The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority reports that Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC, and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC, two units of the San Francisco-based, multinational financial services company, will pay more than $2 million on charges of “supervisory violations related to variable annuity switches.” The Wells Fargo units will pay an additional $1.4 million… Read More >>
New OCIE Team to Focus on Emerging Threats
In the wake of a pandemic lockdown, the SEC has created a small army of experts that will work with the regulator’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) to quickly react to “emerging threats and current market events” and deliver expertise and resources to the SEC regional offices. The OCIE oversees examinations of SEC-registered… Read More >>
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Settles Blue Sheets Case
FINRA has censured the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC brokerage for “at least” 869 allegedly inaccurate blue sheets, submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and FINRA from February 2014 to April 2017. The financial services industry’s self-regulatory authority also has fined the brokerage’s investment banking parent Morgan Stanley $875,000. FINRA says it discovered… Read More >>
OCIE Warns Private Funds Against Conflicts, Hidden Fees
A recent Risk Alert issued by the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) has found “deficiencies” and possible conflicts of interest in the actions of private equity and hedge fund advisors that might have “caused investors in private funds … to pay more in fees and expenses than they should have or resulted… Read More >>
Sell-Side Firms Are Reviving Key Projects: SmartStream
(Sell-side firms are reviewing and reengaging strategic projects in the wake of a pandemic that caused staff to work remotely, says Jason Ang, program manager, TLM Collateral Management, at SmartStream Technologies. This return to strategic projects amid lockdowns and re-openings means the sell side is re focusing on collateral and its importance for credit risk… Read More >>
Deutsche Bank Resolves Spoofing & Swaps Data Cases
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission reports the settlement of two enforcement orders involving Deutsche Bank. In one, the bank “resolved federal court charges stemming from alleged violations of various swap data reporting and other regulatory violations,” the CFTC says. In the second enforcement action, the CFTC “issued an administrative order against Deutsche Bank Securities Inc…. Read More >>
ISITC’s Workaround for SWIFT & Negative Trading Prices
The Derivatives Working Group of ISITC, a securities industry standards group, is helping to spotlight a problem that has gotten lost in the shuffle of a pandemic and sudden recession. Essentially, how do users of the SWIFT financial messaging network process negative trading prices on commodity futures? “The effort was spurred by recent market event… Read More >>
SEC Probe Spurs Firm to Revamp MNPI Policies
Private equity firm Ares Management is settling with the SEC over charges that it lacked proper policies and procedures to oversee the handling of “material nonpublic information [MNPI],” a.k.a. insider information, according to the regulator’s order. The case revolves around the firm’s representation on a board of directors “of a listed issuer” in the Ares investment… Read More >>
Stifel Nicolaus Fined $3.6M on UIT Violation Charges
Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc., an investment bank, has been fined $3.6 million by FINRA, a regulatory authority for the financial services industry, for allegedly having an inadequate supervisory system in place to detect potentially unsuitable unit investment trust (UIT) rollovers, and also for failing to provide customers with accurate information so they can make… Read More >>
Smarsh Acquires Entreda to Bolster Cybersecurity Support
Electronic communications archiving vendor Smarsh will be able to bolster its cybersecurity risk and compliance offerings to broker-dealers, registered investment advisors (RIAs) and banks via its acquisition of Entreda, maker of a platform that unifies these services. Smarsh offers archiving and compliance support for email, social media, text messaging, instant messaging, websites, and voice. Through… Read More >>
