Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (MSSB) is settling charges that it provided misleading information to retail clients in its retail wrap fee programs regarding trade execution services and transaction costs, and the firm will pay a $5 million penalty that will be distributed to harmed investors, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reports. The commission’s… Read More >>
SIFMA & SROs Settle CAT Fight
SIFMA and key securities exchanges/self-regulatory organizations (SROs) have settled a big disagreement over the liability for data breaches that may occur via the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) big data market surveillance initiative. As envisioned, the CAT data repository of securities transaction data would enable regulatory surveillance via “an extensive audit trail that will capture customer… Read More >>
Members Exchange Wins SEC’s & BlackRock’s Approval
A securities exchange start-up, the Members Exchange (MEMX), is on a roll via new strategic financing led by asset manager BlackRock, following a key approval by the SEC. While the launch of its first transaction venue was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, MEMX officials want their venue to get underway during the third quarter of… Read More >>
Bloomberg Settles Charges It Misled Tradebook Customers
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed “settled charges” against registered broker-dealer Bloomberg Tradebook LLC, founded in 1996 but no longer in operation, for “making material misrepresentations and omitting material facts” about how the firm handled certain customer trade orders. Bloomberg Tradebook has agreed to be censured and will pay a $5 million dollar… Read More >>
SEC & Exchanges Clash Over Market Data Order
U.S. equities exchanges are pushing back on the SEC’s sweeping order directing them and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to improve the governance structure for public, consolidated equity market data and the distribution of trade and quote data from trading venues. The order is intended to change the balance of power among trading venues… Read More >>
FIS to Invest $150M in FinTech Startups
FIS Ventures to Fund ‘Flutterwave’ Financial technology specialist vendor FIS reports that its new “corporate venture investment division” FIS Ventures has launched “an effort to invest a target of $150 million in promising fintech startups over the next three years.” The first FIS Ventures investment is in Flutterwave, a Lagos, Nigeria and San Francisco-based… Read More >>
DoJ Gives Back $378 Million to Madoff Victims
Some day, perhaps, Malaysian sovereign-fund alleged fraudster Jho Low, who has escaped prosecution by fleeing to China, will be played in the inevitable biopic by Jet Li or Chow Yun Fat. But until then Bernie Madoff will remain Wall Street’s King of All Media. In fact, Bernard L. Madoff was so a major a media… Read More >>
Morningstar Acquires Sustainalytics for $59M
Morningstar Ups Ownership of ESG Research Firm Morningstar, Inc., an investment research provider, reports an agreement to acquire Sustainalytics, a provider of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings and research. Morningstar also points out that it currently has an approximately 40 percent ownership stake in Sustainalytics, first acquired in 2017, and that, under the terms… Read More >>
Pandemic Overshadows CAT Reporting Milestone
Broker-dealers can start reporting their securities transaction order data to the big data market surveillance project known as the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT), but this milestone has been overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The CAT Operating Committee officially announced earlier this week that the CAT data repository is live for broker-dealer reporting. In addition, securities… Read More >>
FNZ-GBST Merger Under Scrutiny in the U.K.
CMA Starts Phase 2 Review of FNZ-GBST Union A U.K. regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), is moving ahead with a formal investigation into FNZ’s acquisition of GBST Holdings Ltd., following a recent announcement that CMA officials were mulling this next step. “On 30 March 2020, the CMA decided that it was or may… Read More >>
