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 >>
FTF & the VX Launch the FTF Research Institute!
FTF officially launched the FTF News service on Valentine’s Day 2011, and I’m happy to say that 12 years later, we are still going strong. Perhaps for the sake of inviting good luck, on Valentine’s Day 2023, FTF and the ValueExchange (the VX) officially launched the FTF Research Institute, formed through a new partnership with… 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 >>
Nominations Are Open for the 2023 FTF Awards!
We are thrilled to launch the nomination process for the 2023 FTF News Technology Innovation Awards — an industry-wide competition now in its 13th year — presented by Financial Technologies Forum (FTF) and the FTF News service. In addition to our classic securities operations and related categories, we have four new categories that reflect industry… 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 >>
A.I. for Recs Will Need Human Oversight: Q&A
(Editor’s note: The financial services industry “is unique and will always require human interaction to cover things like reviews and approvals. It is, however, possible that robots could cause somewhat of a disruption in the financial industry, especially in technology sectors,” says Julian Trostinsky, global director of customer success for Gresham Technologies, in this second… Read More >>
STP Investment Services Acquires WealthSite & Other News
STP to Add WealthSite’s Accounting Engine STP Investment Services, an investment-operations service provider, reports the acquisition of WealthSite. WealthSite is a company that “provides a customized accounting, portfolio management, reporting and analytics platform to single and multi-family offices, traditional wealth advisory firms and money managers serving ultra-high-net-worth (UNHW) clients,” STP officials say in a prepared… Read More >>
LSEG Buys Acadia to Bolster Post-Trade Wares
The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has acquired Acadia, maker of margin calculation and risk mitigation offerings, in a bid to expand the LSEG’s post-trade wares for the uncleared derivatives transaction space, officials say. Acadia offers risk management, margining, and collateral services to help securities firms navigate uncleared, over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets. Acadia offers product… Read More >>
Neuberger Berman to Use Fund Recs Platform & Other News
Neuberger Berman to Use Velocity for EMIR Reconciliation Neuberger Berman, a New York-based, private, employee-owned investment management firm, will be using a platform from cloud-based reconciliation software vendor Fund Recs for trade reconciliation via the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) guidelines. The firm, which oversees $418 billion in client assets, will use the Fund… Read More >>
BNY Mellon & Baton Bring DLT to Collateral & Other News
BNY Mellon & Baton Systems Form Partnership Distributed ledger technology (DLT) is at the heart of a new post-trade, collateral management collaboration between BNY Mellon and Baton Systems. The joint offering links Baton’s central clearing counterparty (CCP) network with BNY Mellon’s Enterprise Continuous Portfolio Optimization (ECPO) service in an effort to help mutual clients improve… Read More >>