Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has reprimanded and fined two UBS Group subsidiaries, UBS AG, and UBS Securities Asia Ltd., HK$9.8 million and HK$1.75 million, respectively, for alleged “regulatory breaches.” The total fine of HK$11.55 million is approximately $1.5 million in U.S. currency. The SFC is a financial regulator that oversees brokers, investment advisers… Read More >>
UBS Settles Volatility-Related ETP Case for $8M
UBS Financial Services Inc. has reached an $8 million settlement with the SEC over allegations that the firm had compliance failures via the sales of exchange-traded products (ETPs) tied to market volatility. UBS Financial Services Inc. is a broker-dealer and investment adviser that has had dual registration with the SEC since 1971, according to the… Read More >>
Capitolis Taps State Street for Key Post
Capitolis Hires James Reilly A software-as-a-service (SaaS) vendor, Capitolis has hired industry veteran James Reilly from State Street and appointed him as its new head of equity and total return swaps (TRS) funding solutions, officials say. Reilly has two decades of capital markets and financial technology experience. The Capitolis networking software helps firms find liquidity… Read More >>
UBS Pays $10M to Resolve Bond-Flipping Case
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reports that UBS Financial Services Inc. will pay more than $10 million to “resolve charges that it circumvented the priority given to retail investors in certain municipal bond offerings.” For four years, according to the SEC’s allegations, UBS “improperly allocated bonds intended for retail customers to parties known… Read More >>
UBS Fined $36M for MiFID I Reporting Errors
The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined UBS £27.6 million ($36,524,840.93) on charges that the Swiss financial services giant had transaction reporting failures when it attempted to comply with now-legacy MiFID I requirements. The fine covers nine-and-a-half years of alleged failings “relating to 135.8 million transaction reports between November 2007 and May 2017,” according… Read More >>
CME to Drop NEX Branding Post-Acquisition
CME to Keep BrokerTec, EBS, Traiana & TriOptima Brands The CME Group as expected has completed all the steps for the acquisition of NEX Group, first announced in March, but will discontinue the NEX branding while keeping the names for the mark1ets and “Optimisation” businesses such as BrokerTec, EBS, Traiana and TriOptima. “The combined company… Read More >>
UBS Leads Project for MiFID II LEI Compliance
UBS is collaborating with Barclays, Credit Suisse, KBC Asset Management, SIX and Thomson Reuters to meet MiFID II legal entity identifier (LEI) requirements and improve the quality of counterparty reference data using Ethereum smart contracts. The project, which was kick started by UBS in its London-based innovation lab Level39, is currently in a pilot phase,… Read More >>
FINRA Bars a Former UBS Broker-Advisor
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has barred a veteran investment advisor and broker, who in turn has submitted a formal settlement letter of acceptance, waiver and consent. However, Kenneth S. Tyrrell, the former broker-advisor, while accepting his banishment by FINRA, also says that he neither admits to nor denies FINRA’s alleged violations. Tyrrell is… Read More >>
UBS Adds Six Banks to Crypto-Currency Settlement Push
The buzz around crypto-currency blockchain/distributed ledger technology (DLT) continues with UBS’s utility settlement coin (USC), adding six of the world’s largest banks — Barclays, HSBC, State Street, Credit Suisse, MUFG and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce — to its roster. The new members join UBS, Deutsche Bank, Santander, BNY Mellon and the financial services… Read More >>
U.K.’s Chancellor Takes Softer Brexit Stance
The official Brexit negotiations started earlier this week with the meeting of Brexit Secretary David Davis and his European Union counterpart Michel Barnier. However, the battle lines are being drawn more on the U.K. domestic side than continental shores as Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond broke ranks by calling for Britain’s softer departure from… Read More >>
