On December 23, 2020, FINRA issued a request for comment on Enhancements to TRACE Reporting for U.S. Treasury Securities. The proposed changes could require significant changes to trade execution and reporting systems for U.S. Treasuries as well as trading and reporting workflow changes. On January 12 and 19 FIF held calls with the FIF TRACE Working Group to discuss the rule proposal in anticipation of submitting a comment letter. The next Working Group call is scheduled for January 26 to review a first draft of the comment letter.

The series will be multiple panels for FIF Members that will address the implementation considerations of the 898 page Rule. The kickoff panel on February 1 at 4PM is the Rule Overview presented by Wayne Aaron of the Vedder Price law firm in a conversation with Matt Billings of Two Sigma and Tom Jordan, Chair of the FIF Advisory Committee.

Topics in the series include The Data, Governance & Pricing, Competing Consolidators, Self-Aggregators, Transition and Dates, Retail/Institutional and Buy-Side considerations. Committed speakers to date include representatives from Cboe, Exegy, Georgetown McDonough Business School, IEX, RBC Capital Markets, and Refinitiv.

FIF Members who want to participate in the webinars will need to register. FIF will soon be sending a registration notice to all FIF Members

On January 22, FIF will host a follow-up call on Executive Order 13959. On the call, representatives from DTCC will review recent Important Notices that they have issued relating to EO 13959. In addition, Robert Dura and Satish Kini of the Debevoise law firm will review the FAQs issued by OFAC on January 14.

The series will include multiple panels for FIF Members that will address the implementation considerations of the 898 page Rule. The kickoff panel on January 25th at 4PM ET will focus on the Rule Overview and will be presented by Wayne Aaron of Vedder Price in a conversation with Tom Jordan, Chair of the FIF Advisory Committee.

Topics in the series include The Data, Governance & Pricing, Competing Consolidators, Self-Aggregators, Transition and Dates, Retail/Institutional and Buy-Side considerations.

Committed speakers to date include representatives from Cboe, Exegy, Georgetown McDonough Business School, IEX, RBC Capital Markets and Two Sigma.

FIF Members who want to participate in the webinars will need to register. FIF will soon be sending a registration notice to all FIF Members.

FIF Back Office Committee. On January 19, Stephen Prosperi from the DTCC will provide the Back Office Committee with an overview of Project Whitney, which acts as a follow-up to our December spotlight in which DTCC presented on Project ION. 

Broker-Dealer Trading and Custody of Digital Asset Securities. On January 19, Lilya Tessler, a partner and head of Sidley’s NY FinTech and Blockchain group, will discuss regulatory developments related to the emerging digital asset securities market. The discussion will include a presentation on the recent SEC Statement on Custody of Digital Asset Securities by Special Purpose Broker-Dealers and the SEC Staff No-Action Relief Granted to FINRA for non-custodial Alternative Trading Systems. FIF has invited members of the Front Office and Back Office Committees and the Emerging Technologies Working Group to this presentation.

FIF Tax Information Reporting Working Group. On January 21, Wolters Kluwer will conduct part one of a two-part series of spotlight presentations on virtual currencies. Wolters Kluwer tax and regulatory experts Stevie Conlon, Anna Vayser, Robert Schwaba, and Larry Perlman will discuss the basics of virtual currencies and blockchain, and related regulatory issues. The discussion will include an analysis of the impact of recent OCC Interpretive Letters and FinCEN guidance. 

FIF Front Office Committee. On January 26, Ari Burstein, President of Capital Markets Strategies, will present to the Front Office Committee on the recent and upcoming changes in Congress and the SEC and how that could impact broker-dealers, exchanges and other industry participants.

FIF Data & Technology Committee. On January 27, Exegy will present to the Data & Technology Committee on the addition of Tesla to the S&P and the impact on data trends.

To participate in these spotlight presentations, you must be a participant of the relevant Committee or Working Group. To sign-up for a Committee or Working Group, please log on to your FIF account (fif.com), click Profile in the top right-hand corner and check-off any new Distribution List that you want to join. Please send a note to fifinfo@fif.com with any questions.