Australia’s Westpac Banking Corp. has agreed to spend as much as $87 million in remediation for past corporate actions notification problems that may have caused clients to miss out on actionable information, confirm bank officials and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Westpac officials initially reported to ASIC in July 2019 that there may… Read More >>
Broadridge Buys J&J Unit to Bolster RegTech Services
Broadridge Financial Solutions is bolstering its regulatory compliance services for broker-dealers via an acquisition of the cloud-based Execution Compliance and Surveillance Service (ECS) assets of Wall Street consultancy Jordan & Jordan (J&J), officials say. J&J officials describe their ECS offering as a managed service that includes “comprehensive reviews to assess compliance with various aspects of… Read More >>
Credit Suisse & CFTC Settle Swap Data Reporting Case
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has ordered Credit Suisse International, Credit Suisse Securities Europe Limited, and Credit Suisse Capital LLC — three Credit Suisse entities that are provisionally registered swap dealers — to pay $1.5 million for “failing to comply with swap data reporting obligations.” In addition to the financial penalty, the three Credit Suisse… Read More >>
Robinhood Pays $70M to Resolve FINRA Case
Self-regulatory organization (SRO) FINRA has fined online brokerage Robinhood Financial $57 million and required $12.6 million in restitution to investors allegedly harmed by the firm, which says that it has improved its platform stability, and neither admits nor denies the charges of the settlement. “The sanctions represent the largest financial penalty ever ordered by FINRA… Read More >>
Time to Learn More About Open Source?
Financial services firms are using a lot of open source software but there may be a gap in their understanding of how to manage the “opportunities and potential challenges” of the open source movement, according to the Fintech Open Source Foundation, also known as FINOS. FINOS is an independent, nonprofit organization whose mission is to… Read More >>
Compliance Costs for Fighting Financial Crime Soar: Report
The “projected total cost of financial crime compliance across all financial institutions reached $213.9 billion in 2021, surpassing the $180.9 billion recorded in 2020.” That projection is from the “True Cost of Financial Crime Compliance Global Report,” a white paper from LexisNexis Risk Solutions. Not surprisingly, the white paper also concludes that the “majority of… Read More >>
LJM Disputes Fraud Charges from SEC & CFTC
The Securities & Exchange Commission has filed a civil action against two related investment advisories and two portfolio managers. The commission alleges that LJM Funds Management Ltd. and LJM Partners Ltd. “fraudulently misled investors and the board of directors of a fund they advised about LJM’s risk management practices and the level of risk in… Read More >>
Senate Bill Could Help Save CFTC’s Whistleblower Program
The U.S. Senate has taken the first step in a rescue of a whistleblower program for the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) via a bill that got unanimous bipartisan support and may lead to new funding for a program running out of money. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who proposed the bill, says that if it… Read More >>
Firm Fined for Alleged Regulation SHO Violations
FINRA, the financial industry’s self-regulatory authority, has charged Wolverine Execution Services with “inaccurately marking sell orders as long rather than short in 18,756 instances.” The firm, based in Chicago, also failed to “document compliance with the locate requirement in 556,388 instances during February 2018,” according to FINRA. Wolverine Execution Services, a subsidiary of Wolverine Trading,… Read More >>
Should the SEC Become a Crypto Cop?
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may be taking on more oversight of the cryptocurrency trading world as there are many troubling regulatory gaps, says SEC Chair Gary Gensler in testimony May 26 before the subcommittee on financial services and general government, which is part of the U.S. House Appropriations Committee. In testimony that covered… Read More >>
