An investor bulletin from the SEC and the CFTC is warning investors to be fully aware of the risks that come with Bitcoin-based futures given the many pitfalls that come with cryptocurrency trading. The “Funds Trading in Bitcoin Futures” bulletin from earlier this month targets “investors considering a fund with exposure to the Bitcoin futures… Read More >>
ICE’s Bitcoin Custody Firm Gets a BitLicense
NYSDFS Approves Bakkt Marketplace The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYSDFS) has approved the application of Bakkt Marketplace, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bakkt Holdings, LLC, for virtual currency and money transmitter licenses, Financial Services Superintendent Linda A. Lacewell reports. The licenses will allow Bakkt Marketplace, a digital currency trading platform,… Read More >>
Empire State Bans & Fines Bitfinex & Tether
New York Attorney General Letitia James is requiring Bitfinex and Tether, two crypto-currency trading platforms, “to end all trading activity with New Yorkers.” Her reason for the exile? Their practices are allegedly “fraudulent and deceptive” and the crypto-traders are “hiding approximately $850 million in losses around the globe,” the New York A.G. says in a… Read More >>
Keep Hope Alive for 2021
It’s next to impossible to predict what the major trends in securities operations will be in 2021. The industry is still focused on what the new world will be after the fatal COVID-19 pandemic is defeated by vaccines and new behaviors. We may be in a holding pattern for at least the first six months… Read More >>
BlueCrest & SEC Resolve Charges of Investor Harm
BlueCrest Capital Management has settled charges via the SEC that it failed its investors by assigning its best human traders to a proprietary hedge fund while its external investors were serviced by an allegedly mediocre algorithm. The U.S. regulator reports that the hedge fund “has agreed to pay $170 million to settle charges arising from… Read More >>
Deutsche Bank Sells Postbank Systems to TCS
Sale Underscores Deutsche Bank’s Transformation Deutsche Bank is selling Postbank Systems AG to outsourcing giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a key milestone in the bank’s efforts to streamline operations and transform itself. “Under the terms of the transaction, TCS will acquire 100 percent of the shares of Postbank Systems AG from Deutsche Bank AG,” according… Read More >>
RJO Expands MENA Presence via Acquisition
RJO Acquires Lombard Forte Securities R.J. O’Brien & Associates, a Chicago-based futures brokerage and clearing firm, is expanding its presence in the Middle East via its acquisition of Lombard Forte Securities Ltd. (LFS), a Dubai-based interdealer broker (IDB). RJO, which acquired LFS through its affiliate RJO MENA [Middle East & North Africa] in Dubai, is… Read More >>
Task Force Takes On Global Post-Trade Woes
The Bank of England is setting up a task force to implement the recommendations of a special panel that focused last year on the $20 billion spent annually on a “patchwork of manual or outdated technological processes” that support post-trade operations at firms across the globe. The Post‑Trade Technology Market Practitioner Panel of the U.K.’s… Read More >>
DBS Hiring to Fill 2,000 Posts in Singapore
DBS Also Confirms No-Layoffs Policy The DBS banking group in Asia has just announced that it will be hiring more than 2,000 people in Singapore in 2020, a commitment “to creating and protecting jobs amid pandemic,” officials say. “The announcement follows an earlier pledge by the bank that it will protect the livelihoods of its… Read More >>
Why StatPro Agreed to the Confluence Takeover
StatPro’s board of directors announced late last week that it had agreed to a takeover offer from Confluence via Bidco in an all-cash agreement of approximately £161.1 million ($201.3 million). The deal will take the company private — apparently in an effort to give customers fuller product platforms via a combined company. To recap, StatPro… Read More >>
