Two new reports by regulators on the state of the financial services industry’s cyber-security readiness find that while firms have made definite progress in recent months, much work remains to be done to shore up cyber-defenses. The reports, issued Feb. 3 by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the SEC, draw on the findings… Read More >>
FINRA Letter Pushes Building Blocks of Compliance
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has released its tenth annual 2015 Regulatory and Examination Priorities letter, pushing broker-dealers toward the “building blocks for a stronger culture of compliance.” The FINRA letter highlights major concerns that firms will face this year in areas such as key sales practices, and financial and operational and market integrity… Read More >>
FINRA to Provide Regulatory Services for CBOE & C2
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has signed an agreement with the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and C2 Options Exchange (C2) under which it will provide market surveillance, financial surveillance, examinations, investigations, and disciplinary services to CBOE and C2, in addition to other regulatory services, effective January 1, 2015. Both CBOE and C2 are… Read More >>
FINRA Survey Finds Big Support for ‘Cop on the Beat’
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has unveiled a survey of 1,000 investing adults, finding that fully 92 percent of investors queried agreed to some degree that “it is important to have a regulatory ‘cop on the beat’ to protect investors and police the markets.” Specifically, 62 percent of survey respondents strongly agreed with that… Read More >>
FINRA Fills Two Public Governor Posts
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) has named two new public governors, Joshua S. Levine and Robert W. Scully, to its board of governors, officials say. Levine is currently a managing director at Kita Capital Management, and previously served as E*TRADE’s chief technology and operations officer. He also serves on the board of several non-profits…. Read More >>
Billion-Dollar Settlements Sting A-List Banks and Investors
The best known aphorism attributed to the late U.S. Senator Everett Dirksen, the honey-voiced Republican Minority Leader in the LBJ era, is “a billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.” One wonders what Dirksen would make of the multi-billion-dollar settlements that Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and other giant banks… Read More >>
A Compliance Speed Bump in an Era of ‘Social Selling’
LinkedIn, a social media site for business interactions, is hoping to take “social selling” to the next level via an upgrade of Sales Navigator to a software-as-a-service (SasS), enterprise-wide offering. Anticipating demand for Sales Navigator, social media compliance provider Hearsay Social is developing capabilities to help its financial services clients use the sales tool and… Read More >>
ADR Corporate Action Processing Grows Up
Michael Silverence is hoping that the days of using PDFs to spread the word in the U.S. and globally about the corporate actions impacting American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) are numbered. The BNY Mellon vice president, who oversees global product management, particularly innovation and technology, has been heavily involved in a project to automate corporate actions… Read More >>
Does Wall Street Own Washington?
Larry Doyle, an ex-mortgage-backed securities trader, is saying in his new book that Wall Street owns Washington, big banks must be broken up, and investors are ill served by regulators. Doyle blames it on a conspiracy among Wall Street firms, politicians, and regulators, arguing that the system is broken. Strangely enough, he thinks most people… Read More >>
McPartland Leaves BlackRock as ACTIV Hires from Morningstar
McPartland Leaves BlackRock for Greenwich Associates Kevin McPartland has left asset manager BlackRock, where he was a director in the electronic trading and market structure group for little over a year, and joined Greenwich Associates as principal to lead a new market structure and technology advisory service, say officials at the market research firm.The new… Read More >>
