U.S. regulators are leaving it to the $10 trillion exchange-traded fund (ETF) industry to devise solutions for securities operation headaches arising from the North American transition to T+1 settlement scheduled for May 28 of this year. The International Securities Services Association (ISSA) says it has had some “useful discussions” with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission… Read More >>
Crypto FIGIs Debut in Time for Bitcoin ETFs
Bloomberg and Kaiko, a cryptocurrency data company, report that they have issued Financial Instrument Global Identifiers (FIGIs) for nearly 8,000 crypto assets and that FIGIs have been assigned to the cryptocurrency-related exchange-traded products (ETPs) and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) hitting the financial markets now. Bloomberg and Kaiko began their collaboration with the first series of FIGIs… Read More >>
Nominations Are Open for the 2024 FTF Awards!
Financial Technologies Forum (FTF) has launched the nomination process for the 2024 FTF News Technology Innovation Awards competition, which recognizes the operational excellence of professionals, financial technology vendors, service providers, and industry bodies that had significant achievements in the 2023 calendar year. The winners of the FTF Awards competition are chosen by their peers in… Read More >>
Europe’s T+1 Lag Could Spur Global Settlement Disarray
The impending switch to T+1 settlement in North America scheduled for May 28, 2024, has raised concerns in Europe, where market participants report a lack of international testing. Although not officially moving to T+1 just yet, Europe launched its T+1 taskforce led by the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) in March last year. In early conversations… Read More >>
Time to Buy Not Build an OMS?
(Global banks and other sell-side firms face “a technological fork in the road” when it comes to order management systems (OMSes), according to a recent report, “The Future State of Global OMS,” from market research firm Datos Insights. “Sell-side firms … will need to reevaluate the value proposition of their existing OMS architecture and determine… Read More >>
Davy Capital Markets Deploys Torstone Platform
Dublin-based brokerage Davy Capital Markets has gone live with the Torstone Post Trade Platform for middle- and back-office processing to bolster the Davy Group division’s operational efficiency and regulatory compliance, officials say. The Software as a Service (SaaS) platform is from Torstone Technology, a post-trade securities and derivatives processing provider, based in London. “This successful… Read More >>
Ops Woes & Revenues Surge for Securities Lending
A key report finds that securities lending revenues surged last year and so did operational workloads, which makes the case for more automated reconciliation systems that process transactions in real-time, industry expert Roy Zimmerhansl tells FTF News. In 2023, the global securities finance industry set a record with $10.7 billion in revenue for lenders, according to… Read More >>
MSCI Buys Fabric to Build Wealth Management Platform
MSCI will be building a new wealth management platform by integrating its portfolio toolkit with the portfolio design, customization, and analytics offerings of Fabric — which serves wealth managers and advisors — as the result of their recently completed merger, officials say. Known for its investment decision support tools and services, MSCI announced the acquisition… Read More >>
Hedge Fund Groups Fight SEC’s Short-Selling Rules
The National Association of Private Fund Managers (NAPFM), the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), and the Managed Funds Association (MFA) have delivered a not-so-welcome holiday gift to the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) — a lawsuit. The trio of trade associations, represented by Jeff Wall and Judd Littleton of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, are calling on… 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 >>
