The rally on Wall Street today spurred by the Fed indicating that its looser money policies will remain for the long term overshadows the good news that European Union regulators and the CFTC have come to major agreements over U.S. derivatives rules. This development will provide much-needed clarity for derivatives markets participants striving to keep… Read More >>
Top FCMs Help Buy Side with Central Clearing Deadline
Commodity pools, private funds, banks and securities firms began the second phase of required clearing yesterday for Category 2 credit default and interest rate swaps and top U.S. clearing brokers serving as futures commission merchants are taking steps to help buy-side firms meet their requirements mandated by the CFTC.The CFTC has waived the clearing requirement… Read More >>
XSP Builds App for DTCC’s New Messages as CFTC Suffers Big Data Nightmare
XSP Readies App for DTCC’s Reengineered Services Corporate actions processing provider XSP is working on “another product purely focused on the capture and display of ISO 20022 messages from the DTCC,” says Daniel E. Retzer, chief technology officer (CTO), managing director for SunGard’s XSP.The product, likely to come later this year, is intended to help… Read More >>
Forging IT Leadership in the Regulation Decade
A keynote speaker for the19th ISITC Annual Industry Forum and Vendor Show in Boston this week focused on the industry trade group’s raison d’être when he urged those in attendance to take on the “big challenges” such as driving a consensus to make standards reality such as the push for wider usage of ISO 20022-based… Read More >>
No Valentine’s Day Kiss for SEFs
The CFTC isn’t giving over-the-counter derivatives reform a Valentine’s Day kiss as expected. The regulator has put off a key vote on swap execution facilities (SEFs) until maybe March 1 as, reportedly, it is still working out how SEFs will function. I hope the delay will refocus attention on firms that operationally are not ready… Read More >>
Mary Jo White at the SEC
Former U.S. attorney Mary Jo White is likely to be nominated today as the new chairperson of the SEC, according to multiple news reports. This follows rampant speculation in Washington, D.C. over the past week about White taking the helm at the regulator. I am cautiously optimistic about this prospect and am hoping that her… Read More >>
Is the SEC Too Deadlocked to Function?
Back in November, I wrote about the misplaced attention to the horse race for the replacement of Mary L. Schapiro, who stepped down as the SEC chairman on Dec. 14. The focus should have been on quickly finding the right replacement and avoiding a deadlocked situation. Unfortunately, that’s not how it’s working out. As it… Read More >>
And, now, the Lame-Duck Session
As the euphoria from Tuesday fades, the President, Congress, regulators and lobbyists face a staggering agenda for the 2012 lame-duck session, which starts next week and runs to the end of the year. Many of the agenda items to be considered during what is usually a lackluster session will have a major impact upon financial… Read More >>
Analysis: The Presidential Race and Dodd-Frank
The winner of the U.S. Presidential race between incumbent Democrat Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney will oversee either the next chapter for Dodd-Frank or its demise. For financial services firm, the choice voters make today will help them move out of an IT project limbo and toward more regulatory compliance or initiatives for… Read More >>
Romney and Dodd-Frank
Conventional wisdom says Dodd-Frank will survive no matter who is elected president in November. But conventional wisdom also said that President Barack Obama would handily win last night’s first presidential debate. Yet an energized Mitt Romney, the GOP challenger, won. As the debate touched on Dodd-Frank, it’s time to ask again what Romney would do… Read More >>
