When it comes to cyber-attacks, my guess is that financial services firms are petrified that they will be hit hard by a rather successful invasion sooner than later. The potential of such attacks causes firms to clam up and pretend that have no problems until they are forced to acknowledge that a catastrophe is underway…. Read More >>
Are You Ready to Trade Security Tokens?
The crypto currency phenomenon is almost moving too fast for anyone to sort out and yet remarkable things are happening. For instance, tZERO and BOX Digital Markets have just created a joint venture to lay the groundwork for “the world’s first regulated exchange for trading security tokens,” which are electronic tokens defined as securities under… Read More >>
How AI May Help Speech Transcription for Ops
Among some people in operations, anything related to artificial intelligence (AI) often is met with trepidation because of the potential of AI-based systems eliminating positions in Ops. This fear is somewhat justified even though there is mounting evidence that AI can help financial services firms replace tedious tasks — and not staff members — with… Read More >>
Pushing for Post-Trade Reforms Across Europe
This is the season for pollen, Spring holidays and roadmaps from key industry players. Often the new roadmaps mean that some may no longer be on the journey. However, in this case, the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME), a trade group for Europe’s wholesale financial markets, is pushing for a roadmap that will… Read More >>
CFTC Focuses on Crypto Currency Listings
Earlier this week, the CFTC via its Division of Market Oversight (DMO) and Division of Clearing and Risk (DCR) released an advisory that sets up guidelines for CFTC-registered exchanges and clearinghouses registered that want to list virtual currency derivative products. But, before we dive into the new details, it’s useful to review what the CFTC… Read More >>
FINRA Checks its Reset One Year On
Officials at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) released a “Progress Report on FINRA360” last month and the regulator is making the case that it has started to reinvigorate itself, particularly in the areas of enforcement and qualification exams. As you may recall, FINRA360 is an effort to see if “FINRA is operating as the… Read More >>
LabCFTC Wants Your FinTech Contest Ideas
In case you were wondering, LabCFTC, the CFTC’s FinTech initiative, is asking the public for ideas and subjects for innovation competitions “to advance the agency’s FinTech goals,” and to help the regulator advance its array of IT tools. “We launched the LabCFTC initiative to stimulate and promote market-enhancing FinTech solutions,” says CFTC Chairman J. Christopher… Read More >>
Have You Called Your Regulator Lately?
A recurring message emerged from several of the sessions at our DerivOps conference in Chicago earlier this week. It’s simply this: financial services firms should take advantage of a new, more proactive dynamic between them and regulators. Basically, firms should feel free to tell regulators what they’re doing, especially with so many disruptive phenomena and… Read More >>
Is the Fiduciary Rule Dead?
Whatever happened to what is known as the “Fiduciary Rule,” propagated by the U.S. Department of Labor? To recap: The Labor Department in 2017 was pretty much set to move ahead with the so-called “Fiduciary Rule,” on April 10. But the Trump team halted the rule’s implementation via an executive order, arguing that it needed… Read More >>
New Deutsche Bank CEO to Snap the Line
Deutsche Bank’s supervisory board is replacing CEO John Cryan after less than three years on the job, following persistent losses for the German banking giant, and citing the need for “a new execution dynamic in the leadership of our bank.” The bank is hoping that Christian Sewing will snap the line and bring a new… Read More >>
