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 >>
FIA to Biden: Derivatives Can Combat Climate Change
After four long years of an administration that routinely dismissed and disparaged environmental issues, the pressing need to combat climate change finally has an ally. That ally is the new president. And in turn, President Biden has an ally in Walt Lukken, the president and chief executive officer of the Futures Industry Association (FIA), who… Read More >>
Pandemic Drives Up Costs for Fighting Financial Crime
The pandemic is surging and, partly because of the coronavirus epidemic, so is the cost of monitoring and reporting financial crime. The graphs and spreadsheets that financial services professionals pore over are bringing the disturbing news. And as one veteran observer of the securities industry puts it, Wall Street doesn’t like what it sees. Just… Read More >>
Commerzbank Fills CEO Post via Deutsche Bank Hire
Manfred Knof to Replace Martin Zielke at Commerzbank Frankfurt-based Commerzbank has named its next CEO as Manfred Knof who comes from Deutsche Bank where he’s been head of a competing private banking business for Germany. Knof, 55, will oversee the bank’s managing directors, starting January 1 of next year. He will succeed Martin Zielke, the… 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 >>
Nymex, Ex-Staffers Settle Insider Info Sharing Case
The New York Mercantile Exchange, a unit of the CME Group since 2008, will pay a $3.5 million penalty, as part of the settlement of a case brought by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission that charged Nymex with violations of both the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations. In addition, two former Nymex employees,… Read More >>
RJO Expands MENA Presence via Acquisition
RJO Acquires Lombard Forte Securities R.J. O’Brien & Associates, a Chicago-based futures brokerage and clearing firm, is expanding its presence in the Middle East via its acquisition of Lombard Forte Securities Ltd. (LFS), a Dubai-based interdealer broker (IDB). RJO, which acquired LFS through its affiliate RJO MENA [Middle East & North Africa] in Dubai, is… Read More >>
Sell-Side Firms Are Reviving Key Projects: SmartStream
(Sell-side firms are reviewing and reengaging strategic projects in the wake of a pandemic that caused staff to work remotely, says Jason Ang, program manager, TLM Collateral Management, at SmartStream Technologies. This return to strategic projects amid lockdowns and re-openings means the sell side is re focusing on collateral and its importance for credit risk… 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 >>
