The unraveling of the GBST-FNZ merger has been put on hold as FNZ is getting a second hearing before the U.K. regulator that ordered FNZ to divest itself of the back-office technology provider, which it purchased in 2019. Toward the end of last year, FNZ challenged the order of the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) by… Read More >>
‘HUB’ Launched to Overhaul Asset Management Ops
Pimco, State Street, Man Group & Others Back HUB A new technology and services provider, dubbed HUB, is being launched by investment manager Pimco, U.K. firm Man Group, custodian State Street, vendors IHS Markit and Microsoft, and consultancy McKinsey & Co. in an effort to offer a cloud-based platform “built by asset managers for… Read More >>
CAT Reporting Teaches Sell Side New Lessons
Despite the pandemic, sell-side firms in 2020 met a very challenging first-round of compliance with the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) trade data surveillance regulatory initiative, learning firsthand that gathering, cleansing, and reporting interfirm transaction data to regulators is much easier said than done. Yet firms are applying lessons learned and more to the CAT deadlines… Read More >>
Electra’s Unified API Service Targets the Buy Side
Electra Information Systems, a maker of reconciliation and other post-trade solutions, is launching a unified application programming interface (API) service for new and existing customers to help them ease into complex API strategies facilitating data access among applications and systems. The Electra unified API is intended as a single connection to help IT staffs at… Read More >>
Northern Trust to Help Launch Crypto Custody Service
Standard Chartered’s VC Unit Partners with Northern Trust Standard Chartered via SC Ventures and custodian Northern Trust are launching an “institutional-grade” custody solution for cryptocurrencies to help financial services firms invest in cryptocurrency-based assets, officials say. The custodian support is in response to the growing demand for cryptocurrency-based assets that will need support for transaction… Read More >>
Key Regulators Issue USD LIBOR Warning
Authorities: Steer Clear of USD LIBOR Key industry regulators are warning financial services firms not to use U.S. dollar (USD) LIBOR as a reference rate after Dec. 31, 2021 to avoid “consumer protection, litigation, and reputation risks.” The Nov. 30 statement, which underscores the need for firms to move away from the London Inter-bank Offered… Read More >>
Layoffs Are Key to ABN Amro’s Digital Transformation
Dutch banking giant ABN Amro will begin a two-year staff trimming process that will reduce its global workforce by 15 percent — a key part of an $840 million streamlining said to be essential to its digital transformation, according to an announcement on Nov. 30. Media outlets and financial markets analysts have estimated that the… Read More >>
FTF’s SecOps Online Takes Off!
The pandemic-induced lockdown has challenged all of us to alter our plans and create new ways of doing business. For FTF, we are evolving and inventing new ways to serve and grow our network of securities professionals that we have developed over the past 14 years. The good news is that we are trying something… Read More >>
Multiple Shocks Are Driving Up Op Risks: OCC
The banking system is under stress on multiple fronts. Stress from the pandemic. Stress from a defeated presidential candidate and his coterie of enablers, denying the results of the recent election, fomenting rancor and unrest and deepening the country’s ideological divide, all the while insisting that “we are rounding the turn,” even as coronavirus cases… Read More >>
CFTC Offers a Rewards System for Cooperation
The CFTC’s Division of Enforcement (DOE) is spelling out what it means when it says that a firm has been cooperative via an enforcement investigation. The goal is to let the public get a better view into how a firm maximized cooperation and minimized painful penalties. The clarity comes from a new guidance that the… Read More >>
