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 FIF held an initial call 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 today (1/19) at 3pm ET. 

On January 14, FIF submitted a proposal to FINRA CAT relating to the reporting of allocation cancel events. The proposal was based on input from FIF Members. On January 15, FIF submitted responses from FIF Members relating to the order receipt and acceptance process. Later today, FIF will be submitting responses to FINRA CAT relating to the reporting of account and customer types to the CAT CAIS system.

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 will invite members of the Front Office and Back Office Committees and the Emerging Technologies Working Group to this presentation.

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 we discussed Project ION. 

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. 

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.

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. FIF has scheduled a call for the FIF TRACE Working Group for Tuesday January 12 to discuss the rule proposal.

After a well-attended spotlight presentation on the subject on 12/21, FIF will be reconvening for a follow-up call on Executive Order 13959, which prohibits certain transactions in securities issued by firms that the US Government has labeled "Communist Chinese Military Companies". The Executive Order also applies to their subsidiaries. We will be joined again by Robert Dura and Satish Kini from the Debevoise & Plimpton law firm. The spotlight call will focus on recently released FAQs and next steps.