FinOps Report

The Securities and Exchange Commission has sent U.S. broker-dealers a stern message — Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. (DTCC) can cause you to shut down if you are financially unsound and it thinks you won’t be able to fulfill your margin requirements.

With about only four months left before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s requirement that secondary market transactions in cash and repurchase agreements for U.S. Treasuries start being processed through a clearinghouse takes effect, Wall Street operations, compliance, risk and technology managers are quickly addressing some of its complex provisions and unresolved guidelines.

The antitrust battle between CUSIP Global Services (CGS) and a York, Pennsylvania-based non-profit organization specializing in financing global infrastructure projects, over the U.S. numbering agency’s refusal to activate issued CUSIPs or assign new ones has heated up as additional plaintiffs sign onto the litigation bandwagon and more the details of  CGS’ alleged wrongdoing emerge.

The FinOps story Dear Readers, If you are a new visitor to FinOps Report, welcome to our newsite. Beyond what you see on the home page, check out our archives for articles that thousands of readers have found useful. To our loyal readers, thanks for staying with us. We write FinOps for you. Our goal remains constant – news you can put to work. We analyze how regulations, operations, and financial technology intersect, and we bring you expert advice to reduce your operational and regulatory risks.

CUSIP Global Services (CGS). the U.S. national numbering agency for assigning securities identification codes to U.S. securities, and its parent FactSet Research have just been hit by a second lawsuit alleging illegal monopolistic practices. The plaintiffs in both cases contend that CGS violated the U.S. Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 which outlaws any monopolization, attempted monopolization or combination to monopolize any service provided.

They look like derivatives contracts, but act like gambling bets. They are prediction contracts– one of the fastest growing trading sectors despite conflicting regulatory frameworks, no clearcut taxation rules, unique operating policies, and rumors of insider trading.

The FinOps story Dear Readers, If you are a new visitor to FinOps Report, welcome to our newsite. Beyond what you see on the home page, check out our archives for articles that thousands of readers have found useful. To our loyal readers, thanks for staying with us. We write FinOps for you. Our goal remains constant – news you can put to work. We analyze how regulations, operations, and financial technology intersect, and we bring you expert advice to reduce your operational and regulatory risks.

Equivalent doesn’t mean identical when it comes to the European Banking Authority’s proposal to mandate financial firms doing business on the Continent to adopt an overlapping risk management framework to the newly effective DORA for a greater number of third-party service providers. Compliance, legal, risk management and IT directors fear that following two sets of quasi-similar rules will be time-consuming and cost prohibitive.

Chief compliance officers (CCOs) at U.S. financial firms need to keep a close eye this year on what the Supreme Court decides about when and how the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should impose disgorgement of illegal profits from violations of securities laws.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s unexpected approval of a two-hour window for participants of Depository Trust Company (DTC), National Securities Clearing Corp. (NSCC) and Fixed Income Clearing Corp. (FICC) to notify the market infrastructures of a potential cybersecurity breach or other data outage has chief information security officers (CISOs) and others at U.S. broker-dealers and banks scrambling to prepare.