Nadine Chakar Tapped to Head New Division The financing of digital assets will be a key focus for a new division of custodian State Street Corp. The just-launched State Street Digital is tasked with building upon the firm’s current digital capabilities, and then expanding into cryptocurrencies, central bank digital currency, blockchain, and tokenization, officials say…. Read More >>
The 2021 FTF Awards Winners Unveiled!
Financial Technologies Forum (FTF) is pleased to announce that operational excellence and major achievements in financial technology innovation surged in 2020 as evidenced by the winners of the 2021 FTF News Technology Innovation Awards competition. The winners of the FTF Awards competition, now in its tenth year, are being announced today, June 7, and they… Read More >>
Northern Trust Bolsters Recs Visualization Tool
Northern Trust Enhances Recs Dashboard Custodian bank Northern Trust has updated its Rec Dashboard workflow tool so that it helps clients with collaboration and scalability for real-time transparency into the reconciliations process, officials say. The Rec Dashboard offers views of “breaks and reconciliations in trade activity between asset managers and other institutions,” officials say. “Rec… Read More >>
FIX Group Helps Mold Digital Asset Trading Standards
FIX Trading Community Partners with Global DCA The FIX Trading Community, a standards body for transacting securities via the electronic Financial Information eXchange (FIX) protocol, will be working with the Global Digital Asset and Cryptocurrency Association (Global DCA) to create standards for trading digital assets, officials confirm. Both groups “recognize that their complementary efforts can… Read More >>
Wall Street Resists Full Embrace of DLT: Report
Blockchains based upon distributed ledger technology (DLT) have the capacity to undo the “complexity, opacity and fragmentation of capital markets,” but they lack a clear path to wider acceptance, are competing against other disruptive technologies for funding, and represent a threat to traditional industry institutions, according to a new report from World Economic Forum (WEF)…. Read More >>
Gensler’s SEC Will Face ESG, Crypto & Investor Woes
By a vote of 53 to 45, Gary Gensler, a former CFTC chairman, won confirmation by the U.S. Senate to become the next chair of the SEC, ushering in what many expect will be a new era of regulation requiring adherence to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reforms. The Senate vote, which got the support… Read More >>
Credit Suisse & Instinet Use Blockchain for T+0 Settlement
Instinet & Credit Suisse Use Paxos Settlement Service Instinet and Credit Suisse used blockchain technology from Paxos Trust Company to settle U.S. listed equities trades on a same-day, T+0 settlement, cycle via the Paxos Settlement Service, the market infrastructure provider confirms. “The trades occurred [March 4, 2021] at 11 AM ET and 3 PM ET… Read More >>
CFTC Pursues Alleged Bitcoin Swindler Gone Missing
It looks like a classic case of take the money and run. Following its investigation, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has gone to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and been awarded a massive default judgment against an alleged bitcoin fraudster. That alleged bitcoin fraudster is one Benjamin… Read More >>
BNY Mellon Helps Crypto Custody Startup Raise $133M
Fireblocks Raises a Total of $179 Million Crypto infrastructure provider Fireblocks has raised $133 million in Series C funding with help from the Bank of New York Mellon and SVB Capital, the investment platform of SVB Financial Group, via an effort led by Coatue, Ribbit Capital, and Stripes Group, officials say. With this round of… Read More >>
Gensler’s SEC Chair Nomination Advances Amid GOP Pushback
Gary Gensler, President Joe Biden’s nominee for SEC chairman, last week won the approval of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee by a vote of 14 in favor to 10 against, signaling some resistance among Republicans as his nomination moves to a full vote before the U.S. Senate. If approved by the Senate, Gensler and the… Read More >>