Morgan Stanley at Work, the firm’s unit that provides workplace financial solutions, says it’s set to acquire deferred compensation plan provider American Financial Systems. Founded in 1986, AFS offers supplemental executive benefit plan solutions and services to companies of all sizes, according to Morgan Stanley. The plans are designed to supplement retirement savings on a tax-deferred basis, the company says. AFS’ services include plan design consulting, plan implementation, online enrollment, funding analysis and optimization, client management, and plan recordkeeping, according to...

Citi announced that it has selected METACO to develop and pilot digital asset custody capabilities. This collaboration brings together METACO’s technology and digital solutions with Citi’s expansive custody network to develop a platform to enable clients to store and settle digital assets seamlessly and securely. Citi intends to fully integrate METACO’s bank-grade digital asset custody and orchestration platform, Harmonize, into its existing infrastructure, to develop and pilot digital asset custody capabilities. This strategic partnership enables Citi to extend its...

Ken Griffin is relocating his hedge-fund firm Citadel from Chicago to Miami according to a story in The Wall Street Journal. In a letter to employees Mr. Griffin said he had personally moved to Florida and that his market-making business, Citadel Securities, would also transfer. The move is expected to be a multiyear process and will involve a developer and architecture firms to design a new office tower. There are currently about 1,000 employees in Chicago and many are expected to remain.

FIF would like to thank Refinitiv, an LSEG business for hosting a successful return to FIF Live Events. It was a great evening, beginning with a productive discussion on CAT and ending with networking between members who have only talked to one another on Zoom for the past few years. Again, thank you to all the attendees and our host, Refinitiv. If you would like to see pictures from the event please find them on our socials: LinkedIn and Twitter  

The FIF TRACE/Fixed Income Working Group will meet today, June 21, 2022 at 2 pm ET, to review a draft comment letter on the recent rule filing by FINRA with the SEC (SR-FINRA-2022-013) to require reporting of transactions in U.S. Treasuries as soon as practicable, but no later than one hour after execution, and to require that electronic executions in U.S. Treasuries be reported to TRACE using the same time increment as recorded by the execution system for the transaction. Time permitting, the Working Group also will review draft questions for FINRA relating to TRACE reporting by Covered...

The FIF Rule 606 Working Group will meet on Thursday June 30, 2022 at 3 pm ET to discuss questions from FIF members relating to look-through, rate sheets and partial cancels. The Working Group also will continue its discussion of the SEC’s recent FAQ updates on Rule 606 reporting for fractional share orders. 

The FIF Back Office Committee will meet today at 11 am ET to review applicable FICC, DTC, NSCC, SEC, MSRB, OCC, IRS and FINRA updates during the past month. The spotlight presenter for the meeting will be Allison Gott of Paxos, who will provide an update on Paxos’ clearing agency activities.

The FIF Front Office Committee will meet on Tuesday June 28, 2022 at 11 am ET to review applicable updates and notices from the SEC, FINRA, FINRA CAT and the equity and option exchanges. The spotlight presenter for the meeting will be Chris Sparrow, who will discuss Adverse Selection in Volatile Markets.

The FIF Data and Technology Committee will meet on Wednesday June 29, 2022 at 10 am ET to review capacity, latency and volume data for the prior month for the equity, options, currency, crypto and futures markets. The spotlight presenter for the meeting will be Stefanos Barzinas of the NYSE, who will discuss the surge in off hours trading volume.