Speakers at a conference on Bitcoin noted that as incongruous as it may seem for a crytocurrency created by anarcho-capitalists, regulation could be an important first step in bringing Bitcoin the trust and recognition it needs before it can really take off. “Nobody is excited about regulation,” says Sarah Martin, CEO of digital currency public… Read More >>
Q&A: Five Minutes with Timothy Massad
Editor’s Note: In a video interview with FTF News, the chairman of the CFTC discusses the regulator’s priorities, the recent Flash Crash enforcement action, data management and reporting issues. This is a transcript of the video interview, which has been posted online. Q: Everyone is telling you what the top priorities are for the CFTC. What… Read More >>
GBST Now Certified for Omgeo CTM
GBST Holdings Ltd. (GBST), a provider of securities transaction and fund administration software for the financial services industry, reports that it and Omgeo, a wholly owned subsidiary of The DTCC, have developed and certified a new iteration of GBST’s Syn~ application that features connectivity with Omgeo’s Central Trade Manager (CTM). The new application provides clients… Read More >>
Uncleared Swaps Hit With Steep Margin Increases
U.S. regulators unveiled rules for derivatives on Wednesday that could make margin requirements for uncleared swaps 40 to 45 percent higher than cleared transactions, and could lead to a host of operational and legal difficulties for firms trading in them. The proposed rules establish the minimum amount of collateral that financial firms would have to… Read More >>
Regulatory Onslaught Brings New Respect for Compliance
Over the past few years chief compliance officers (CCOs) have gone from wet blankets to hot tickets. In the process they’ve seen their job description undergo a shift just as fundamental as the rapidly changing regulations whose impact on financial services firms have thrust CCOs into the spotlight. The job market for CCOs and other… Read More >>
Is Facebook Your New Corporate Actions Data Provider?
Could social media sites become major conduits for corporate actions notifications? I’m asking this in the wake of the SEC clearing the way for public companies to use social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter for key announcements. Earlier this week, the SEC declared that social media sites are equivalent to corporate websites as… Read More >>
Compliance and the Promised Land
One of the legacies of 2012—a tumultuous year by anyone’s standards—is that financial product innovation has been put on the shelf by the constant flow of new regulations (with more to come) and a weak recovery that has squeezed profit margins. Most firms have been quickly shifting their energies and budgets to compliance. In fact, as… Read More >>
OTC Overhauls Hit Home
Shortly after CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton declared at the 7th Annual OTC Derivatives Operations & Processing Conference last week that the Dodd-Frank reforms will deliver transparency, it became clear during a subsequent discussion that if firms haven’t done so, they need to get their IT architectures in place now to stay on top of the… Read More >>
The Matrix Reasserts Itself
In the wake of the Great Recession, the matrix of governments, central banks, regulators, judicial systems and politicians across the globe has been busy reasserting itself in the financial services industry throughout 2011, sometimes with stunning results as we’ve seen this week. First, I am happy to report that sometimes the world’s central banks… Read More >>
US Regulators Are Looking for Rock Stars Too
US regulators have been recruiting from the financial services industry for top talent just as Congress delays new funding for the rule-making agencies. A spokesperson for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has confirmed that it has definitely increased its recruitment from the securities industry over the past two years in an effort to keep… Read More >>
