In February of 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC, Commission) proposed a plan to expand the market data made available in the Securities Information Processors (SIP) feeds and to allow competing consolidators to register as alternative SIP providers. Exegy is a provider of SIP and proprietary data feeds that can help prepare for the changes to come whether clients are interested in consolidating, aggregating, or consuming SIP feeds. The plan is a recognition that the current SIP feeds do not offer enough information for best execution and equal opportunity for...

FIF Spotlight on Executive Order 13959. On January 6, FIF hosted a call on the recent Executive Order 13959, which prohibits certain transactions in publicly traded securities of any Chinese military company or any securities that are derivative of, or are designed to provide investment exposure to, such securities. During the call, Robert Dura and Satish Kini of the Debevoise & Plimpton law firm reviewed recent FAQs issued by OFAC relating to the Executive Order.  FIF CAT Committee and Tech Specs Working Group. The CAT Tech Specs Working Group reviewed updated FINRA CAT FAQs...

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...

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.

Bloomberg’s acquisition of Second Measure enables it to provide their users with Second Measure’s proprietary analytics for daily tracking and real-time exploration of thousands of public and private companies. This data will give users insights that complement Bloomberg’s company fundamentals and market data. Founded in 2015, Silicon Valley based Second Measure operates a cloud-based platform which aggregates billions of anonymized credit card transactions from millions of consumers to provide daily tracking and real-time analysis of consumer behavior and sales for over 5,200 public and...

Investment banks JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank have become the first members to clear the freshly launched non-deliverable FX options at LCH ForexClear. ForexClear provides client and dealer-to-dealer clearing services for various financial instruments. The additional non-deliverable FX options now available on ForexClear offer clearing across nine currency pairs in tenors of up to two years. LCH said that the launch of the non-deliverable FX derivatives would allow users to achieve better efficiency through portfolio netting with products already cleared at ForexClear including...

Cboe Global Markets announced it has completed its acquisition of BIDS Trading, a registered broker-dealer and the operator of the BIDS Alternative Trading System (ATS), the largest block-trading ATS by volume in the U.S. Through ownership of BIDS Trading, Cboe gains a competitive foothold in the off-exchange segment of the U.S. equities market, which now accounts for more than 40 percent of overall U.S. equities trading volume. The acquisition of BIDS Trading also provides Cboe with the opportunity to expand its global footprint and diversify its product and...

Bond market operator, Trumid, has set up a new strategic relationship with Goldman Sachs, according to a story in The Desk news. Goldman will join Trumid’s Attributed Trading network and use Trumid’s protocols to provide connectivity and liquidity directly to Goldman’s institutional clients. Goldman will also join Trumid’s Trading Advisory Committee to provide long-term input into product development and market structure evolution. Trumid has developed bilateral dealer-to-client liquidity distribution and trading through its Attributed Trading protocol that was launched in 2019. Through...

BXS announced today the launch of a new Rule 606 Consolidator tool. Available to all existing BXS customers, the new add-on provides a comprehensive view of brokers’ public Rule 606 report filings, allowing market centers to analyze how their clients and prospects are routing order flow and how their competitors are interacting with these entities, all through a consolidated, easy-to-use web portal. Read More