Asset manager BlackRock has been penalized $340,000 to settle allegations from the SEC that it forced employees who were leaving the firm to give up their rights to the proceeds from whistleblowing on violations of securities laws. “According to the SEC’s order, more than 1,000 departing BlackRock employees signed separation agreements containing violative language stating… Read More >>
Ops Staffs to Heed the Call of Disruption in 2017
(The word “disruption” has been noted by pundits as one of the most over-used in 2016. However, the term still accurately describes the changes underway in securities operations — and across financial services — that shook multiple groups, disciplines and conventional wisdom. To appease linguists and help operations staffs, FTF News in this final installment… Read More >>
Special Report: Coping With the Challenges of Regulatory Reporting
In this special report, FTF News delves into the many challenges that global financial services firms face when they have to meet the multiple, complex and sometimes overwhelming requirements of regulators overseeing major financial markets. As financial reform has taken root since the global financial crisis, regulatory reporting to multiple authorities across many geographies has… Read More >>
Global Markets to Brace for E.U. Regs in 2017
(FTF News is sampling the flurry of securities industry predictions that are hitting as 2017 becomes reality and 2016 starts to fade. This review of predictions will be presented in three parts this week. This is the first installment (click here for second installment and here for third installment) and it focuses on what may… Read More >>
CME Clearing Europe Gets DCO Green Light
CME Clearing Europe (CMECE), the London-based derivative clearinghouse, was granted registration as a derivatives clearing organization (DCO) by the CFTC, making it the seventh such foreign organization to receive the designation and the 16th overall. As both an authorized central counterparty clearinghouse (CCP) under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) regime and a registered DCO,… Read More >>
Meet the New Czar of Wall Street Regulation
Until recently, Congressman Jeb Hensarling, a Republican from Texas, was not that well known outside the beltway in Washington, D.C., and the hallways of Wall Street firms. But that is rapidly changing. Given the GOP’s control of the federal government, Hensarling may well become the sworn enemy of U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, the divisive Democrat… Read More >>
Regulatory Limbo Likely as Trump Repeals Dodd-Frank
(In this second installment of a two-part series, FTF News asked the head of a New York-based financial services regulatory consulting company, Mary Kopczynski, CEO of 8of9, and her staff about the new Trump administration and its plans to dismantle the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation. Answers from her and her team are in the Q&A… Read More >>
‘Trump’-ing Dodd-Frank Would Be a Huge Effort
(Editor’s note: President-Elect Donald J. Trump and his new administration will be juggling many new policy issues, including changes to the financial services reform efforts that began under the Obama administration. In this first part of a two-part series, FTF News has asked industry analysts what market structure changes they think may come from the… Read More >>
Five Clearinghouses Pass CFTC’s Stress Test
Key clearinghouses for derivatives markets have “ample resources to withstand extremely stressful market scenarios,” according to CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad, who was commenting upon the results of the regulator’s supervisory stress test of CME Clearing; ICE Clear Credit, ICE Clear Europe and ICE Clear U.S., all part of the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE); and LCH Clearnet…. Read More >>
SEC Chair Mary Jo White to Step Down
SEC Chair Mary Jo White will be stepping down as the Obama administration draws to a close, leaving behind a legacy of a reinvigorated agency amid criticism from the left. The departure will also allow President-Elect Donald J. Trump to reorient the SEC. SEC officials say that during White’s tenure, the regulator “brought more than… Read More >>
