SEC Approves BSTX’s Launch The SEC has blessed the creation of a regulated, national securities exchange facility, dubbed BSTX, that can settle instruments in one day (T+0) while providing blockchain-based market data reporting, officials say. The BSTX is a trading facility of BOX Exchange and a joint venture of tZero Group, Inc., and BOX Digital… Read More >>
The Fed Is Starting to Think About CBDCs
The Federal Reserve is mulling what a digital currency backed by a central bank would look like. This should come as no surprise given the onset of blockchains and distributed ledger technology, and then cryptocurrencies and digital assets in many forms. They all have had an underlying driver – a disintermediation push to bring on… Read More >>
Acadia & Transcend to Build ‘Collateral Validation Service’
Transcend, a collateral, liquidity, and funding solutions vendor, and Acadia, a provider of integrated risk management services, are partnering to automate collateral validation just as Phase 6 of the Uncleared Margin Rules (UMR) will require more industry participants — especially from the buy side — to pledge and receive collateral as margin. Vendor officials say… Read More >>
ISITC’s Back Even Stronger in 2022: Q&A
(Kristin Hochstein is the new chair of ISITC for the 2022-23 term, and she foresees the industry standards trade group in the new year as not simply what it was before the pandemic but “even stronger and with a new lens.” Hochstein takes over from Lisa Iagatta, who finished her three-year term as chair at… Read More >>
FactSet Buys CUSIP Global Services for $1.9 Billion
FactSet announced late last month that it is acquiring CUSIP Global Services (CGS) — a provider of identifiers for securities — from S&P Global for $1.925 billion in order to grow its data management offerings, and raise company and brand awareness in security issuance, settlement, back-office operations, and trading. “A CUSIP number is a unique… Read More >>
Clearing Is Broken: Q&A with RQD*’s CEO
(Consolidation across the clearing sector has resulted in less competition, fewer options for securities firms, and a broken system, says Michael Sanocki, CEO of RQD* Clearing, a new correspondent clearing provider. Thus RQD’s mission is to reach out to firms that are “sorely underserved” and “ripe for disruption.” RQD, which officially launched last month, offers… Read More >>
Wells Fargo Fined $2.25M for Document Storage Woes
Ironic, isn’t it, that just when cryptography enthusiasts are touting the capability of the blockchain to memorialize complex sequences of transactions, major units of a big bank find themselves in trouble over their own record-keeping? FINRA, the broker-dealer industry’s self-regulatory authority, charges Wells Fargo Clearing Services and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network — two units… Read More >>
Remote Staffing Boosts Cloud’s Appeal: Q&A
(Cloud computing got a major boost during the pandemic when most staff members at financial services firms were compelled to work remotely, says Olga Orekhvo, chief operating officer (COO) at CompatibL Technologies. In fact, many financial services firms have embraced more than one cloud provider, which presents a new set of challenges. Orekhvo joined CompatibL… Read More >>
BNY Mellon Buys Optimal’s Indexing for ‘Pershing X’
Other BNY Mellon Units to Get Direct Indexing Too The Pershing clearing and custody services business of BNY Mellon is acquiring Optimal Asset Management, a direct indexing solutions provider, and will offer Optimal’s capabilities to advisory clients within Pershing, and to institutional and retail clients within BNY Mellon’s Investment Management business. If the acquisition… Read More >>
FINRA Fines Citi for Alleged U4 Filing Woes
Citigroup Global Markets has been censured by FINRA, the financial-industry’s self-regulatory authority, and will pay a $375,000 fine for alleged failures regarding Form U4 filings for its registered representatives. A form U4 is the Uniform Application for Securities Industry Registration or Transfer. Those forms would have disclosed the Citigroup reps’ “unsatisfied tax liens and judgments,”… Read More >>
