Kumbaya at last? UBS AG and “several” of its United States-based affiliates have agreed to pay the United States Department of Justice $1.435 billion to settle their RMBS dispute, which dates to 2006-2007. In other words, just before the first rumblings of the Great Recession. Which was when we all learned that RMBS stands for… Read More >>
Goldman Sachs Reportedly Hiring for Ops & Other News
Fed Concerns May Be Spurring Hiring Spree Goldman Sachs Group has reportedly been on a hiring spree for back-office operations and its compliance department positions as a result of supervisory issues raised by Federal Reserve officials, according to multiple media reports, including those from Bloomberg and Reuters. The Bloomberg report noted that the firm intends… Read More >>
Bittrex Resolves SEC’s Charges for $24M
Crypto asset trading platform Bittrex Inc. and its co-founder and former CEO, William Shihara, have settled with the SEC and will pay $24 million in disgorgement, interest, and penalties over allegations that the platform was functioning as an unregistered national exchange, broker, and clearing agency although the defendants neither admit nor deny the SEC’s allegations…. Read More >>
SS&C Bolsters Tier 1 CRM Platform & Other News
SS&C’s Tier 1 Gains Users & Features The Tier 1 capital markets and investment banking customer relationship management (CRM) platform from SS&C Technologies has been enhanced, has more than 1,000 new end-users, and has the support of more staff members, officials say. The new features “include improved data insights and in-app information delivery,” officials… Read More >>
Time to Ban Stock Trading by Federal Officials?
U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (Democrat of New York) and U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (Republican of Missouri) have introduced a bill that would “create stringent stock trading bans and disclosure requirements for Congress, senior executive branch officials, and their spouses and dependents.” The Ban Stock Trading for Government Officials Act prohibits “stock trading, stock ownership, and blind… Read More >>
Merrill Lynch Pays $12M to Resolve SAR Charges
Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. and its parent company BAC North America Holding Co. (BACNAH) have settled with the SEC and FINRA over charges that the broker-dealer failed to file approximately 1,500 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) from 2009 to late 2019, resulting in penalties and fines totaling $12 million. The SAR shortcomings came… Read More >>
Evidology Systems Applies A.I. to Compliance & Other News
QED Platform Uses A.I. for Deeper Analysis Regulatory technology provider Evidology Systems reports that the company is using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to implement extensions of its core QED (Quality and Evidence Driven) platform to enable scenario analysis of its underlying model “inside third-party applications and workflows.” The QED platform is a “unique combination of… Read More >>
FINRA Expels Firm on Multiple ‘Reg BI’ Charges
Broker-dealer Monmouth Capital Management has been expelled by the self-regulatory organization FINRA, which cites a long list of alleged violations led by excessive trading of client accounts that was not rectified despite many red flags pointing to problems. “Monmouth has been a FINRA member since July 2018. The firm has one branch office located in… Read More >>
Group Proposes Standards for the ‘E’ in ESG
While a major backlash is underway against investment strategies based upon environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) released in late June a proposal for global sustainability disclosure standards that could bring some clarity to investing based on environmental concerns — the “E” of ESG. If adopted, the standards will… Read More >>
CFTC Taps BNY Mellon & Franklin Templeton & Other News
Officials from Key Firms Join Digital Assets Subcommittee The CFTC recently announced that its Digital Asset Markets Subcommittee will have co-chairs from BNY Mellon and Franklin Templeton. Caroline Butler, global head of digital assets at BNY Mellon, and Sandy Kaul, senior vice president, head of digital and industry advisory services at Franklin Templeton, will serve… Read More >>
