A recent alert from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warns financial services firms using Barracuda Email Security Gateway (ESG) Appliances, even those with “up-to-date security patches,” that they “remain at risk for continued computer network compromise from threat actors exploiting a zero-day vulnerability.” The FBI’s alert also referred to “suspected PRC Cyber Actors,”… Read More >>
Exchanges & FINRA Told to Revamp NMS & Other News
SEC: Current NMS Has Too Many Conflicts of Interest Citing conflicts of interest in the current national market system (NMS), the SEC is ordering equity exchanges such as the Nasdaq Stock Market and New York Stock Exchange, and FINRA, the self-regulatory organization (SRO) for U.S. broker-dealers, to revamp and improve the governance of market data… Read More >>
SS&C Buys MFA Business from Iress & Other News
Acquisition to Help SS&C’s Transfer Agent Business Iress, a trading software and services provider, is selling its managed funds administration (MFA) business to SS&C Technologies, which will use the acquisition to strengthen its position as a transfer agent in Australia, officials say. Iress is based in Melbourne, Australia. “The MFA business [from Iress] is… Read More >>
Firms Want More ESG Data: Report
“More than nine in 10 executives plan to increase ESG data spend, but data linkage and managing multiple vendor feeds dilute value,” according to a recent survey by market data and news giant Bloomberg and market research firm Adox Research. Adox provides “advice and marketing for banks, asset managers, custodians, and tech providers.” “ESG,” as… Read More >>
T+1 Will Overhaul Securities Lending: Report
A new report from Citi — “Securities Services Evolution 2023” — argues that the move to shorter, T+1 settlement will leave no one in securities operations untouched. However, the report strongly argues that securities lending is in for a rollercoaster ride as securities firms move to T+1. Firms and other market participants will need to… Read More >>
Common Cloud Controls Will Expand Capabilities: FINOS
(The Fintech Open Source Foundation (FINOS) and financial services giant Citi recently announced that they launched an open standard project that will formulate consistent controls for cloud computing cybersecurity, resiliency, and compliance that cloud service providers (CSPs) can use as the basis for a common set of services. The “Common Cloud Controls (CCC)” effort is… Read More >>
Goldman Sachs Reportedly Hiring for Ops & Other News
Fed Concerns May Be Spurring Hiring Spree Goldman Sachs Group has reportedly been on a hiring spree for back-office operations and its compliance department positions as a result of supervisory issues raised by Federal Reserve officials, according to multiple media reports, including those from Bloomberg and Reuters. The Bloomberg report noted that the firm intends… Read More >>
Instinet Fined $3.8M for Alleged CAT Reporting Failures
Instinet has paid a $3.8 million fine to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and settled allegations that the institutional broker failed to fulfill its reporting obligation “timely and accurately” to the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) system from June 2020 to the present, according to the self-regulatory organization (SRO). The ambitious, big data, securities transaction… Read More >>
The Fed Will Supervise Crypto Assets & More
In early August, the Federal Reserve Board let the banks know that it is keeping an eye on their “novel activities” such as those involving crypto-assets and distributed ledger technology (DLT) otherwise known as blockchain systems. “The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday [Aug. 8] provided additional information on its program to supervise novel activities in… Read More >>
SS&C Bolsters Tier 1 CRM Platform & Other News
SS&C’s Tier 1 Gains Users & Features The Tier 1 capital markets and investment banking customer relationship management (CRM) platform from SS&C Technologies has been enhanced, has more than 1,000 new end-users, and has the support of more staff members, officials say. The new features “include improved data insights and in-app information delivery,” officials… Read More >>
