Teranet’s CM Solutions Will Acquire the Shares of CMS London-based financial software vendor Finastra, formed in 2017 by the combination of Misys and D+H, reports that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Canadian-based Collateral Management Corp. (CMS) business to Teranet. Teranet’s affiliated entity CM Solutions Inc. will acquire the issued and… Read More >>
FINRA to Overhaul Registration & Disclosure Systems
FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, reports that an overhaul of its registration and disclosure programs is beginning. That overhaul specifically includes the central registration depository (CRD), which is the licensing and registration system that FINRA operates for the U.S. securities industry, and which provides the basis for BrokerCheck, the online portal where investors and… Read More >>
Merrill Lynch to Repay Clients $10.5M via RMBS Case
Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. is settling with the SEC over the regulator’s charges that traders and salespeople of the firm misled customers, causing them to overpay for non-agency, residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) from 2009 to 2012. “Without admitting or denying the findings, Merrill Lynch agreed to be censured, pay a penalty of… Read More >>
deVere USA Pays $8M to Settle SEC Case
The SEC reports that deVere USA, Inc., a New York-based registered investment adviser, or RIA, has agreed to pay an $8 million civil penalty related to its alleged failure to disclose conflicts of interest to its retail clients. The settlement will result in the establishment of a so-called fair fund that will distribute the penalty… Read More >>
FINRA, SEC Slam ICBCFS Over Allegedly Inadequate AML
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) reports that it has censured and fined Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Financial Services (ICBCFS) $5.3 million for systemic anti-money laundering compliance failures, including its failure to have a “reasonable” AML program in place to monitor and detect suspicious transactions, as well as other violations, including financial, record-keeping… Read More >>
Firm Allegedly Funded Luxuries Instead of Bridge Project
The owner of two New York-based investment funds has been arrested and charged in Manhattan federal court with conspiring to commit — and the commission of — securities and wire fraud in connection with a $21 million investment fraud scheme. The arrest of Brent Borland, 48, of Sag Harbor, N.Y., was announced in Manhattan by… Read More >>
Justice Department Cracks Down on Premium Point Investments
The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) is bearing down on key players at hedge fund Premium Point Investments — now in bankruptcy — arresting them on charges of a scheme of mismarking hundreds of millions of dollars in structured credit products. The DoJ action sets the stage for a possible criminal trial as three of… Read More >>
Visium Pays $10M to Settle Insider Trading Charges
The SEC reports that Visium Asset Management LP, a now-shuttered hedge fund advisory firm, has agreed to be censured and to pay approximately $10 million to settle charges related to asset mismarking and insider trading. Separately, the SEC says that Steven Ku, age 48 and a resident of Princeton Junction, N.J., Visium’s former chief financial… Read More >>
Have You Called Your Regulator Lately?
A recurring message emerged from several of the sessions at our DerivOps conference in Chicago earlier this week. It’s simply this: financial services firms should take advantage of a new, more proactive dynamic between them and regulators. Basically, firms should feel free to tell regulators what they’re doing, especially with so many disruptive phenomena and… Read More >>
SEC & Justice Department Bear Down on Centra Tech
In the present financial era value moves around the globe via esoteric financial instruments that may exist only on the Internet. Which means that today a robbery might be entirely virtual. Even though the value stolen is entirely real. That proposition underlies the SEC’s recent complaint against the two co-founders of a so-called “financial services… Read More >>
