The Bank of England is setting up a task force to implement the recommendations of a special panel that focused last year on the $20 billion spent annually on a “patchwork of manual or outdated technological processes” that support post-trade operations at firms across the globe. The Post‑Trade Technology Market Practitioner Panel of the U.K.’s… Read More >>
Merrill Lynch & FINRA Resolve Mutual Fund Fees Case
FINRA has ordered broker-dealer Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. to “pay more than $7.2 million in restitution and interest to customers who incurred unnecessary sales charges and paid excess fees in connection with mutual fund transactions.” In a formulation that will be familiar to FTF News readers, the firm says: “In settling this… Read More >>
Apifiny Launches Blockchain-based Settlement Network
‘Roxe’ Pitched as a New Way to Clear & Settle Apifiny, a San Francisco-based global transfer network services provider, has officially debuted a settlement network based on blockchain technology, dubbed Roxe, that has been designed for “instant global clearing and settlement of payments and remittances, traditional assets, and digital assets,” according to the vendor…. Read More >>
DTCC Tests DLT’s Usage for Post-Trade Ops
Post-trade infrastructure provider the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. has launched two experiments — dubbed Project Ion and Project Whitney — that are collaborative industry efforts to investigate how distributed ledger technology (DLT) might strengthen post-trade processes such as the elimination of manual processes in the private markets, and new securities settlement via public markets,… Read More >>
Morgan Stanley Settles Wrap-Fee Case with SEC
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 >>
Firms Need Collaboration to Keep Up: Q&A
(In the past, some financial services firms have been known to follow the mantra of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” notes Mark Bolton, head of international sales for Gresham Technologies. Yet the financial technology landscape has been changing fast and firms will have to keep up or risk having “solutions that are unable… 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 >>
RBC & TD Settle Charges of FX Noncompliance
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has approved settlements with the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and the Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) that arise from “compliance failures” in the banks’ foreign exchange (FX) trading businesses. “These failures allowed RBC and TD FX traders to share confidential customer information in chatrooms with FX traders at competitor firms,” the… Read More >>
Deutsche Bank Settles FCPA Case for $16 Million
Deutsche Bank has reached a $16 million settlement with the SEC over a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) case in which the firm was charged with hiring relatives of foreign government officials as a way to gain influence in landing investment banking business. SEC officials alleged that Deutsche Bank employees “hired relatives at the request… Read More >>
State Street Pays $88M to Settle Overbilling Charges
State Street Bank and Trust Company will pay more than $88 million to settle allegations that it overcharged mutual funds and other registered investment company clients for expenses related to the firm’s custody of client assets, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) report. The overcharges allegedly included a “secret markup that State Street… Read More >>
