Post-trade infrastructure provider the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. has launched two experiments — dubbed Project Ion and Project Whitney — that are collaborative industry efforts to investigate how distributed ledger technology (DLT) might strengthen post-trade processes such as the elimination of manual processes in the private markets, and new securities settlement via public markets,… Read More >>
Morgan Stanley Settles Wrap-Fee Case with SEC
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (MSSB) is settling charges that it provided misleading information to retail clients in its retail wrap fee programs regarding trade execution services and transaction costs, and the firm will pay a $5 million penalty that will be distributed to harmed investors, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reports. The commission’s… Read More >>
Firms Need Collaboration to Keep Up: Q&A
(In the past, some financial services firms have been known to follow the mantra of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” notes Mark Bolton, head of international sales for Gresham Technologies. Yet the financial technology landscape has been changing fast and firms will have to keep up or risk having “solutions that are unable… Read More >>
Morningstar Acquires Sustainalytics for $59M
Morningstar Ups Ownership of ESG Research Firm Morningstar, Inc., an investment research provider, reports an agreement to acquire Sustainalytics, a provider of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings and research. Morningstar also points out that it currently has an approximately 40 percent ownership stake in Sustainalytics, first acquired in 2017, and that, under the terms… Read More >>
RBC & TD Settle Charges of FX Noncompliance
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has approved settlements with the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and the Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) that arise from “compliance failures” in the banks’ foreign exchange (FX) trading businesses. “These failures allowed RBC and TD FX traders to share confidential customer information in chatrooms with FX traders at competitor firms,” the… Read More >>
Deutsche Bank Settles FCPA Case for $16 Million
Deutsche Bank has reached a $16 million settlement with the SEC over a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) case in which the firm was charged with hiring relatives of foreign government officials as a way to gain influence in landing investment banking business. SEC officials alleged that Deutsche Bank employees “hired relatives at the request… Read More >>
State Street Pays $88M to Settle Overbilling Charges
State Street Bank and Trust Company will pay more than $88 million to settle allegations that it overcharged mutual funds and other registered investment company clients for expenses related to the firm’s custody of client assets, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) report. The overcharges allegedly included a “secret markup that State Street… Read More >>
KPMG Settles SEC Misconduct Charges for $50M
KPMG, a major auditor serving Wall Street, has settled with the SEC for $50 million over multiple misconduct charges, including the allegation that former employees used “stolen information” from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to find out which past audits would be re-visited by the PCAOB. The PCAOB, created via the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of… Read More >>
Hedge Fund Settles Charges of Deficient Valuation Policies
Hedge fund Deer Park Road Management Company has paid a $5 million penalty to settle charges from an SEC investigation that alleges its policies and procedures governing the valuation of fund assets had “compliance deficiencies.” In addition, the firm’s chief investment officer Scott E. Burg has paid a $250,000 penalty as part of the settlement… Read More >>
Deutsche Bank Pushes ISO 20022 to Ease Settlement
Migrating closely linked settlement and payment systems to the ISO 20022 standard has been a difficult proposition for many firms. But circumstances may force the issue over the next five years, according to a new white paper from Deutsche Bank and its global transaction banking (GTB) division. To recap, the ISO 20022 standard is not… Read More >>
