Securities firms are foreseeing cybersecurity risks as one of their top concerns for next year as cybers-attacks remain one of their top five risks as revealed in an annual Systemic Risk Barometer Survey done by DTCC officials. Cybersecurity concerns constitute one of the top five risks identified in every survey since 2013 when the DTCC… Read More >>
Regulators & Policies Decide ESG Plans for Pension Funds
Regulators and policymakers will have greater impacts on the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment strategies of pension plans than the pushback against ESG investments, according to two recent reports. The findings about regulators and policymakers are based on the Amundi/CREATE-Research annual global survey of pension investors and their investing concerns. For the… Read More >>
Buy Side Faces Big Risks via T+1 for FX
The push for shorter settlement cycles — trading day plus one, or T+1 — could pose major settlement and operational risks for buy-side participants in foreign exchange (FX) markets, according to guidance from the Foreign Exchange Professionals Association (FXPA), based in Washington, D.C. “The introduction of T+1 is not intended to increase FX settlement risk…. 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 >>
Open Source Projects Hit Their Stride on Wall Street
The open source movement for financial services firms on Wall Street and beyond is hitting its stride, says the Fintech Open Source Foundation (FINOS), which reports there is widespread adoption of open source software, standards, and best practices. And more open source projects are going into production, FINOS says. For instance, Morgan Stanley and Wellington… Read More >>
NY State Wants Firms to Report Ransomware
The state of New York has amended its “first-in-the-nation” cybersecurity regulations and will be requiring financial services firms to report ransomware amounts just as cyberattacks are increasing, according to the regulator New York State Department of Financial Services (NYS DFS) and New York Governor Kathy Hochul. In addition to the ransomware reporting, the updated regulations… Read More >>
Does FINOS Have a Cloud Blueprint for Regulators?
Should global regulators create regulations based on a relatively new set of open-source standards that provide consistent controls over cybersecurity and compliance for cloud deployments in the financial services sector? The answer is in the affirmative for a panel of industry representatives who took part in the Open Source in Finance Forum (OSFF) of the… 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 >>
T+1 Leaves Little Time for Settlement Fixes: Q&A
(The North American push for securities settlement within the trading day plus another day, a.k.a. T+1, is not going leave much time for fixing failed settlement efforts, says Jonathan Ehrenfeld, who is head of securities strategy for the Swift financial message cooperative. Ehrenfeld is responsible for Swift’s securities, foreign exchange, and digital assets strategies and… Read More >>
