RJO Promotes Staniford to President Chicago-based R.J. O’Brien & Associates (RJO), which is generally regarded as the oldest and largest independent futures brokerage and clearing firm in the United States, reports that Daniel Staniford has been named president. Staniford will “act on behalf of RJO and all of its global affiliates and related entities, including… Read More >>
CME Slated to Oversee Forward-Looking SOFR Rates
ARRC Wants CME Group to Serve as Administrator The push to replace LIBOR advanced with the news that derivatives exchanges operator CME Group is in the lead to administer forward-looking Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) term rates. The Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC), which oversees SOFR, has picked CME Group “following a robust request for proposals… Read More >>
Citi CEO Launches ‘Zoom-Free Fridays’
Citi Tries to Combat ‘Zoom Fatigue’ In a move getting a lot of attention, Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup, reached out to bank employees to address pandemic fatigue and instituted several major changes such as “Zoom-Free Fridays.” In a memo and blog posting, “Latest Update on the Future of Work at Citi,” dated March 24,… Read More >>
Voting Has Begun for the FTF Awards!
It’s awards season for Hollywood and, by the way, for the securities operations industry as FTF has just unveiled the nominees for the 2021 FTF News Technology Innovation Awards. This is the 11th year for the FTF Awards, and our categories and honors have evolved along with the many shifts in financial markets and across… Read More >>
BNY Mellon Readies Platform for Digital Asset Custody
Digital Assets Platform Due Later This Year New school crypto-currency and other digital assets have gotten the blessings of the establishment with the news that BNY Mellon is creating a digital assets unit slated to create a secure infrastructure to facilitate the transfer, safekeeping, and issuance of digital assets. The new Digital Assets unit “will… Read More >>
Mutualized Ops Automation Cuts Costs by 20%: DTCC
Post-trade systems and services provider DTCC is making its case for the cost-cutting value of mutualized, automated securities operations after surveying nine global broker-dealers that use its key offerings. The DTCC defines mutualization as “sharing the cost of utilitarian functions” that involves the adoption of “a no-touch processing workflow,” officials say. “Ultimately, the scale and… Read More >>
Deutsche Bank Sells Postbank Systems to TCS
Sale Underscores Deutsche Bank’s Transformation Deutsche Bank is selling Postbank Systems AG to outsourcing giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a key milestone in the bank’s efforts to streamline operations and transform itself. “Under the terms of the transaction, TCS will acquire 100 percent of the shares of Postbank Systems AG from Deutsche Bank AG,” according… Read More >>
ISITC Honors Karla McKenna’s Contributions to Ops Standards
Securities industry standards organization ISITC has named industry veteran Karla McKenna as the 2020 recipient of the ISITC Standard of Excellence Award for her many efforts to bring standardization and efficiency to trading operations. McKenna received the award during ISITC’s virtual conference, ISITC Week 2020, Sept 14-17. McKenna is also the 2017 recipient of the… Read More >>
Temenos Applies Artificial Intelligence to Fund Accounting
Software vendor Temenos is applying artificial intelligence (A.I.) technologies to fund accounting in an effort to help its fund administration clients identify false-positive exceptions faster, which can help them reduce the number of manual interventions they need to do as part of the exception management process. To help firms better identify false positives, Temenos has… Read More >>
State Street’s Alpha Hits Its Stride: Q&A
(State Street Alpha is a front-to-back office asset servicing platform that the global custodian bank is offering to investment managers, hedge funds, asset owners, and insurers. The front- and middle-office components of Alpha are from the Charles River Investment Management Solution (IMS) platform, a result of State Street Corp.’s $2.6 billion acquisition of Charles River… Read More >>
