The new capital requirements recently finalized by the Federal Reserve could force big banks to withdraw from non-core businesses and impact liquidity, trends that could have unpredictable knock-on effects for buy-side firms and operations teams, industry analysts say. The Fed released its revised capital rules on July 20, under which big banks are required to… Read More >>
Medium-Sized Firms Get Stress Tests Too: Regulators
In case they have forgotten, medium-sized securities firms with total consolidated assets between $10 billion and $50 billion have been reminded by regulators about the disclosure requirements for the annual stress tests that they are required to conduct. “These medium-sized companies are required to conduct annual, company-run stress tests implementing a provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall… Read More >>
Industry Solves Half of the Tri-Party Repo Risk Problem
Bank of New York Mellon recently completed its leg of an industry initiative to reduce risk in the tri-party repo markets, following the disastrous role those markets played in causing the 2008 financial crisis. After successfully implementing a series of reforms laid out by the Federal Reserve-led Task Force for U.S. Tri-Party Repo Infrastructure Reform,… Read More >>
Bernanke Named Pimco Senior Advisor
The Pacific Investment Management Co., the investment management firm also known as Pimco, reports that Ben Bernanke, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, will serve as a senior advisor to the firm. It’s the second reported consulting arrangement in recent days for the man who led the Fed through the Great Recession. Bernanke also signed… Read More >>
Ben Bernanke to Advise Citadel
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will soon be serving as an outside senior advisor for hedge fund Citadel, officials say. In this position Bernanke will consult with Citadel teams on developments in monetary policy, financial markets and the global economy. Citadel has total assets under management (AUM) of about $25 billion. “We are… Read More >>
Fed Wants LEIs for Certain Reporting Forms
The Federal Reserve Board on Monday, March 16, proposed that banking organizations be required to include their existing Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs) on certain regulatory reporting forms, officials say. The LEI standard is a 20-character alphanumeric code that is universal and uniquely corresponds to a single legal entity. The LEI reference code enables easier identification… Read More >>
Greed, Governance and the Trust Factor
Good governance is a watchword of today’s financial services industry. But are the new regulations and requirements enough to restore trust? The public’s trust in the industry “languishes at about the 24 percent level, with many expressing continued concerns regarding both excessive compensation and a lack of integrity among top corporate managers,” SEC Commissioner Luis… Read More >>
Is the Fed Too Cozy with the Big Banks?
The secret recordings of Carmen Segarra, a former Federal Reserve bank examiner stationed at Goldman Sachs, have caused a quite stir since they were aired last week in a segment on the popular podcast “This American Life.” The tapes not only allege wrongdoings at Goldman, but also instances of the Fed, the firm’s primary supervisor, handling the… Read More >>
Regulatory & Investor Demands Spur New Respect for Risk Ops
Risk management operations is finally coming into its own as post-Great Recession regulatory and investor pressures begin to bear down on buy- and sell-side firms in the U.S. and the European Union. On the sell side, big banks in the U.S. and the EU are being forced to take action by the crack of the… Read More >>
Swaps Margin Rules to Slam Big Sell-Side Firms
New swap margin rules could push more derivatives trading onto clearinghouses and create a host of operational difficulties at big banks, but may leave the buy side relatively unscathed when they go into effect next year, analysts say. Last Wednesday regulators unveiled a draft proposal of the rules, which establish a minimum amount of collateral… Read More >>
