The Federal Reserve is mulling what a digital currency backed by a central bank would look like. This should come as no surprise given the onset of blockchains and distributed ledger technology, and then cryptocurrencies and digital assets in many forms. They all have had an underlying driver – a disintermediation push to bring on… Read More >>
FinCEN Proposes SAR Sharing to Foreign Affiliates
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that urges the establishment of a limited-duration pilot program for sharing suspicious activity reports (SARs), in accordance with Section 6212 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020. The FinCEN notice also solicits public comment about the program. Under the pilot program, a… Read More >>
Gensler Mulls New Cybersecurity Rules via Expanded SCI
SEC Chair Gary Gensler wants to breathe new life into the fight against cyberattacks and is calling for a refresh of Regulation Systems Compliance and Integrity (Reg SCI) that might mean new cybersecurity hygiene and incident reporting rules for investment companies, investment advisers, and broker-dealers. During his speech for the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law’s… Read More >>
Credit Suisse Securities Settles Conflicts of Interest Case
FINRA, the financial industry’s non-profit self-regulatory authority, has fined Credit Suisse Securities $9 million for “failing to comply with securities laws and rules designed to protect investors, including the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Customer Protection Rule and FINRA rules requiring firms to disclose potential conflicts of interest when issuing research reports.” In a formulation that’s… Read More >>
tZero’s ATS Fumbled Disclosures: SEC
The SEC and the blockchain-based, broker-dealer tZero ATS have reached a settlement in a case where the regulator alleged that the firm while trading National Market System and digitally enhanced securities failed to make timely disclosures via Form ATS before key order book data was shared with third parties. tZero ATS, which is based in… Read More >>
CFTC’s First Chief Diversity Officer & More Briefs
CFTC Appointee Has 20 Years of Diversity Experience Tanisha Cole Edmonds has been appointed the CFTC’s first chief diversity officer and has been tasked with helping the agency advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) at all levels, officials say. Edmonds, who reports to Rostin Behnam, chairman of the CFTC, will oversee the Office of… Read More >>
Acadia & Transcend to Build ‘Collateral Validation Service’
Transcend, a collateral, liquidity, and funding solutions vendor, and Acadia, a provider of integrated risk management services, are partnering to automate collateral validation just as Phase 6 of the Uncleared Margin Rules (UMR) will require more industry participants — especially from the buy side — to pledge and receive collateral as margin. Vendor officials say… Read More >>
Deutsche Bank Shifts Prime Services to BNPP & More News Briefs
BNP Paribas Takes On 900 Staff Members BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank officials report that they completed by the end of last year the “transfer of clients, technology and key staff from Deutsche Bank’s global prime finance and electronic equities businesses to BNP Paribas,” which was according to the agreed-upon timeline. “Over the course of… Read More >>
NatWest Pleads Guilty via Fraud Case & Pays $35M
NatWest Markets Plc, a London, U.K.-based banking and financial services firm, has entered guilty pleas to charges of perpetrating frauds in the markets for U.S. Treasury securities and futures contracts, the United States Department of Justice reports. The NatWest guilty pleas, tendered in the District of Connecticut, were, specifically, to one count of wire fraud… Read More >>
Get Ready for the FTF Awards 2022
Get your nominations ready for the highly competitive FTF News Technology Innovation Awards 2022 — now in its 12th year — presented by Financial Technologies Forum and the FTF News service. Since 2011, FTF has celebrated and recognized the professionals, financial technology vendors, service providers, industry bodies, regulators, and other industry participants that have made… Read More >>