The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) quietly let it be known that it is creating an office “dedicated to responsible innovation” that will build a formal framework to help the agency “identify, understand, and respond” to the growing number of FinTech changes impacting the federal banking system. Citing the exponential growth of… Read More >>
Why the Wells Fargo Mess Makes Wall Street Nervous
My guess is that the dizzying fall from grace for Wells Fargo Chairman and CEO John Stumpf is making some Wall Street executives a little nervous, especially if they have something to hide. To recap, after a scandal broke about the bank setting up fraudulent consumer accounts, the Wells Fargo board of directors decided this… Read More >>
A Break in a Major Hacking & Fraud Scheme
Earlier this month there was a development in one of the most ingenious hacking and securities fraud efforts in a long time — one that in theory would make for a great crime/thriller movie. To refresh your memory, we reported [ http://bit.ly/2bLHdUQ ] that in a major anti-fraud action, the SEC issued charges against 32… Read More >>
FTF Awards Nominations Close on February 5
Forget the glib Golden Globes, the scandal-ridden Oscars and the snooty awards by vicious film critics and please focus your attention on the FTF News Technology Innovation Awards 2016, presented by Financial Technologies Forum and its news arm. We were the first to put such a great spotlight on securities operations — others have tried… Read More >>
A Look Back at the Tops in Ops
It’s that time of year when FTF News pauses to review the top securities operations trends of great interest to our readership in the year that was 2015. It’s been a year in which major banks and other financial institutions were slammed with penalties by the regulators. Mergers and acquisitions were rampant among big industry… Read More >>
Will “The Big Short” Spawn New Wall Street Crooks?
A new movie, “The Big Short,” full of Hollywood heavyweights who might know what a derivative is, is getting a lot of Oscar buzz and some headlines that suggest it will make you mad all over again about the Great Recession. Paramount Pictures has slated a limited release for the movie for this Friday, Dec…. Read More >>
The Ongoing Woes of FCMs
Derivatives expert John P. Needham, president of Needham Consulting, alerted us more than a year ago at Financial Technology Forum’s DerivOps Chicago conference in April 2014 to the fact that 10 futures commission merchants (FCMs) are handling 75 percent of U.S. customer segregated funds…
Cryptocurrencies Gain Ground Amid Real Money
The world of cryptocurrencies is an alternate yet visible reality that is gaining ground slowly but surely amid the established Matrix of supposedly real money. To recap, the main digital/cryptocurrency is the non-political online Bitcoin “backed exclusively by code,” according to the Bitcoin Foundation website. “This means that — ultimately — it is only as… Read More >>
SIFMA Tech Show in Limbo?
Sometimes interesting things fall into your lap and that’s the case with a bit of news about the future of the SIFMA Tech conference. It appears the future of the venerable technology management show of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association is in a state of flux. I reached out to SIFMA’s public relations… Read More >>
Ops Story of the Year: The Return of the T+2 Push
It’s been a dynamic year when straight through processing (STP) and the push for T+2 settlement cycles made big comebacks while disturbing layoffs and ongoing fines and penalties appeared to be on the rise. We at FTF News have compiled the following list of the top Ops stories, trends, new currents and online video coverage… Read More >>
