SEC Chair Gary Gensler has recently come under fire for the 63 new rules that have been proposed during his time at the helm. One of the most prominent voices in the U.S. securities industry Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr., president and CEO of SIFMA, is taking on Gensler and is offering data to back up… Read More >>
Consultancy Issues Alert About QR Code Phishing
“What happened?” North Carolina-based Fairview asks about the “uptick” in phishing reported by its clients. Of course, it’s a rhetorical question. But there’s nothing rhetorical about the impact of an answer on the financial services industry. Fairview Investment Services is a consultancy, based in Raleigh, that offers support for investment advisers and other financial institutions… Read More >>
SmartStream Picks a New CEO & Other News
Akber Jaffer Replaces Haytham Kaddoura as CEO SmartStream, the post-trade operations solutions provider, has appointed Akber Jaffer as its new chief executive officer (CEO), effective September 19. Jaffer replaces Haytham Kaddoura, who has stepped down from the CEO post. Kaddoura will join SmartStream’s board. Jaffer has “spent several years immersed in both start-up and scaled… Read More >>
SEC Proposes IT Amendments for EDGAR
Fall is in the air. And that means big new movies and TV shows (despite the strikes by Hollywood writers and actors). This year, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has gotten into the spirit of the season with a proposal to amend EDGAR. EDGAR, as we all know, is shorthand for the Electronic… Read More >>
Broadridge Explores Advancing Ops via Artificial Intelligence
Broadridge Financial Services is exploring how artificial intelligence technologies combined with the provider’s logical data model BRx can be applied to capital markets, including front-to-back-office applications across asset classes. The proof-of-concept (POC) effort has only been underway for the past three weeks, says Hugh Daly, general manager, data and enterprise solutions, at Broadridge. Daly told FTF News about the… Read More >>
Options Plans to Hire 200 Over 3 Years & Other News
200 New Jobs Are Coming to Belfast Options Technology, a provider of cloud-enabled managed services, plans to “create 200 new jobs in Belfast over the next three years” as it expands its operations, officials say. The company is headquartered in Belfast City Centre’s Linen Loft building. The company added “100 new team members” over the… Read More >>
SWIFT Warms to Tokenized Assets After Industry Tests
SWIFT is warming up to the concept of being able to transfer tokenized assets from its infrastructure to multiple public and private blockchains. This follows the positive results that the global financial messaging cooperative experienced after conducting a series of experiments that tested the SWIFT infrastructure via the transfer of tokenized assets, according to an… Read More >>
CME & DTCC Ready Cross-Margining Offering & Other News
SEC & CFTC Approve Joint Effort for Treasuries & Futures The SEC and CFTC have approved a new cross-margining arrangement between CME Group and the DTCC that will “permit eligible clearing members of CME and the Government Securities Division (GSD) of DTCC’s Fixed Income Clearing Corp. (FICC) to cross-margin an expanded suite of products,”… Read More >>
We Must Take Care of 9/11 Responders & Survivors
It’s hard to fathom that more than two decades have passed since Sept. 11, 2001. For some, many of the events of that day are simultaneously the past and the present. They have instant memories that are real and painful. For others, there are constant reminders of 9/11 because of the diseases and chronic healthcare… Read More >>
FBI, FINRA Alert Firms About Email Cyberattacks
A recent alert from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warns financial services firms using Barracuda Email Security Gateway (ESG) Appliances, even those with “up-to-date security patches,” that they “remain at risk for continued computer network compromise from threat actors exploiting a zero-day vulnerability.” The FBI’s alert also referred to “suspected PRC Cyber Actors,”… Read More >>
