The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) granted “exemptive relief “to the self-regulatory organizations (SROs) that are essentially underwriting the operating costs of the consolidated audit trail (CAT). The ambitious big data CAT system got its start in 2012 in the wake of the Flash Crash of 2010. That event spurred demand for a U.S. securities… Read More >>
SEC & CFTC Scale Back to Skeleton Staffs
With the shutdown of the U.S. federal government, the financial markets regulators — the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) — have issued guidelines to help staff members and market participants maintain some regulatory requirements. During the shutdown, the SEC “will have only an extremely limited number of staff… Read More >>
Can Blockchain Analytics Mitigate Risk & Underpin Compliance?
The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) is showing new concern about “firms dipping their toes into crypto activities” and, through a new guidance, is urging banks (and other types of firms) to embrace blockchain analytics tools as a way to mitigate risk and achieve regulatory compliance. A guidance “is not intended to… Read More >>
SEC & CFTC Create Closer Ties for Regulatory Harmonization
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) “are ready to usher in a new era of innovation by recalibrating our posture toward regulatory cooperation,” according to a recent joint statement. They intend to hold joint events and combine forces on key issues. “By harmonizing our regulatory frameworks, leveraging exemptive… Read More >>
‘Suboptimal Ops’ Will Fail via T+1 in U.K. & E.U.
(John Bevil, a senior product manager at data automation platform provider Xceptor, recently took questions from FTF News about a key European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) report on the E.U.’s transition to T+1 settlement and some of the lessons learned from the U.S. adoption. Bevil says that he has watched the financial services industry’s… Read More >>
Regulators Want the U.S. to Rule Crypto Markets
The highly touted “Crypto Week” of July 14-18 — when Congress mulled over major legislation to kick-start the digital asset era for U.S. markets — was just the start of the Trump team’s push to have the United States dominate global crypto markets. Toward the end of last month, “The President’s Working Group on Digital… Read More >>
SEC Chair Declares New Era of Reasonable Deadlines
“The days of unreasonable deadlines have passed,” declared SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins late last month. The head of the SEC was referring to the commission’s vote to extend the compliance date to June 30, 2026, for the amendments to the broker-dealer “Customer Protection Rule (a.k.a. Rule 15c3-3).” “This extension will provide more time for… Read More >>
SEC & CFTC Extend Form PF Amendments Deadline Again
Ops and compliance teams are likely breathing a sigh of relief after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) extended the compliance date for the amendments to Form PF from June 12 to October 1, 2025, in an eleventh-hour move. However, the deadline extension could give SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins… Read More >>
24X National Exchange Will Pioneer Longer Trading Hours
The securities industry will take a major step toward nearly round-the-clock trading in September when the company 24 Exchange launches the first stage of the 24X National Exchange on September 29, offering trading of U.S. equities from 4:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET on weekdays. The new 24X National Exchange will initially serve “the growing demand for overnight… Read More >>
Key Groups Challenge SEC’s Cyberattack Disclosure Processes
Key securities industry trade associations are challenging the disclosure procedures of a cybersecurity rule adopted in 2023 by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), asking the regulator to return to a principles-based disclosure regime. SIFMA, the American Bankers Association (ABA), the Bank Policy Institute (BPI), the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), and the… Read More >>
