The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are calling for some brakes to be put upon the mad rush to cryptocurrencies and digital assets because of the threats they might pose to the global financial infrastructure and the operational woes they could present. Michael Hsu, the acting… Read More >>
SEC Sought ISITC’s Advice on T+1: Q&A
(FTF News recently spoke with Lisa Iagatta, the ISITC chair for the past three years, as ISITC’s Virtual Fall Forum 2021, held earlier this month, was winding down. Iagatta touched on the T+1 shorter settlement cycle push, led by the DTCC, SIFMA, and the ICI, and looked back at her time at the helm, which… Read More >>
CME Group Offers Clearing for Sustainable Derivatives
Clearing Service to Launch Next Week CME Group is claiming a first for derivatives trading with the September 27 launch of the Sustainable Clearing service intended to help firms “track and report on how their hedging activities are advancing their sustainability goals,” officials announce. “This service will allow clients to demonstrate commitment to ESG-positive business… Read More >>
DTCC Moves Ahead with DLT-Based Settlement Platform
The DTCC is moving ahead with its alternative securities settlement platform —the Project Ion initiative — based upon distributed ledger technology (DLT) after “a successful prototype pilot” with market participants, officials say. The prototype pilot showed that DLT could support the shorter settlement cycles of trading day plus one (T+1) and settlement on the trading… Read More >>
ASX Identifies the Causes for its 2020 Outage
The equity market of the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) suffered an outage last November following the implementation of a new version of the Nasdaq equity market trading system. Shortly thereafter, ASX officials commissioned an independent review to provide an explanation for trading interruption. Released last week, the preliminary results of the review indicate the updated… Read More >>
State Street Adopts Hybrid Model & Closes NYC Offices
State Street to Exit Midtown Manhattan The Boston-based State Street will be closing its midtown Manhattan offices and embracing a hybrid working model in response to staff members that have been working remotely in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a prepared statement from the custodian banking giant. “Like most other companies, we… Read More >>
Can New Technologies Fix Old Ops Woes?
Cutting-edge, disruptive technologies — especially those that exploit advances in artificial intelligence — have captured the attention of securities trading firms. But turning the hype into useful ways to counter ongoing Ops problems remains a challenge for many firms. So, to help firms come to grips with machine learning (ML), robotics, natural language processing (NLP), regulatory… Read More >>
Canadian Regulator Takes Aim at Crypto-Trading Platform
Canadian financial services regulator, the Toronto-based Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has officially charged a Seychelles-based firm with running an online digital asset trading platform that is noncompliant with the securities-trading laws of the Canadian province. The allegations could result in millions of dollars in penalties and disgorgements. The OSC is formally charging Aux Cayes Fintech… Read More >>
TriOptima Launches Tri-Party Links via SWIFT
Four Tri-Party Agents Endorse New Connection TriOptima reports that its triResolve Margin offering now provides integration via the SWIFT financial services messaging and systems cooperative to four tri-party agents: BNY Mellon, Clearstream, Euroclear, and JPMorgan. “TriOptima’s clients will have direct connectivity to tri-parties via SWIFT for sending instructions as well as receiving status messages and… Read More >>
Regulatory Burdens Don’t End in the Cloud: FINRA
Many securities-trading firms have shifted their IT infrastructures to the cloud, but that does not change their regulatory responsibilities and may lead to new ones, according to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a self-regulatory organization (SRO) for broker-dealers. In a new research report, FINRA officials acknowledge that while cloud computing models promise “the potential… Read More >>
