Another T+1 readiness survey has highlighted a persistent lack of preparedness among buy-side firms as the summer deadline for the T+1 transition for the U.S., Canada, and Mexico approaches. Despite the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp.’s (DTCC) assurances, recent reports from vendors and banks depict concerning levels of unpreparedness among investment managers. This lack of… Read More >>
Wall Street’s Recordkeeping Culture Must Change: Q&A
(For the past two years, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has cracked down on 25 of the securities industry’s top firms for violating its recordkeeping rules. In fact, during fiscal year 2023 those 25 firms paid a total of $400 million in fines and penalties. The enforcement focus on recordkeeping rules, particularly about the… Read More >>
Buy Side Seeks FX T+1 Settlement Workarounds
Gary Gensler, chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) descended upon a European Commission workshop on T+1 settlement last week to urge regulators to include foreign exchange (FX) in their efforts to reduce settlement times in coordination with central banks, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), and CLS Bank. One trade association in… Read More >>
How to Survive the Recordkeeping Crackdown
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) December 2021 announcement that J.P. Morgan Securities LLC had been fined $125 million for allegedly violating the agency’s recordkeeping rules amounted to a shot heard up and down Wall Street. The market regulator made clear that it took breaches of recordkeeping regulations seriously, and that the J.P. Morgan penalty… Read More >>
Prometheum Dives Into Digital Asset Securities Custody
(Prometheum Inc. will launch a digital asset securities custody platform during the first quarter of next year, according to officials at the firm. This follows recent approval by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the self-regulatory organization (SRO) for U.S. broker-dealers, to allow the firm to operate a special purpose broker-dealer (SPBD) that will offer custody for… Read More >>
SEC Revamps Clearing for Security-Based Swaps
It looks like there will be new rules of the road for conflicts of interest at registered clearing agencies servicing securities-based swaps. The SEC has adopted rules intended to reform boards of directors or equivalent governing bodies for these clearing agencies. However, critics of the recently approved rules — which date back to the Dodd-Frank Act… Read More >>
Regulators Unravel the Mysteries of Beneficial Ownership
First, we turn to Investopedia for a definition of “beneficial ownership.” “A beneficial owner is a person who enjoys the benefits of ownership even though the title to some form of property is in another name,” according to the Investopedia website. “It also means any individual or group of individuals who, either directly or indirectly,… Read More >>
SEC Rule to Spur Sec Lending Reporting Platforms
The SEC is changing securities lending via a new rule and that will cause securities firms to develop their own reporting platform or use a third-party reporting agent, says Kevin McNulty, managing director, head of RegTech Solutions at Equilend, a securities lending platform provider. The rule requires firms to report securities lending data to a… Read More >>
T+1 Will Create a Complex Choreography for Ops
When the North American securities industry starts settling trades the day after they’re executed in May 2024, it will be the culmination of a process dating back at least 30 years. Shortly after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) cut the trade settlement cycle in 1993 to the third business day following trade execution (T+3)… Read More >>
SEC Pushes More Transparency in Securities Lending Ops
Clearly, the SEC is not superstitious as it announced this past Friday the 13th major changes for securities lending via the adoption of new Rule 10c-1a. I think the industry is hoping the changes may help securities firms make the most of whatever good luck comes their way. In its announcement, the SEC focused on… Read More >>
