Despite controversy and predictions of its death, principled investments based upon environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns are alive and kicking as evidenced by growing demands for ESG data. Also very much alive are artificial intelligence (A.I.) technologies, which could prove to be cost-effective for automated compliance and regulatory reporting, and for middle- and back-office… Read More >>
Look Before You Take That Quantum Leap
Quantum computing via cutting-edge hardware and algorithms is coming and there will be more hype as it gains ground in financial markets. First, a definition from IBM: “By taking advantage of quantum physics, fully realized quantum computers would be able to process massively complicated problems at orders of magnitude faster than modern machines. For a… Read More >>
TD Bank’s AML Woes: a Business Case for Compliance
As has been widely reported, TD Bank last week became “the largest bank in U.S. history” to plead guilty to Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and anti-money laundering (AML) program failures, according to Merrick B. Garland, U.S. Attorney General. TD Bank N.A. and its parent company TD Bank US Holding Company pleaded guilty to resolve the… Read More >>
DTCC Hopes R&D Sandbox Fosters Digital Assets Ecosystem
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. (DTCC) is attempting to clear a path to a functional digital asset ecosystem that is as safe as the one in place for conventional securities trading. To get there, the post-trade market infrastructure provider is unveiling the “DTCC Digital Launchpad,” described as “an industry sandbox intended to bring together… Read More >>
Wall Street Profits Jump 79% for H1 2024
Securities-trading firms in New York City — the actual Wall Street institutions — appear to be sailing to a “dramatic” increase in profits for 2024 and that could mean bigger bonuses next year, according to an annual report from the Office of the New York State Comptroller (OSC) headed by Thomas P. DiNapoli. “Wall Street’s… Read More >>
BlackRock & Morgan Stanley Embrace Desktop Integration Standard
A greater level of desktop application interoperability between buy- and sell-side firms may be coming as BlackRock and Morgan Stanley embraced an open source standard overseen by the Fintech Open Source Foundation (FINOS), which held its annual Open Source in Finance Forum in New York City (OSFF NY) last week. The standard known as FDC3… Read More >>
SS&C Widens Its Embrace of Cutting-Edge Technologies
Chicago-based Choreo, LLC, a financial planning and investment advisory services firm, reports using SS&C Accord. This new service leverages artificial intelligence (A.I.) to help wealth managers aggregate and validate their customers’ alternative investment data. The SS&C Accord launch aligns with other A.I.-related and cutting-edge announcements at the SS&C Deliver 2024 Conference underway in New Orleans, Oct…. Read More >>
SEC Bolsters Security for the EDGAR Platform
In case you missed it, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted “rule and form amendments” late last month that the SEC says will improve the security of its Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system, otherwise known as the venerable EDGAR platform. The improvements cover the access and management of filers’ accounts and have been… Read More >>
Deadline Looms for Non-Centrally Cleared Bilateral Repos
A regulatory rule for the collection of data for non-centrally cleared bilateral U.S. repurchase agreements (repos) has a compliance date — December 2 — that is less than three months away. In May, the Office of Financial Research (OFR) without much fanfare adopted a final rule to “improve transparency within the U.S. repurchase agreement (repo)… Read More >>
Meritsoft Targets Dividend Claims Management
A provider of post-trade process automation solutions, Meritsoft has launched an asset-servicing solution that automates coupon and dividend claims operations. The new offering leverages the company’s post-trade platform, which debuted in October 2023, officials say. The new solution automates “the traditionally manual process of matching corporate actions-related claims received through emailed PDF or CSV attachments… Read More >>
