The FIF CAT Monthly Update Working Group call for April will be on Thursday April 4 at 2 pm ET. The Working Group will review guidance and updates from the CAT Plan Participants and FINRA CAT on CAT Transaction Reporting, CAT CAIS and CAT billing reporting during the prior month. The Working Group will also review the current areas of focus for FIF members and the current open issues for CAT Transaction Reporting, CAT CAIS reporting and CAT billing.

FIF has scheduled a call for Thursday April 4 at 3 pm ET to discuss the Trade Reporting Notice published by FINRA on March 22. The Trade Reporting Notice announces an upcoming change to the TRF and ORF systems to support reporting of fractional share quantities. The effective date will be no earlier than the first calendar quarter of 2025. During the call, the group will also discuss the Notice on SIP Fractional Share Reporting Enhancements published by SIAC on March 28 and the associated changes to the SIAC technical specifications. FIF has invited the members of the Data and Technology...

FIF has scheduled the next call for the Tax Information Reporting Working Group for Thursday April 18 at 3 pm ET. Representatives from Wolters Kluwer will provide an update on amendments to the Section 871(m) regulations applying the Section 871(m) withholding tax on “dividend equivalent payments” to long U.S. equity-linked derivative positions that have a “delta” of .8 or greater.

FIF Data and Technology Committee. The Data and Technology Committee reviewed capacity, latency and volume data for the prior month for the equity, options, currency, crypto and futures markets. Adrian Griffiths and Geralyn Endo of MEMX provided an update on the launch of the MEMX Options Exchange. Please find the meeting materials here and the full capacity report here.  FIF Rule 605 Working Group. The Rule 605 Working Group continued its review and discussion of the SEC’s recent amendments to Rule 605. FIF Front Office Committee. The Front Office Committee reviewed applicable...

Cboe Global Markets, Inc marked the 20th anniversary of Cboe Futures Exchange (CFE) and the trading of Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) futures. CFE was launched to provide a liquid and transparent on-exchange volatility futures offering, with VIX futures being the first product listed in 2004. On March 26, 2004, CFE successfully opened for trading, with 449 VIX futures contracts trading on the all-electronic exchange. Based on the VIX Index, which has served as a gauge for U.S. equity market sentiment since its launch in 1993, VIX futures are among the most actively traded...

BNY Mellon is set to offer its buy-side trading solution to Goldman Sachs Asset Management as the firm continues to expand the reach of its outsourced trading offering across the market according to a story in The Trade news. The new buy-side trading relationship specifically concerns a division of Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s EMEA business.  As part of the agreement, BNY Mellon delivers global trade execution services in EMEA, the US and APAC markets across fixed income, FX, derivatives and ETFs.  BNY Mellon’s buy-side trading solutions business was launched last year,...

State Street’s Charles River is set to manage the front-office operations for Perpetual Group’s Australian asset management business. Specifically, Perpetual’s Australian asset management business is set to adopt Charles River’s investment management system (IMS) which will manage its domestic and global portfolios, order and execution, compliance, post-trade processing and front-office data. Last January, Perpetual grew its footstep in Australia through the acquisition Pendal Group – establishing itself as one of Australia’s largest multi-boutique asset managers, with A$213.9 billion AUM...

Broadridge Financial Solutions’ subsidiary LTX has integrated with TS Imagine’s fixed income execution management system (EMS), TradeSmart Fixed Income. The integration will provide buy-side clients with improved pre-trade transparency, price discovery and better access to aggregated liquidity within existing workflows. Following the move, LTX’s corporate bond trading capabilities will be directly accessible with TradeSmart Fixed Income. The integration will also provide LTX order staging for TradeSmart Fixed Income users as well as the ability to submit indications of interest (IOIs) into...

FIF will hold an in-person event at the offices of OTC Markets on Monday May 6th from 5-8pm ET. Panelists and topics will be announced soon. When the panel topics are announced, we will launch the registration page, but for now please save the date if you're interested in attending. FIF would like to thank OTC Markets for once again hosting an in-person event. We look forward to partnering with them again this May.