JP Morgan will become the first participant to leverage a newly integrated shared ledger collateral workflow following a partnership with post-trade technology provider Baton Systems and LCH. The clearinghouse and Baton Systems have teamed up in a bid to automate end-to-end collateral workflow for derivatives trading, using Baton’s shared permission ledger platform. Baton’s shared permission ledger integrates with existing collateral and cash systems of external providers for real-time visibility and faster movement of assets by giving firms access...

BXS Co-Founder and CTO, Ben Calev, has written an article outlining next steps for 605 reform and how these changes would foster further market transparency. Read the full article here.

On April 29, FIF submitted a comment letter to request that the CAT Operating Committee provide additional information to industry members relating to the CAT revised funding model.

FIF members have identified a challenge with the recent set of FAQs issued by FINRA (100.8; 313.1-313.4) that impact TRF reporting for Net Asset Value (NAV) trades. If the NAV for an ETF is determined in the evening and the TRF report is submitted the following morning with a T+1 trade date, this presents certain challenges for the institutional customer. FIF is creating a sub-group to discuss this issue. If you are interested in participating in this discussion, please send a note to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and we...

The next meeting of the FIF Rule 606 Working Group will be held on May 4 at 2 pm (ET). The Working Group will update on a recent discussion with the SEC staff relating to the Rule 606 de minimis exceptions and discuss issues and questions raised by FIF members relating to identification of the account level in an RIA scenario, aggregated customer orders and options look-through.

Jordan & Jordan in partnership with FIF and RIXML held a SPAC webinar on 4/28 to discuss the growth of SPACs, structure/process, and much more. The panel for the webinar included Kristi Marvin of SPACInsider, Douglas Ellenoff of Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP, Amanda Hindlian of NYSE and Tom Jordan of Jordan & Jordan. Thank you to all of you who attended. 

FIF Tech Specs Working Group. The CAT Tech Specs Working Group reviewed the schedule of availability of the Production, Prod-Mirror and Industry Test environments. The Working Group discussed whether the solicitationFlag applies for IOIs that are not part of an RFQ process. The Working Group reviewed updated FAQs relating to FDID reporting. The Working Group discussed Reporting Scenario 4.1.2 relating to customer accommodations. The Working Group reviewed the planned updates to the Industry Member Technical Specifications for Phase 2c and Phase 2d. The Working Group discussed various...

Refinitiv and NICE Actimize have partnered to offer NICE Actimize’s SURVEIL-X Holistic Surveillance Suite to the Asia Pacific market according to a story in The Trade news. The surveillance suite will be available both in a cloud and on-premises environment to its customer base throughout the region. NICE Actimize said Refinitiv’s expertise in Asia-Pacific and its relationships with central banks will help boost the presence of its suite to new market sectors. SURVEIL-X offers risk coverage for buy- and sell-side firms, insurance companies, crypto exchanges, regulators and more, by...

Marking a significant step in the roadmap for quantum advantage for financial applications, Goldman Sachs and QC Ware researchers have designed new, robust quantum algorithms that outperform state-of-the-art classical algorithms for Monte Carlo simulations and can be used on near-term quantum hardware expected to be available in 5 to 10 years. Monte Carlo methods, used to evaluate risk and simulate prices for a variety of financial instruments, involve complex calculations and consume significant time and computational resources. Typically, these calculations are executed once...