The Futures Industry Association (FIA) wants to end post-trade bottlenecks through a new industry-governed standards body that will foster sweeping changes for processes, data, and technology via new standards intended to transform “pre-, at, and post-trade” operations. The objective is summed up in a new FIA report: “FIA wants to test the hypothesis that trade… Read More >>
Yellen & Others Want Congress to Regulate Stablecoins
A Biden Working Group Says Stablecoins Are Risky Stablecoins lack good oversight, making them risky for users and financial markets, says Janet L. Yellen, secretary of the U.S. Treasury, in a prepared statement. Yellen’s comments follow the release of a report from the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets (PWG), which is recommending that Congress… Read More >>
Wall Street Firms Show Resilience Amid the Pandemic
Securities trading firms in New York City have been doing well for the past 18 months despite the multiple challenges caused by a global pandemic, the ongoing market volatility, and the loss of 3,600 jobs, says New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli in his annual report on firms that constitute Wall Street. “Wall Street’s… Read More >>
Most Global Funds Still Support Pollution: CDP
“Money makes the world go round. The world go round.” So sang Joel Grey and Liza Minnelli. But don’t take it from “Cabaret,” set in the inter-war Weimar Era, or even from Christopher Isherwood’s “The Berlin Stories,” on which the big-screen, Oscar-winning musical was based. Money has always been the siren song of Wall Street,… Read More >>
SEI Acquires Finomial
Finomial Technology to Be Added to SEI Platforms SEI reports the acquisition of Finomial, which it characterizes as an “investor lifecycle management firm offering cloud-native financial technology. The technology is expected to be added to SEI’s existing investor-focused platforms to further enhance automation and digitization capabilities, as well as reporting and transparency.” SEI’s current… Read More >>
‘Zombie Libors’ Don’t Exist & Can’t Help: OCC
Banks must avoid complacency in meeting the Dec. 31, 2021 deadline for transitioning from the ill-fated London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (Libor) to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) because failing to do so could cause problems with operations, safety, and soundness. In addition, banks should not be hoping for a “synthetic or zombie” Libor version that… Read More >>
Credit Suisse Reaches $475M Settlement of Bond Scandal
Mozambique may seem far from Wall Street, but of course it’s not. Not in this interconnected world. And that means that a bond scandal in far-away Mozambique has attracted the attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the United States Department of Justice, and the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority. The SEC, the DoJ, and… Read More >>
Ransomware Is Hitting Hard in 2021: FinCEN
Sadly, ransomware is hitting its stride in 2021, and is showing no signs of slowing down. While there have been multiple media reports about the rising threat of ransomware, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, recently provided proof that an increase is underway. The report, “Financial… Read More >>
UBS Pays $500K to Resolve Audio Deletion Case
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has issued an order “simultaneously filing and settling” charges against UBS AG for “failing to retain certain audio recordings for the time required under CFTC regulations.” Rather than retaining the recordings of more than 1,000 hours of audio data — including voice recording files that were required by CFTC regulations… Read More >>
ICE Sells Stake in Euroclear for $825M
Silver Lake Buys ICE’s 9.85 Percent Stake American private equity firm Silver Lake likes Euroclear Holding’s growth path and has purchased Intercontinental Exchange’s 9.85 percent stake in Euroclear for €709 million ($824.8 million), officials say. Officials at ICE, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), say the past investment in Euroclear has been… Read More >>