We are pleased to announce that voting has begun for the nominees of the FTF News Technology Innovation Awards 2023, a competition overseen by Financial Technologies Forum (FTF) and the news service. Industry participants pick the winners. Voting began on March 20 when we officially unveiled the nominees and will end on April 28. We… Read More >>
FTX Insider Faces SEC & CFTC Charges Too
Attention, screenwriters: Sharpen your pencils. We’ve reached a key moment in the FTX saga! The US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the Feds have turned their enforcement lasers on Nishad Singh, “the former co-lead engineer of FTX Trading Ltd. … for his role in a multiyear scheme to… Read More >>
CFTC Mandates UPIs for Swaps Records & Reporting
Without much fanfare, the CFTC in mid-February ordered registered entities and swap counterparties to use the unique product identifiers (UPIs) supplied by the Derivatives Service Bureau (DSB) for swaps in the credit, equity, foreign exchange, and interest rate asset classes to bolster transparency and compliance with CFTC swap recordkeeping and reporting requirements. In addition, the… Read More >>
SEC & CFTC Penalize Options Clearing Corp. for $22M
The Options Clearing Corp. (OCC), regarded as the largest equity derivatives clearing organization in the world, has announced settlements with the SEC and CFTC that add up to $22 million and are based on a self-reported case of shortcomings in meeting internal efforts to lower key operational risks. The cases revolve around the implementation of… Read More >>
CFTC Picks a New IT Infrastructure Contractor
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) reports that it has transitioned core IT infrastructure and operations support services to GovCIO, an IT and digital solutions provider to the federal government, replacing General Dynamics IT (GDIT), which had been serving the regulator since 2015. The CFTC’s $139 million, 10-year contract with GovCIO is not an outsourcing… Read More >>
Life After the Crypto Winter
As the winter of our discontent with cryptocurrencies continues, it’s clear that changes have to be made and that the next crypto spring will either not happen at all or it will be a radical rejection of the Wild West status quo. One path is an outright ban. Some like Charlie Munger, the vice chairman… Read More >>
ION Cleared Derivatives Reels from Ransomware Attack
ION Cleared Derivatives suffered “a cybersecurity event” on Jan. 31, 2023, that set off an ongoing crisis for the global processing of cleared derivative instruments. The cyber-and-ransomware attack has gotten the attention of the CFTC, and the Futures Industry Association (FIA) and is likely to take days to resolve, according to media reports and officials…. Read More >>
FIA Wants FCMs Exempt from Repo Clearing Proposal
Walt L. Lukken, president and CEO, of the Futures Industry Association (FIA) has sent a letter to the SEC asking the regulator to exempt futures commission merchants (FCMs) from complying with proposed rules that would set new standards for covered clearing agencies for U.S. Treasury securities. “The SEC has proposed rules that would significantly expand… Read More >>
The Fed Issues a Crypto Warning & Other News
The Fed, FDIC & OCC Want More Crypto Controls Key U.S. regulatory agencies for financial services are creating processes that will require banking organizations to “engage in robust supervisory discussions” about proposed and current crypto-asset-related activities, according to a recently issued joint statement on risky crypto-assets. “By ‘crypto-asset,’ the agencies refer generally to any digital… Read More >>
‘Ghost Cattle’ Scam Creates AML Woes for FCM
CHS Hedging, a registered futures commission merchant based in Inver Grove Heights, Minn., is paying a penalty of $6.5 million to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to settle charges that it had inadequate anti-money laundering (AML), risk management, recordkeeping, and supervisory controls over a trading account of a cattle rancher running a $244 million “Ghost… Read More >>
