Financial markets endured turbulence last week as Trump’s tariffs policy triggered sell-offs in equity markets. At the same time, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. (DTCC) and its Fixed Income Clearing Corp. (FICC) subsidiary processed an all-time high in volumes of U.S. Treasury transactions. On April 9, FICC reports that it posted more than $11… Read More >>
LDA Technologies Device Targets Data & Record-Keeping Woes
LDA Technologies, a developer of advanced ultra-low latency integrated circuits and network solutions for capital markets, has launched NeoTap X, a high-performance hardware solution that can be applied to trade monitoring, compliance reporting, advanced analytics, and optimizing network performance, officials say. The timestamping and tap aggregation features of NeoTap X are intended to help firms… Read More >>
STP Investment Services Unveils ‘STP LaunchAdvisor’
Investment operations solutions provider STP Investment Services has just unveiled STP LaunchAdvisor, a bundle of services — fund administration, investor services, regulatory filings, and core policies — targeting exempt reporting advisers and private fund managers. “The offering integrates fund administration and compliance into a single, cost-effective solution, eliminating the need for multiple service providers and… Read More >>
The OCC Provides Some Crypto Clarity for Banks
The Trump cryptocurrency push got a major regulatory green light earlier this month when the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) reaffirmed that “a range of cryptocurrency activities are permissible in the federal banking system.” OCC officials published Interpretive Letter 1183 “to confirm that crypto-asset custody, certain stablecoin activities, and participation in independent… Read More >>
The Treasury Clearing Reprieve Could Prevent Pitfalls
The SEC’s decision to move key deadlines for its own rule requiring centralized clearing for U.S. Treasuries and Treasury-backed repurchase contracts that were formerly cleared bilaterally has been met with approval by major industry participants. However, major market players acknowledge that the industry needs a breather to catch up to the regulator’s requirements. In particular,… Read More >>
A New CFTC May Emerge from the Disruption
The Trump White House has put forward Brian Quintenz as the next chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and, if confirmed, he will be working with a commodities and derivative markets regulator that has been experiencing several disruptions since the start of the year. Quintenz, who served as a CFTC commissioner from August… Read More >>
Fenergo Targets Energy & Commodities Firms
Fenergo has launched a trader request platform for the energy and commodities sector that combines artificial intelligence (A.I.), know your customer (KYC), and onboarding features in an effort to streamline compliance and onboarding processes, officials say. The Trader Request Portal “was purpose-built to address one of the industry’s most persistent challenges of improving collaboration and… Read More >>
Financial Information Inc. Unveils North American IPO Service
Financial Information Inc. (FII), a provider of corporate action data and historical reference services, has unveiled its North American Exchange Initial Public Offering (IPO) Service. Aimed at investment firms, financial institutions, and consultancies operating in U.S. markets, the service is intended to streamline IPO processes on North American exchanges by collating comprehensive data and insights… Read More >>
Automation for Recs & Settlement Is Up for Listed Derivatives
Participants in listed derivatives markets are improving the automation of trade settlement and reconciliation largely because of their ongoing investment in reference data, according to a new report from SmartStream Reference Data Services and Acuiti Management Intelligence. The findings of the report “The Future of Reference Data: From Compliance to Alpha,” are based on surveys… Read More >>
Trump’s SEC May Be Less Aggressive On Fines
(The Trump team is moving fast to get its cabinet nominees in order, and Paul Atkins, a former SEC commissioner under President George W. Bush, has been tapped to head the SEC. If Atkins wins the approval of the U.S. Senate, he will succeed Gary Gensler, who steps down on Inauguration Day. FTF News asked… Read More >>
