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 >>
FinCEN Helps Firms Red Flag Financing for Hamas
The weapons of modern war include tanks, missiles, and jet fighters launched from aircraft carriers far out at sea. Governments can draw on national treasuries to fund the monumental costs of that kind of war in the 21st Century. But where did Hamas, a terrorist organization based in an impoverished refugee camp with few financial… Read More >>
SEC Rule to Spur Sec Lending Reporting Platforms
The SEC is changing securities lending via a new rule and that will cause securities firms to develop their own reporting platform or use a third-party reporting agent, says Kevin McNulty, managing director, head of RegTech Solutions at Equilend, a securities lending platform provider. The rule requires firms to report securities lending data to a… Read More >>
Morgan Stanley White Labels BNY Platform & Other News
MSIM to White Label BNY’s LiquidityDirect Custodian BNY Mellon reports that Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) is the first white-label client of BNY’s LiquidityDirect, a liquidity management solution that combines technology, connectivity, and client service, officials say. Financial services firms can offer short-term investments by using LiquidityDirect’s technology and services “through a single sign-on for their… Read More >>
CFTC Enforcement Unit Urges Higher Penalties
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Enforcement has issued an advisory “designed to give enforcement staff guidance on future enforcement resolution recommendations to the Commission.” One long-time securities industry observer summarized the enforcement advisory’s import by saying “The big news here is that the CFTC will no longer be letting firms off the hook… Read More >>
BBH Takes Aim at Latencies in Securities Lending
(To help its securities lending clients with their transition to T+1 shorter settlement, Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH) is examining securities loan recall lifecycles to find any latencies that may be caused by batch processing or bespoke messaging for Swift processes, says Sarah Holmes, global head of securities lending at BBH. In her new role, Holmes… Read More >>
DTCC Embraces Digital Asset Ops via Securrency Acquisition
Post-trade infrastructure provider DTCC is acquiring a tokenization infrastructure company Securrency Inc., led by CEO Nadine Chakar, creating a bridge to the “acceptance and adoption of digital assets” in securities operations, DTCC officials say. After the acquisition is finalized, Securrency, whose offerings include its Capital Markets Platform, Compliance Aware Token Framework, and Digital Asset Composer,… 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 >>