We are thrilled to launch the nomination process for the 2023 FTF News Technology Innovation Awards — an industry-wide competition now in its 13th year — presented by Financial Technologies Forum (FTF) and the FTF News service. In addition to our classic securities operations and related categories, we have four new categories that reflect industry… Read More >>
FIA Wants FCMs Exempt from Repo Clearing Proposal
Walt L. Lukken, president and CEO, of the Futures Industry Association (FIA) has sent a letter to the SEC asking the regulator to exempt futures commission merchants (FCMs) from complying with proposed rules that would set new standards for covered clearing agencies for U.S. Treasury securities. “The SEC has proposed rules that would significantly expand… Read More >>
Coinbase Pays $50M Penalty for Alleged Compliance Failures
Another day, another crypto failure? Seems that way, doesn’t it? Consider Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange. Coinbase, Inc. has agreed to pay a $50 million penalty and shell out another $50 million to bulk up its compliance program. The alleged compliance failures at Coinbase Inc. were wide-ranging and longstanding — so says the New York Department… Read More >>
The Fed Issues a Crypto Warning & Other News
The Fed, FDIC & OCC Want More Crypto Controls Key U.S. regulatory agencies for financial services are creating processes that will require banking organizations to “engage in robust supervisory discussions” about proposed and current crypto-asset-related activities, according to a recently issued joint statement on risky crypto-assets. “By ‘crypto-asset,’ the agencies refer generally to any digital… Read More >>
‘Ghost Cattle’ Scam Creates AML Woes for FCM
CHS Hedging, a registered futures commission merchant based in Inver Grove Heights, Minn., is paying a penalty of $6.5 million to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to settle charges that it had inadequate anti-money laundering (AML), risk management, recordkeeping, and supervisory controls over a trading account of a cattle rancher running a $244 million “Ghost… Read More >>
The Post-Trade Talent Crisis Is Real: Q&A
(Editor’s note: Post-trade teams at financial services firms have to take on new asset classes, regulations, data quality controls, and other requirements while also trying to attract and retain new talent, says Julian Trostinsky, global director of customer success for Gresham Technologies, in this Q&A for FTF News. A provider of real-time processes, procedures, and… Read More >>
Options Technology to Celebrate the ‘Derry Girls’
This blog generally focuses on very serious, financial technology issues that impact the lives of those working in operations, IT management, enforcement and compliance, regulatory matters, and much more. However, we do occasionally allow ourselves to take a diversion from the hard news, strictly business mandate to focus on related matters that might be fun…. Read More >>
UBS Australia Deploys Syn~Ops Suite & Other News
FNZ Scores Sixth Win in Australia UBS Australia and vendor FNZ report that the bank has deployed the Syn~Ops post-trade securities processing product suite across multiple asset classes in markets around the globe — the sixth Australian firm to migrate to Syn~Ops. The FNZ’s Syn~ product suite offers “real-time trade and settlements processing capabilities at… Read More >>
STP Investment Services Acquires WealthSite & Other News
STP to Add WealthSite’s Accounting Engine STP Investment Services, an investment-operations service provider, reports the acquisition of WealthSite. WealthSite is a company that “provides a customized accounting, portfolio management, reporting and analytics platform to single and multi-family offices, traditional wealth advisory firms and money managers serving ultra-high-net-worth (UNHW) clients,” STP officials say in a prepared… Read More >>
Looking Back at Our Content for 2022
First, we at FTF & FTF News are hoping that you are enjoying or are about to enjoy a great and well-deserved holiday break. FTF, too, is taking a break for a week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. We will not leave you hanging, though. We have lined up special alerts for you —… Read More >>