The SEC’s controversial marketing rule, a comprehensive effort to regulate investment advisers’ marketing communications, remains a top concern among the chief compliance officers (CCOs) at these firms, according to the results of the 2023 Investment Management Compliance Testing (IMCT) survey. Nearly three-quarters of survey respondents, or 70.32 percent, chose advertising/marketing as the hottest compliance issue… Read More >>
ASX & ASIC Explore a Second CHESS Replacement Effort
Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) and Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) officials are launching the process to start a second major effort to replace the legacy Clearing House Electronic Subregister System or CHESS platform. This effort follows a major blockchain-based project that was slated to replace CHESS but was halted in November 2022 after multiple… Read More >>
Raymond James Settles Charges of High Fees for $12M
Raymond James & Associates, Inc., and Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. have been ordered to “return $8.25 million, plus interest, to customers who were charged unreasonably high fees.” That is the top-line conclusion of a multi-state investigation of brokers who overcharged investors. Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin, spearheaded the investigation, which also… Read More >>
SEC Revamps Rules for Money Market Fund Liquidity
The SEC is changing key rules governing how money market funds are handled during times of market stress and is imposing increases in minimum liquidity requirements to “provide a more substantial buffer” amid rapid redemptions, according to the regulator. However, as the 3-2 vote of the commissioners reflects there is controversy over these amendments of… Read More >>
Aladdin Links to LTX’s Liquidity Cloud & Other News
Aladdin & LTX Users Get Cross-Platform Access BlackRock’s Aladdin platform has a new channel to liquidity via its integration with the Liquidity Cloud offering from LTX, a subsidiary of Broadridge Financial Solutions, and the link helps common clients of LTX and Aladdin to access trading functions of both platforms, officials report. LTX is a… Read More >>
Paxos Takes On Settlement for the Commodities Market
The people behind the regulated blockchain and tokenization infrastructure platform Paxos want to make a point about the need for a more efficient settlement infrastructure for the commodities market. To help make their point, the Paxos system offers “multilateral payment netting and simultaneous settlement for the unallocated, over-the-counter (OTC) precious metals market,” officials say. In… Read More >>
FINRA Expels Firm on Multiple ‘Reg BI’ Charges
Broker-dealer Monmouth Capital Management has been expelled by the self-regulatory organization FINRA, which cites a long list of alleged violations led by excessive trading of client accounts that was not rectified despite many red flags pointing to problems. “Monmouth has been a FINRA member since July 2018. The firm has one branch office located in… Read More >>
Confluence Technologies Unveils TSR Tool & Other News
New Tool Helps Firms Meet SEC Rule Confluence Technologies has unveiled “Confluence Unity Rex,” which it says is a tool that will help firms comply with the SEC’s Tailored Shareholder Reports (TSR) rule. The solution provider says that Confluence Unity Rex “mines and pinpoints discrepancies in language and numeric information between financial reports,” and that… Read More >>
Group Proposes Standards for the ‘E’ in ESG
While a major backlash is underway against investment strategies based upon environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) released in late June a proposal for global sustainability disclosure standards that could bring some clarity to investing based on environmental concerns — the “E” of ESG. If adopted, the standards will… Read More >>
Carbon Markets Fraud Is On the CFTC’s Radar
Fraud in the burgeoning carbon credit markets is on the radar of the CFTC’s Whistleblower Office in the Division of Enforcement, which recently issued an alert asking the public to report potential Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) violations in this marketplace. The regulator notes that voluntary carbon markets “can support the transition to a low-carbon economy… Read More >>
