In other news, Archer expands its usage of Salerio, the OCC and Northern Trust have executive shuffles, and Finastra embraces AWS.
SEC Adds to Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit
Gary Gensler
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reports adding 20 positions to its crypto assets and cyber unit, which is tasked with “protecting investors in crypto markets and from cyber-related threats.”
The unit, in the SEC’s enforcement division, will grow to 50 dedicated positions, officials say.
The unit, which was formerly known as the cyber unit, will expand the ranks of its “supervisors, investigative staff attorneys, trial counsels, and fraud analysts in the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., as well as several regional offices,” according to a prepared statement from the SEC.
“By nearly doubling the size of this key unit, the SEC will be better equipped to police wrongdoing in the crypto markets while continuing to identify disclosure and controls issues with respect to cybersecurity,” SEC Chair Gary Gensler says in the statement.
Since the unit was formed in 2017, it has brought more than 80 enforcement actions related to fraudulent and unregistered crypto asset offerings and platforms, resulting in monetary relief totaling more than $2 billion, per the statement. — L.Ch
Archer Expands Salerio Usage for Retail Trade Ops
Archer, a service provider for investment managers, is broadening its use of the Salerio post-trade execution solution from corfinancial to begin processing trades for its retail services, officials say.
The Philadelphia-based Archer, which offers technology and services to the asset management industry, has “used Salerio to migrate its institutional clients away from DTCC’s Oasys utility in December 2021 and began moving its retail clients in March 2022,” officials say. “This latest move with the retail application of the technology enables asset managers to match trades more rapidly through a centralized service.”
Salerio provides connectivity to banks and brokers via DTCC’s CTM utility, including SWIFT messaging, which is integrated into the Archer IBOR, dashboards and reporting, officials say
“By integrating Salerio into our trade settlement process, we are adding automation that creates significant efficiencies in matching trades across our clients’ counterparties,” says Bob Lage, executive vice president, global head of product and technology at Archer, in a prepared statement.
Options Clearing Corp. Re-Elects Donohue as Executive Chairman
Craig S. Donohue
The Options Clearing Corp. (OCC), which points out that it is the world’s largest equity derivatives clearing organization, reports the election of two Class III Member Directors and two Class I Public Directors to its board of directors.
In addition, Craig S. Donohue, the former CEO of CME Group, was re-elected as the board’s executive chairman. Donohue joined the OCC as executive chairman in January 2014.
The following directors were unanimously elected as Class III Member Directors for the term ending in 2025:
- Stuart M. Bourne, managing director, global head of prime services at Bank of America. Bourne joined the OCC board in 2019;
- Kurt M. Eckert, partner and head of market structure at Wolverine Trading. Eckert joined the OCC board in 2017;
The following directors were unanimously elected as Class I Public Directors for the term ending in 2025:
- Susan E. Lester, former financial She joined the OCC board in 2016 and will continue to chair the audit committee;
- Mark F. Dehnert, advisor. He joins the OCC board as a public director for the first time. He was previously the managing director of execution and clearing for Goldman Sachs and has extensive experience in financial engineering, quantitative trading and modeling, and equity markets, according to the OCC statement. He will chair of the risk committee.
The votes took place during OCC’s annual stockholder meeting on April 29.
The OCC was founded in 1973. It operates under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.—L.Ch
Finastra Launches Managed Services via the AWS Cloud
Software and systems vendor Finastra has launched Finastra Managed Services (FMS) on Amazon Web Services (AWS), which will help banks and financial institutions access FMS in the AWS cloud, officials say.
Finastra officials say they hope that FMS clients using the AWS cloud “will benefit from increased efficiency and scalability, which improves spending and reduces carbon footprint.”
The move to AWS “aligns closely with our strategy to help our FMS customers specifically to accelerate their move to the cloud and access the benefits it affords, including scalability and security. It is also a commitment to our FMS multi-cloud strategy which enables us to support customers who value a choice of cloud vendor,” says Neil Budd, vice president, Finastra Managed Services, in a prepared statement.
President of Northern Trust Asset Management to Step Down
Shundrawn Thomas
Northern Trust reports that Shundrawn Thomas, president of Northern Trust Asset Management, will be departing the firm on June 1, 2022. Thomas is leaving “in order to pursue an outside entrepreneurial opportunity,” according to a Northern Trust statement.
Thomas joined Northern Trust in 2004 and held several executive posts “including as a member of the Asset Management executive team since 2008 and as a member of the Management Group since 2017,” per the company statement.
Thomas said he is leaving Northern Trust “in order to co-found a new, diverse-owned and led business that will provide debt and equity solutions to privately held U.S. companies. A key focus will be identifying untapped market opportunities and partnering with women and ethnically diverse business operators.”
The Northern Trust Corporation was founded in Chicago in 1889. It maintains offices in “23 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., and across 23 locations in Canada, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. As of March 31, 2022, Northern Trust had assets under custody/administration of US$15.5 trillion, and assets under management of US$1.5 trillion.” —L.Ch
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