An alleged foreign exchange (FX) currency investment fraudster and his defunct investment company are now facing a default judgment in the Northern District of Georgia for “failing to plead or otherwise defend” against the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s allegation that they “fraudulently solicited and misappropriated nearly $700,000 from more than 50 clients in a… Read More >>
Ex-CEO Found Guilty of Binary Options Fraud
A Maryland federal court has convicted a citizen of Israel residing in the United States of three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy for organizing a scheme to market approximately $145 million in binary options. A “binary option” is a financial instrument with an appeal that might remind gamblers of what draws… Read More >>
FactSet Launches KYC App for Client Due Diligence
FactSet Combines KYC & RPA for New App FactSet, a provider of financial information and analytical applications, reports the release of FactSet KYC, a cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) application intended to streamline Know Your Customer due diligence. The new app combines KYC robotic process automation (RPA) with FactSet content and public registries, improving the efficiency and… Read More >>
Merrill Lynch Commodities Penalized $36.5M for Spoofing
The CFTC reports that it has settled charges against Merrill Lynch Commodities, Inc. (MLCI), a provisionally registered swap dealer that is part of the Bank of America Corp. (BAC), for “spoofing, manipulation, and attempted manipulation over a six-year period with respect to certain precious metals futures contracts.” The settlement will cost MLCI an estimated $25… Read More >>
Traiana Aims Post-Trade Service at Equity Swaps
Traiana Targets Ops Efficiency & Settlement Risk A service to automate key post-trade stages of equity swaps processing has been launched by Traiana, an infrastructure solutions provider for trading and risk management. The vendor wants to automate “manual, labor intensive and inefficient” post-trade affirmation, officials say. The new Equity Swaps Lifecycle Management offering “normalizes data… Read More >>
New CFTC Chairman Faces Long To-Do List
Heath P. Tarbert, the Acting Under Secretary for the U.S. Department of the Treasury, has won Senate confirmation to be the next chairman of the CFTC, and will face regulatory concerns ranging from finishing Dodd-Frank reforms to the emergence of instruments based on crypto-currencies during his term, slated to last until April 2024. Following the… Read More >>
CFTC to Explore Climate Change’s Financial Risks
As many parts of the U.S. and the rest of the world struggle with the effects of extreme weather, the CFTC through its Market Risk Advisory Committee (MRAC) will be exploring another aspect of climate change — the financial risks. The committee will hold a public meeting on Wednesday, June 12, at the CFTC’s headquarters… Read More >>
FinCEN Refocuses on Virtual Currencies
Without much fanfare, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the Treasury Department, issued a guidance on convertible virtual currencies (CVC) such as Bitcoin to help “financial institutions, law enforcement, and regulators” get a grip on the “multiple variations of businesses dealing in CVCs.” The guidance is a reminder to firms of their… Read More >>
CFTC’s Division of Enforcement Issues First Manual
Manual Brings New Transparency to DOE In a first for the CFTC, the regulator’s Division of Enforcement (DOE) is publishing and distributing an Enforcement Manual that provides an overview of the CFTC and DOE. The manual is also intended to establish general policies and procedures to guide the work of DOE staff in “detecting, investigating,… Read More >>
Murex Focuses New Offering on LIBOR Transition
Murex & LCH Also Working on Clearing Issues Murex, a specialist vendor for trading, risk management and processing solutions has launched a transition offering and a task force to address “the challenges of the 2021 discontinuation and benchmark reforms” that will end the usage of the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR. Over the years,… Read More >>
