IFAD Offers Hedging for Murban Oil Investment banking giant Morgan Stanley & Co. has joined the ICE Futures Abu Dhabi Exchange (IFAD), a new trading venue of exchanges operator Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE), officials say. Morgan Stanley will be an exchange and clearing member. To offer ways to trade and hedge Murban crude oil, ICE launched… Read More >>
Capitolis Taps State Street for Key Post
Capitolis Hires James Reilly A software-as-a-service (SaaS) vendor, Capitolis has hired industry veteran James Reilly from State Street and appointed him as its new head of equity and total return swaps (TRS) funding solutions, officials say. Reilly has two decades of capital markets and financial technology experience. The Capitolis networking software helps firms find liquidity… Read More >>
SIFMA, ICI and DTCC Launch T+1 Outreach
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), the Investment Company Institute (ICI), and The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) are reaching out to financial services firms to gather more information for a new push to shorten the U.S. securities settlement cycle from T+2 to T+1, and they are aiming to complete their information… Read More >>
Momentum is Building for T+1: Q&A
(Editor’s Note: The COVID-19 pandemic impacted many aspects of securities operations and the DTCC just released a white paper, “Managing through a Pandemic: The Impact of COVID-19 on Capital Markets Operations,” that explores how securities operations teams functioned during the worst of the lockdown. The report acknowledges that firms will “further automate” post-trade lifecycles and… Read More >>
OCC Lowers Equity Derivatives Clearing Fee
High Volumes Facilitated OCC’s Reduced Fees The Options Clearing Corp. (OCC), which describes itself as “the world’s largest equity derivatives clearing organization,” is cutting its clearing fee from four-and-a-half cents ($0.045) per equity derivatives contract to two cents ($0.02) per contract effective June 1, 2021, subject to regulatory review, officials say. “The two-cent clearing fee… Read More >>
Lockdown Hit Dealers Harder Than Buy Side: Survey
Sell-side firms had a tougher time with post-trade operations during the depths of the pandemic-induced lockdown. But buy-side firms had their Ops woes too, according to a new report from the DTCC, the major post-trade infrastructure services and systems provider for the securities industry. Not surprisingly, the report finds that “cash fixed income and cash… Read More >>
SteelEye to Expand into North American Markets
SteelEye Raised $17 Million to Fund Growth SteelEye, a compliance technology and data analytics vendor based in the United Kingdom, reports that it plans to expand into North America. Founded in 2017, SteelEye offers a software-as-a-service (SaaS) based regulatory-technology platform for “banks, brokers, and asset managers” that is meant to simplify their compliance processes, officials say. In… Read More >>
Gensler’s SEC Will Face ESG, Crypto & Investor Woes
By a vote of 53 to 45, Gary Gensler, a former CFTC chairman, won confirmation by the U.S. Senate to become the next chair of the SEC, ushering in what many expect will be a new era of regulation requiring adherence to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reforms. The Senate vote, which got the support… Read More >>
Credit Suisse & Instinet Use Blockchain for T+0 Settlement
Instinet & Credit Suisse Use Paxos Settlement Service Instinet and Credit Suisse used blockchain technology from Paxos Trust Company to settle U.S. listed equities trades on a same-day, T+0 settlement, cycle via the Paxos Settlement Service, the market infrastructure provider confirms. “The trades occurred [March 4, 2021] at 11 AM ET and 3 PM ET… Read More >>
Will Blockchain Deliver on Its Promises in 2021?
I think our lead fintech news brief about Instinet and Credit Suisse completing multiple equities transactions in T+0 via blockchain/distributed ledger technology [https://bit.ly/2OwJJWJ] may have more significance than at first glance. These two major players used the Paxos Settlement Service from Paxos Trust Company, a self-described infrastructure provide, to settle U.S.-listed equities trades on a… Read More >>
