U.S. regulators are leaving it to the $10 trillion exchange-traded fund (ETF) industry to devise solutions for securities operation headaches arising from the North American transition to T+1 settlement scheduled for May 28 of this year. The International Securities Services Association (ISSA) says it has had some “useful discussions” with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission… Read More >>
Nominations Are Open for the 2024 FTF Awards!
Financial Technologies Forum (FTF) has launched the nomination process for the 2024 FTF News Technology Innovation Awards competition, which recognizes the operational excellence of professionals, financial technology vendors, service providers, and industry bodies that had significant achievements in the 2023 calendar year. The winners of the FTF Awards competition are chosen by their peers in… Read More >>
T+1 Testing: Concerns Emerge Amid Progress
In the sprint toward the T+1 transition to shorter settlement in May 2024, the official line from the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. (DTCC) is that testing is proceeding smoothly. Behind the scenes, there are concerns regarding end-to-end testing, buy-side participation, and a dearth of operational testing. Val Wotton, managing director and general manager of… Read More >>
FCMs Want Automation Over Headcount for Recs
Futures commission merchants (FCMs) offering sell-side clearing have been making “significant progress in automating” post-trade reconciliation since 2021 and want to apply technology rather than staff members to recs problems, according to the fourth quarter edition of the “Acuiti Sell-Side Clearing Management Insight Report.” However, firms have “some way to go to fully optimize the… Read More >>
SEC Revamps Clearing for Security-Based Swaps
It looks like there will be new rules of the road for conflicts of interest at registered clearing agencies servicing securities-based swaps. The SEC has adopted rules intended to reform boards of directors or equivalent governing bodies for these clearing agencies. However, critics of the recently approved rules — which date back to the Dodd-Frank Act… Read More >>
TD Securities Picks Paxos Settlement & Other News
TD Securities to Settle Commodities via Paxos TD Securities is using a system from Paxos that simultaneously settles cash and commodities trades in an effort to achieve full automation for settlement and to streamline operations for traditional and digital precious metals trades, officials say. TD Securities joins many other firms that are part of Paxos… Read More >>
T+1 Will Create a Complex Choreography for Ops
When the North American securities industry starts settling trades the day after they’re executed in May 2024, it will be the culmination of a process dating back at least 30 years. Shortly after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) cut the trade settlement cycle in 1993 to the third business day following trade execution (T+3)… Read More >>
T+1 Will Overhaul Securities Lending: Report
A new report from Citi — “Securities Services Evolution 2023” — argues that the move to shorter, T+1 settlement will leave no one in securities operations untouched. However, the report strongly argues that securities lending is in for a rollercoaster ride as securities firms move to T+1. Firms and other market participants will need to… Read More >>
SimCorp & EDI Team Up on Corporate Actions & Other News
Duo to offer ISO 15022 Corporate Actions Data Exchange Data International (EDI), a financial and economic data provider, and SimCorp, an investment management solutions provider, have agreed to combine efforts to offer corporate actions data to their clients, officials say. “The integration of EDI’s Worldwide Corporate Actions Service within SimCorp’s integrated front-to-back investment management platform… Read More >>
Watson Wheatley to Use Daymi’s APIs & Other News
New Links Will Help Users Manage iRecs Projects Watson Wheatley, a London-based provider of securities reconciliation, and Daymi, an interactive operations playbook provider based in Stockholm, have launched a connectivity partnership that will enable operations teams to better manage recurring projects, routines and tasks, officials say. “Using the API [application programming interface] connection that… Read More >>
