The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reports settling charges against Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (MSSB) “stemming from the firm’s extensive failures, over a five-year period, to protect the personal identifying information, or PII, of approximately 15 million customers.” MSSB neither admits nor denies the charges. However, it has agreed to pay a $35 million… Read More >>
Nasdaq Launches a Digital Assets Business & Other News
Nasdaq Establishes a Custody Solution for Digital Assets Nasdaq reports the launch of a new business that it says will “power the digital asset ecosystem.” The new business “underpins Nasdaq’s ambition to advance and help facilitate broader institutional participation in digital assets by providing trusted and institutional-grade solutions, focused on enhanced custody, liquidity and integrity,”… Read More >>
Firms Must Capture Risky Communications: Q&A
(Gone are the days when financial services firms could tightly control contact between staff and clients and limit the behavior that facilitates transactions. But, in 2022, firms have to capture a growing list of digital interactions such as unified communication (UC) and web collaboration platforms such as the popular Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Symphony, and Cisco… Read More >>
Hearsay Updates System as SEC Readies New Rules
Financial services firms have about six weeks to comply with a new SEC rule that regards testimonials as advertisements, and many perceive the changes they will need to make as daunting. Hearsay Systems, a social media compliance, and digital client engagement provider, reports that it has updated its compliance capabilities to help firms come up… Read More >>
Broadridge Links NYFIX to Coinbase Prime & Other News
Broadridge & Coinbase Target Buy-Side Firms Broadridge Financial Solutions is partnering with crypto exchange Coinbase to provide an integrated solution that enables NYFIX clients to route order flow to Coinbase Prime via the FIX protocol for electronic trading, officials say. The partnership will also allow “buy-side traders to source crypto liquidity from Coinbase and trade… Read More >>
BofA Securities Fined $5M via OTC Reporting Case
“Oops, I did it again” might work as an excuse once, maybe even twice, especially if accompanied by a twinkly smile. But 7.4 million times? It’s not that innocent, as Britney might say. Let’s all sing along with the verse: FINRA, the self-regulating authority for U.S. broker-dealers, which is overseen by the Securities and Exchange… Read More >>
Corporate Actions Meets DLT via SWIFT & Other News
American Century, Citi & Vanguard Join SWIFT Project SWIFT, the global financial messaging, systems, and services cooperative, reports that it is “collaborating with seven securities players — including asset managers and custodians American Century Investments, Citi, Vanguard and Northern Trust — to drive efficiencies in communicating significant corporate events.” The corporate actions project is based… Read More >>
Get Ready for a Major Battle Over ESG
Call it a fight over conflicting ideological screening methods or a backlash against a backlash. But, regardless of the initial label, a major political battle over environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles is gathering steam. As conservative U.S. states fall in line against the usage of ESG principles for public pension investments, 13 state treasurers… Read More >>
Broadridge Targets Proxy Voting in Denmark & Other News
Proxy Solution Supports New Shareholder Rights Broadridge Financial Solutions reports that it has begun live operations of a “golden copy” event notification and direct vote execution service that is intended to streamline proxy voting in Denmark, The service is the result of a collaboration between Broadridge and Danish central securities depositary Euronext Securities Copenhagen, and… Read More >>
Insurance Investment Managers Can Optimize PE Returns: Q&A
(FTF News recently got time with Stan Szczepanik, managing director and head of insurance solutions at SS&C Technologies, and Scott Kurland, managing director at SS&C, who took questions about key trends facing insurance company investment portfolios — complex portfolios, a growing convergence between private equity (PE) and insurance entities, and the ways that artificial intelligence… Read More >>