >>
