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 >>
T+1 Will Initially Mean More Settlement Fails: Q&A
(FTF News recently got time with Robert Walley, principal, financial services at consultancy Deloitte, to discuss the securities industry’s move to a shorter settlement cycle of trading day plus another day, a.k.a. T+1, which is underway in North America. Walley leads Deloitte’s capital markets and global financial markets industry sectors. He helps clients with transformations… Read More >>
T+1 Could Expose Ops Woes for Many Firms
The pain, suffering, and costs of doing business in the global securities industry are likely to increase as a result of the push for shorter settlement cycles, which is underway in the U.S. and Canada as firms there transition to trading day plus one, a.k.a. T+1. That was one of the unvarnished takeaways from a… Read More >>
SIFMA Criticizes SEC’s Rulemaking Under Gensler
SEC Chair Gary Gensler has recently come under fire for the 63 new rules that have been proposed during his time at the helm. One of the most prominent voices in the U.S. securities industry Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr., president and CEO of SIFMA, is taking on Gensler and is offering data to back up… Read More >>
