State Street to Exit Midtown Manhattan The Boston-based State Street will be closing its midtown Manhattan offices and embracing a hybrid working model in response to staff members that have been working remotely in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a prepared statement from the custodian banking giant. “Like most other companies, we… Read More >>
Robo Adviser Settles Conflicts of Interest Case
San Francisco-based robo adviser SoFi Wealth, LLC stands accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of “breaches of fiduciary duty” regarding approximately 20,000 exchange-traded-funds (ETF) customers. In the customary formulation, the advisory firm neither admits nor denies the SEC charges. However, it is paying the $300,000 penalty. And it has agreed to be censured and… Read More >>
Canadian Regulator Takes Aim at Crypto-Trading Platform
Canadian financial services regulator, the Toronto-based Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has officially charged a Seychelles-based firm with running an online digital asset trading platform that is noncompliant with the securities-trading laws of the Canadian province. The allegations could result in millions of dollars in penalties and disgorgements. The OSC is formally charging Aux Cayes Fintech… Read More >>
Lacewell Leaves Behind a Legacy of Activism
Linda A. Lacewell recently announced that she will be stepping down on August 24 from her position as superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYSDFS) after two-and-a-half years at the helm. Her departure coincides with the resignation of Gov. Andrew Cuomo who is leaving because of a scandal involving sexual harassment… Read More >>
Regulatory Burdens Don’t End in the Cloud: FINRA
Many securities-trading firms have shifted their IT infrastructures to the cloud, but that does not change their regulatory responsibilities and may lead to new ones, according to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a self-regulatory organization (SRO) for broker-dealers. In a new research report, FINRA officials acknowledge that while cloud computing models promise “the potential… Read More >>
SEC Penalizes Poloniex via Digital Assets Case
Boston-based crypto-asset exchange Poloniex is paying more than $10 million in disgorgement and a civil penalty to the SEC to settle allegations that it once was operating as “an unregistered online digital asset exchange” in the U.S., according to the regulator. “Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, Poloniex agreed to the entry of a… Read More >>
UBS Joins Broadridge’s Platform for Repo Transactions
Broadridge Financial Solutions has gotten the endorsement of Swiss banking giant UBS for a distributed ledger repo (DLR) platform that promises participants greater liquidity, less risk, and reduced operation costs, officials say. Vendor officials say that the DLR system provides a single platform for market participants to agree, execute and settle repo transactions. “Under a… Read More >>
Here’s How to Prevent a Ransomware Attack
Ransomware is on the rise across all sectors, including financial services, and in late June the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYSDFS) provided some statistics that are disturbing. “From January 2020 through May 2021, DFS-regulated companies have reported 74 ransomware attacks. These attacks ranged in impact, from crippling days-long shutdowns to minor disruption… Read More >>
Hong Kong’s SFC Charges UBS with Compliance Failures
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has reprimanded and fined two UBS Group subsidiaries, UBS AG, and UBS Securities Asia Ltd., HK$9.8 million and HK$1.75 million, respectively, for alleged “regulatory breaches.” The total fine of HK$11.55 million is approximately $1.5 million in U.S. currency. The SFC is a financial regulator that oversees brokers, investment advisers… Read More >>
Crypto Regs Are on SEC Chair’s Radar
SEC Chair Gary Gensler says that the regulator must consider ways to protect investors vulnerable to the “Wild West” of cryptocurrencies, the trading and custody for crypto-based instruments, and the tokenization bandwagon. In remarks at the Aspen Security Forum on Aug. 3, Gensler noted that “the crypto asset class has ballooned. As of Monday [Aug…. Read More >>
