In other FinTech news, Citi invests in TransFICC, VestmarkONE gets an update, and the National Bank of Egypt has deployed Finastra’s treasury and risk solution.
Five Regulators Move Volcker Rule Deadline to Oct. 17
Securities industry participants will get more time to weigh in on the very controversial Dodd-Frank Era “Volcker Rule,” which in its initial form prohibits proprietary trading and banks from owning hedge funds or private equity funds.
Five federal financial regulatory agencies have agreed to extend until Oct. 17, 2018, the comment period for a proposed rule to simplify and tailor compliance requirements for the “Volcker rule.”
As FTF News has previously reported, the extension follows the Federal Reserve’s move in May unveiling changes to the Volcker Rule in a move widely seen as a response to industry pressure and is in keeping with the will of the Trump administration.
The extension for providing feedback has been approved by the Federal Reserve Board, the CFTC, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the SEC. They have given the industry “approximately four and a half months from the date the proposal was released to the public to submit comments.
The nearly final proposal for a revamped Volcker Rule was released by the agencies in early June and included “a 60-day comment period that began after publication in the Federal Register on July 17,” officials say.
Citi Invests in TransFICC
TransFICC, a provider of low-latency connectivity for fixed income and derivatives markets, reports that it has secured a strategic investment from Citigroup.
In addition, TransFICC has joined Citi’s Innovation Lab in London. TransFICC points out that it is the first external company to join the lab.
Citi joins existing TransFICC shareholders, Illuminate Financial, Main Incubator (part of Commerzbank) and The FinLab, the firm says.
New Model of VestmarkONE Platform Launches
Vestmark has unveiled a new model of the VestmarkONE platform that includes an options module, which enables advisors to trade options “safely and efficiently at scale,” according to the vendor.
Advisors are increasingly using option strategies in their client portfolio for income generation and downside protection, according to Vestmark.
Multiple accounts can be “traded at once, without impacting accounts following models, avoiding false rebalancing alerts or model drift notifications,” per Vestmark. “This capability allows advisors to more efficiently use options in advisor-managed programs, and facilitates the use of option strategies in centrally managed and separately managed account programs as well.”
The Wakefield, Mass.-based portfolio management and trading solutions vendor announced on August 30 that it has surpassed $1 trillion in total assets under management via VestmarkONE. “The platform services over 3.4 million accounts across broker-dealers, RIAs, bank-trusts, and asset management firms,” vendor officials say.
National Bank of Egypt Deploys Finastra’s Treasury Solution
Finastra reports that the National Bank of Egypt (U.K.) Ltd. is deploying Finastra’s Fusion treasury and risk solutions, which will be “integrated with the bank’s existing Fusion Equation core banking system.”
Together, the two solutions facilitate real-time data management — “providing a holistic view of risk across the bank and helping to promote dynamic decision making based on seamless management of trading, risk, liquidity, and profitability data,” the firm says, adding that the “increased automation and the removal of manual processes will help the bank reduce operational risk and deliver streamlined regulatory reporting.”
“Banks recognize that clients today want more joined-up finance, risk, payment and working capital services and expect fast, transparent, 24/7 access to these services,” James Pinnington, Finastra’s head of capital markets & investment management, Northern Europe, says in a statement. “A joined-up approach that fully integrates the treasury, risk management and regulatory functions at the heart of the bank’s operations is essential.”
Finastra was formed in 2017 by the combination of Misys and D+H.
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