The incoming Trump administration will have clean slates as far as regulating U.S. securities and commodities markets as Rostin Behnam, chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), announced on January 7 that he will be stepping down from his position on January 20 with his final day being Friday, February 7. Behnam was… Read More >>
Is the SEC at a Digital Assets Crossroads?
(SEC Chair Gary Gensler will be stepping down from the top spot for the U.S. regulator on January 20, 2025, which means the new Trump administration will be looking for a replacement. Trump is likely to name a chairperson who has a more favorable stance toward digital assets and would be far less aggressive than… Read More >>
NatWest Blocks Staff Usage of WhatsApp, Skype & Messenger
Like many firms, NatWest Group is tightening controls on the communication channels that staff members can use via corporate devices. Earlier this month, the firm blocked the usage of WhatsApp, Skype, and Facebook Messenger because they lack a way to retrieve records, a situation that impedes regulatory compliance. The pushback on problematic communication apps and… Read More >>
SEC Chair Gensler to Step Down January 20
Gary Gensler will not be filling out his term as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as he will be stepping down as its 33rd Chair effective at Noon on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2025, according to an SEC announcement With the onset of the second Trump administration, Gensler was never expected to… Read More >>
ACA Group Acquires FINOP Consulting
Governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) solutions provider ACA Group hopes to bolster the FINRA and SEC compliance services it offers to broker-dealers via the acquisition of FINOP Consulting, an outsourcer for broker-dealers, officials say. Officials declined to provide the financial terms of the acquisition. FINOP Consulting offers financial operations services “that ensure a broker-dealer’s financial… Read More >>
Fenergo Moves Into Energy & Commodities Sectors
Fenergo, a provider of know your customer (KYC) management services, has begun offering its client and supply chain onboarding support to energy and commodities firms that want to improve operational efficiencies, data management, and regulatory obligations, officials say. Some of Fenergo’s clients are already “some of the largest energy and commodities firms,” officials say. “Historically… Read More >>
Look Before You Take That Quantum Leap
Quantum computing via cutting-edge hardware and algorithms is coming and there will be more hype as it gains ground in financial markets. First, a definition from IBM: “By taking advantage of quantum physics, fully realized quantum computers would be able to process massively complicated problems at orders of magnitude faster than modern machines. For a… Read More >>
Murex & Kaiko Target Portfolio Management of Digital Assets
Solutions provider Murex will be integrating crypto sector data from vendor Kaiko into the Murex trading, risk management, and processing offerings — and the duo may even build a new interface — as the result of a new strategic partnership, officials say. The combination of Murex’s cross-asset platform with Kaiko’s digital asset data, analytics, and… Read More >>
LSEG to Distribute CanDeal DNA Pricing Data
CanDeal Data & Analytics (DNA), a provider of Canadian over-the-counter (OTC) fixed income and derivatives pricing, will be making CanDeal DNA Consensus Overnight Index Swap (OIS) and Swap Rates information available via LSEG Data & Analytics, which will serve as the distributor. The new partnership “is an extension of CanDeal’s collaborative efforts with the Bank… Read More >>
Deadline Looms for Non-Centrally Cleared Bilateral Repos
A regulatory rule for the collection of data for non-centrally cleared bilateral U.S. repurchase agreements (repos) has a compliance date — December 2 — that is less than three months away. In May, the Office of Financial Research (OFR) without much fanfare adopted a final rule to “improve transparency within the U.S. repurchase agreement (repo)… Read More >>
