In other news, Watson Wheatley & Limina collaborate, GMEX Group launches a climate fintech & the Securities Institute of America works with StarCompliance.
Biggest SEC Whistleblower Award to Date
A whistleblower somewhere recently got a check or two for nearly $279 million from the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to the SEC, which adds that it is the “largest-ever award” to date.
The whistleblower’s “information and assistance led to the successful enforcement of SEC and related actions,” according to the SEC. “This is the highest award in the SEC’s whistleblower program’s history, more than doubling the $114 million whistleblower award the SEC issued in October 2020.”
In fact, “the whistleblower’s sustained assistance including multiple interviews and written submissions was critical to the success of these actions,” says Creola Kelly, chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, in a prepared statement. “While the whistleblower’s information did not prompt the opening of the Commission’s investigation, their information expanded the scope of misconduct charged.”
All whistleblowers awards come from an investor protection fund that was set by Congress financed via monetary sanctions paid to the SEC by securities law violators, SEC officials explain. No funds are “taken or withheld from harmed investors to pay whistleblower awards,” officials say. The SEC never reveals any information about whistleblowers.
“Whistleblowers may be eligible for an award when they voluntarily provide the SEC with original, timely, and credible information that leads to a successful enforcement action, and adhere to filing requirements in the whistleblower rules,” according to the regulator. “Whistleblower awards can range from 10 to 30 percent of the money collected when the monetary sanctions exceed $1 million.”
“The size of today’s award — the highest in our program’s history — not only incentivizes whistleblowers to come forward with accurate information about potential securities law violations, but also reflects the tremendous success of our whistleblower program,” says Gurbir S. Grewal, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, in a prepared statement.
“This success directly benefits investors, as whistleblower tips have contributed to enforcement actions resulting in orders requiring bad actors to disgorge more than $4 billion in ill-gotten gains and interest. As this award shows, there is a significant incentive for whistleblowers to come forward with accurate information about potential securities law violations,” Grewal says.
More information about the whistleblower program can be found here: https://www.sec.gov/whistleblower
Watson Wheatley & Limina Collaborate for Real-Time Recs
Reconciliation systems provider Watson Wheatley and investment management solutions vendor Limina are partnering to offer integration between the Limina IMS software and Watson Wheatley’s portfolio reconciliation capabilities, officials say.
“The scope of the solution also includes data integrity checks, such as checking whether cash flows validate changes in cash balances,” according to an announcement from Watson Wheatley. “The integration is live with the first client, processing thousands of records per day for the first couple of weeks.”
The collaboration will yield real-time reconciliation that enables systems from both vendors to send and receive the following data intraday via application programming interfaces: transaction and trade reconciliation; position reconciliation; cash reconciliation; dividend data confirmation; and foreign exchange (FX).
The partnership is targeting investment managers that want “to run comprehensive trade and cash reconciliation checks frequently at scale, ultimately leading to increased confidence in the data used for investment decisions — without consuming operational resources,” says Kristoffer Fürst, CEO for Limina, in a prepared statement.
“The client feedback from our initial implementation with Limina has been extremely positive and we are happy to partner with a firm that has both a solid focus on customer service and a desire to expand,” adds Tom Wheatley, chief operating officer (COO) for Watson Wheatley, in a statement. “We look forward to working on more mutual client projects soon to combine the capabilities of Limina IMS with our iRecs reconciliation solution.”
GMEX Group Launches a Climate Fintech
GMEX Group Ltd. (GMEX), a digital business and technology solutions for capital, commodities and sustainability markets, has launched ZERO13, a climate fintech that is intended to meet the need for an interconnected global carbon ecosystem, officials say.
Citing the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets (TSVCM), GMEX officials report “that demand for carbon credits could increase by a factor of 15+ by 2030 and up to 100 by 2050.”
The ZERO13 effort is an effort to offer a “cohesive global carbon ecosystem, as the market is fragmented with multiple silos,” according to GMEX. “Registries have manual supply and are mostly isolated, as are carbon exchanges and over the counter trading, and there is very little peer-to-peer connectivity within the market. This missing link prevents market growth and development.”
ZERO13 has “an automated A.I. and multi-blockchain driven aggregation ecosystem” that helps deliver trusted supply, digital issuance, trading, clearing and settlement for a range of carbon credits and related ESG real-world assets, according to GMEX.
As developed, ZERO13 will digitally link many stakeholders such as “registries, banks, custodians, asset managers, corporates, buyers and sellers, markets, exchanges, climate tech and fintech firms to help achieve Net Zero,” officials say.
In addition, the Verdana Eco-Consortium is partnering with ZERO13 to set up collective safeguards “to address double counting by integrating its dMRV (digital measurement, reporting, verification), registry infrastructure, and connecting to standards bodies for carbon credits, with data sharing into the World Bank sponsored Carbon Action Data Trust (CAD Trust) to provide transparency,” officials say.
Alléo Energy and Pay DIRT are using ZERO13 and “are bringing fuel replacement and nature-based carbon credits into ZERO13, giving them the end-to-end digital provenance to address green washing, as well as enhanced distribution,” officials say. Hirander Misra will serve as the CEO of ZERO13 and GMEX Group.
SIA & StarCompliance Link Platforms
The Securities Institute of America (SIA), which offers exam preparation for the financial services industry, is working with StarCompliance, a software as a service (SaaS) provider of employee compliance technology solutions, to offer an integrated solution for registration and licensing management.
“Star’s Licence & Registration (L&R) software solution … will be combined with SIA’s comprehensive exam training platform,” officials say.
“For the first time, managers and training directors can effortlessly monitor and take action on test dates, view exam-window expirations and deliver exam training all from one central dashboard,” officials add.
“We will be able to streamline registration management and reduce the operational burden while increasing visibility, predictability, and success rates,” says Jeff Van Blarcom, founder and managing director at the SIA, in a prepared statement. SIA has been offering prep solutions for FINRA, NASAA and NFA exams since 1996.
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