The SEC’s Enforcement Division reports that it had a seven percent increase in cases for fiscal year 2015 over the previous year and is breaking ground in several facets of the securities industry because of data and quantitative analytics and the help of the regulator’s other divisions. “The Enforcement Division’s leveraging of data, quantitative analytics… Read More >>
SWIFT Price Cuts Deeper than Expected
SWIFT’s five-year, SWIFT2015 strategy to shrink its pricing for its messaging services has beat the cooperative’s expectations because of “strong” traffic growth, cost controls and pricing schemes, resulting in a 57 percent price reduction expected by the end of this year. Officials from the cooperative announced the strategy result at SWIFT’s annual Sibos gathering, underway… Read More >>
SEC Slams Firms with Million-Dollar Settlements for Fee Schemes
The SEC announced that an investment advisory firm in Philadelphia, Taberna Capital Management, a subsidiary of RAIT Financial Trust, has agreed to pay more than $21 million to settle charges that it fraudulently retained fees belonging to collateralized debt obligation (CDO) clients, SEC officials say. The firm is also forbidden from doing business for three… Read More >>
Commodity Pool Operator Gets 17 Years in Prison for Fraud Scheme
A commodity pool operator based in Florida got 17 years in prison after being convicted for running an investment fraud scheme that chocked up more than $13 million in losses for investors and uncovered excesses such as six-figure salaries and the use of private airplanes and luxury cars, according to government officials. The sentencing on… Read More >>
SEC Charges Ex-Analyst for JPMorgan with Insider Trading
The SEC is charging a former investment banking analyst, Ashish Aggarwal, who worked in J.P. Morgan’s San Francisco office, with illegally relaying insider information to his friend that was “confidential information about clients involved in impending mergers and acquisitions of technology companies,” officials say. The SEC is also charging Aggarwal’s friend and another individual with… Read More >>
Exiger Division Hires Ex-Manhattan DA Chief of Staff
Exiger, a regulatory and financial crime, risk and compliance provider, has appointed the former chief of staff for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Jeff Schlanger as managing director and president of Exiger Advisory, a specialized consulting division, officials say. Schlanger served District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. and during his tenure oversaw the day-to-day operations… Read More >>
Fiserv Adds Two to Financial Crime Team
Fiserv reports that it has added financial-crime risk management analytics and technology specialists Timothy J. Grace and Manuel Da Silva to its ranks. Grace becomes senior vice president and general manager, risk and compliance solutions, and Da Silva becomes global product line manager, financial crime risk management solutions, according to a Fiserv statement. The vendor… Read More >>
Can Good Come from the Sins of Wall Street?
Thanks to the fines imposed upon Wall Street and insurance firms for their sins during the Great Recession, the New York State government has a $5.1 billion surplus for fiscal year 2016. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other politicians in Albany are scrambling to sort out how to spend the windfall in the best… Read More >>
Alacra Adds Three to Management
Alacra, a specialist vendor in client onboarding, reference data and business research solutions, reports the addition of three new members to its management, with the appointments of Alan Samuels (pictured to the left), Kelvin Dickenson and Kevin Kollar. “Each brings valuable skills and experience and the appointments are a significant step in the company’s continued… 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 >>
