Ransomware is on the rise across all sectors, including financial services, and in late June the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYSDFS) provided some statistics that are disturbing. “From January 2020 through May 2021, DFS-regulated companies have reported 74 ransomware attacks. These attacks ranged in impact, from crippling days-long shutdowns to minor disruption… Read More >>
Firms Must Bolster AML Systems: FATF President
The G20 countries have recommitted to the battle against financial crime. One reason: The president of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the self-described “global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog,” has prompted them to do more. In a plain-spoken speech at the recent Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting of the G20 countries,… Read More >>
Global Cyber-Crime Needs a Global Response: IMF
A recent white paper from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) endorses a global response to ongoing and worsening cyber-attacks upon financial services firms while laying out the specifics of the current worldwide situation. Spoiler alert: The current global situation is not good. To address the expected rough times… Read More >>
Hackers Hit 70% of Firms in 2020: Report
In a recent survey, fully 70 percent of financial services firms report experiencing a cyber-attack in the past 12 months — up more than 20 percent over 2019. That’s according to an October 2020 report conducted by the Ponemon Institute LLC for Keeper Security. Keeper Security is a Chicago-based provider of a cyber-security platform meant… Read More >>
Criminals Are Taking Aim During the Lockdown: Q&A
(Editor’s note: FTF News got a chance to ask Rachel Woolley, director of financial crime at Fenergo, about criminals who are taking advantage of more firms working remotely during the pandemic.) Q: In your opinion, why are fraudulent transactions and money laundering scams on the rise during the pandemic? A: As many of us have… Read More >>
Crypto-Crime Toll Hits $1.36B in Early 2020
The current year “could see the second-highest value in cryptocurrency crimes ever recorded,” according to a recent report issued by CipherTrace. Specifically, in the first five months of 2020 “crypto thefts, hacks, and frauds totaled $1.36 billion,” CipherTrace says. CipherTrace was founded in 2015, by Silicon Valley business people, and it was funded initially by… Read More >>
Task Force Takes On Global Post-Trade Woes
The Bank of England is setting up a task force to implement the recommendations of a special panel that focused last year on the $20 billion spent annually on a “patchwork of manual or outdated technological processes” that support post-trade operations at firms across the globe. The Post‑Trade Technology Market Practitioner Panel of the U.K.’s… Read More >>
TORA Expands Outsourced Trading Team
TORA Adds Two New York-Based Traders A provider of outsourced trading systems, TORA, maker of a cloud-based order and execution management system (O/EMS), reports the addition of two traders to its outsourced trading team: Mark Mazor and Joe Zonenshine. Mazor has more than 15 years of experience as a trader, working as a global execution… Read More >>
DBS Hiring to Fill 2,000 Posts in Singapore
DBS Also Confirms No-Layoffs Policy The DBS banking group in Asia has just announced that it will be hiring more than 2,000 people in Singapore in 2020, a commitment “to creating and protecting jobs amid pandemic,” officials say. “The announcement follows an earlier pledge by the bank that it will protect the livelihoods of its… Read More >>
Cloud Migration & Blockchain Outpace Cybersecurity Efforts
Cybersecurity efforts at many financial services firms are falling behind new IT systems such as cloud migration tools and blockchain systems, and the situation is likely to get worse, according to survey from the Synopsys Cybersecurity Research Center (CyRC) that was conducted by the Ponemon Institute. “The consensus among respondents to the survey is that… Read More >>
