(Stephane Ritz, a managing principal at consultancy Capco, has more than two decades of experience in the administration and management of professional services for the banking, finance, and investment industries. His areas of expertise include financial accounting and taxation to business process re-engineering and IT technology implementation. Ritz specializes in leading large-scale, complex business transformations across… Read More >>
CFTC Blesses Clearing for Digital Asset Futures
Is there a lesson here for the crypto exchanges that are facing the wrath of the SEC? Digital asset clearing and settlement is a new reality for securities firms that want to keep clients happy. Toward that end, the CFTC approved Cboe Clear Digital to clear margined digital asset futures. Technically, the CFTC approved an… Read More >>
GOP Crypto Control Bill Aims for Clarity
Two key Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have drafted legislation that they say could help to end the confusion about cryptocurrencies and other digital assets and will set up “a functional framework” to clarify regulatory lines between the CFTC and the SEC. Patrick McHenry (NC-10), who is the chairman of the House Financial… Read More >>
DLT-Based Ops Will Need Guardrails: Report
As more securities operations use distributed ledger technology (DLT), policymakers, regulators, and market participants need to identify regulation, supervision, and risk management practices that “support appropriate stability and protections for all industry stakeholders,” according to a new report, “The Impact of Distributed Ledger Technology in Global Capital Markets.” The report is the result of a… Read More >>
SEC Shuts Down WeedGenics for Alleged $60M Fraud
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has shut down WeedGenics, a firm that raised more than $60 million dollars from investors in the cannabis business. The SEC’s emergency order calls the firm’s offering a fraud and a Ponzi scheme, and lodges charges against the two WeedGenics owners, Rolf Max Hirschmann and Patrick Earl Williams…. Read More >>
Securities Tainted via Sanctions Up by 262% & Other News
Sanctioned Securities Creating New Woes for ETFs Data vendor SIX reports that the “number of securities tainted by sanctions has increased by 262 percent since the Ukraine war began in February 2022,” which creates a new set of operational problems for buy and sell-side firms especially those working in exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The discovery stems… Read More >>
HSBC Pays $75M to Resolve Swaps Violations Charges
HSBC is writing checks to the CFTC totaling $75 million via the resolution of two of the regulator’s orders — one involving alleged swaps transaction violations and a $45 million penalty, and the other based on charges of recordkeeping and supervisory failures that incurred a $30 million penalty. The swaps order encompasses allegations that HSBC… Read More >>
FTF Unveils Winners of the 2023 FTF Awards
With nods to established players and voter enthusiasm for other providers hitting their stride, Financial Technologies Forum (FTF) has unveiled the winners of the 2023 FTF News Technology Innovation Awards competition. The 30 winners of the FTF Awards competition — now in its 12th year — are being honored for achievements during 2022. “It’s not… Read More >>
TPG Buys Angelo Gordon for $2.7B & Other News
TPG-Angelo Gordon’s Combined AUM Is $208 Billion Private equity asset manager TPG Inc. is acquiring Angelo Gordon, a $73 billion credit and real estate investment firm via a cash and equity transaction valued at approximately $2.7 billion, officials say. Acquiring Angelo Gordon “marks a significant expansion into credit investing for TPG, establishing additional levers to… Read More >>
Templum Brings Trading Technology to Securitized Artwork: Q&A
(Editor’s note: Earlier this month, Templum, a provider of capital markets infrastructure technology for alternatives and private securities, reported that it had a new client — Masterworks LLC. The new client is an alternative investment platform for buying and trading shares in works of art that are often worth millions. Masterworks, which finds and then… Read More >>
