For this week, FIF has scheduled an additional call for the CAT Transaction Reporting Working Group. The call will be on Monday March 7 at 2 pm and will focus specifically on the issue of linkage of representative and customer orders. For this week’s regularly-scheduled CAT Transaction Reporting Working Group call on Wednesday March 9 at 2 pm, FINRA CAT personnel will present, and solicit feedback, on potential approaches to enhance the CAT Transaction Reporting feedback process and reduce CAT operating costs.

FIF Rule 606 Working Group. The Rule 606 Working Group continued its review of a draft FIF comment letter on the request submitted by the SEC to the Office of Management and Budget for approval of the extension of Rule 606. FIF submitted this comment letter on March 2. The Working Group discussed the FINRA proposal to require Rule 606-type reporting for routes in OTC equities.  FIF Cybersecurity Working Group. The Cybersecurity Working Group discussed state-sponsored cybersecurity threats from Russia, the 2022 report on FINRA's examination and risk monitoring program, a 2021...

Electronic and algorithmic trading methods in the FICC markets are expected to continue to surge in the year to come, JP Morgan’s annual FICC e-trading survey has found. Just under 80% of the traders surveyed expect to increase electronic trading in 2022, followed by 63% expecting an increase in algorithmic trading. The use of APIs, multi-dealer and single-dealer platforms is also likely to rise, with 69% of FX traders already using or expecting their use of them to increase, followed by just over 50% of futures, commodities and rates traders. Traders expect mobile trading applications to...

One year on from its launch, State Street says its Insights research platform will begin to roll-out a range of new tools and functionally in 2022 and into 2023. The platform currently offers proprietary research, exclusive data-driven indicators and the latest market commentary from the firm’s team of global macro strategists. The new functionality will include what State Street terms a “deeper, highly interactive Web portal”. This will host live webinars with renowned academics and introduce tools to allow clients to further overlay indicators on multi-asset portfolio strategies and test...

Charles Schwab says it has launched a digital platform for clients who work with its financial consultants, private client advisors or portfolio solutions group consultants. The platform, Financial Planning Action Center, is now available and enables clients to track and complete tasks within their financial plan and ask questions with the aim of helping them improve their long-term financial outcomes, Schwab says. Clients can access the platform by developing a customized financial plan and will then receive an invitation via email to access the platform, according to a story in...

On Tuesday March 1 at 11am ET, Ignacio Sandoval and Kyle Whitehead of the Morgan Lewis law firm will continue their review of the SEC’s recently-proposed amendments to Regulations ATS and Regulation SCI. The amendments propose to apply Regulation ATS and Regulation SCI to ATSs that trade Treasury and agency securities and repos on those securities. The amendments also propose to expand the ATS definition to include RFQ and other trading systems. The invite for this presentation has been sent to the members of the FIF ATS, Compliance and TRACE/Fixed Income Working Groups and the FIF Front...

The FIF Rule 606 Working Group will meet on Tuesday March 1 at 2pm ET to continue its review of a draft FIF comment letter in response to a recent solicitation by the SEC of comments on the request submitted by the SEC to the Office of Management and Budget for approval of the extension of Rule 606. The Working Group also will review FIF member responses to a survey relating to the volume of Rule 606(b)(3) requests that firms have received. The Working Group also will discuss the FINRA proposal to require Rule 606-type reporting for routes in OTC equities.

The FIF Securities Lending Transparency Working Group will meet on Thursday March 3 at 11am ET to discuss a request from attorneys in SEC Chair Gensler’s office to engage in discussions with FIF members relating to securities lending workflows and the SEC’s recent rule proposal relating to securities lending transparency.

FIF will hold a 30 minute Cybersecurity Working Group meeting this Thursday (3/3 @ 3pm ET) to cover topics such as: state-sponsored cybersecurity threats from Russia, the 2022 report on FINRA's examination and risk monitoring program, a 2021 year-in-review report from the NSA and news of Chair Gensler potentially overhauling the Agency's cyber rules. An agenda will be sent out the day prior to the meeting.