FIF will be moderating a panel discussion on SEC Rule 606 at the 86th annual STA Market Structure Conference in Washington, D.C. on Friday, October 4.

Please join us on Tuesday, October 22, 2019 at Cboe Global Markets (400 South LaSalle Street, Chicago) for a luncheon and panel discussion on upcoming options initiatives. The event will begin with a keynote presentation from Manisha Kimmel, Senior Policy Advisor to SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, on the current status of CAT.  The keynote presentation will be followed by a panel discussion focusing on: the OCC Actionable Identifier Initiative, CAT Options Reporting, Options Exchange Initiatives, and OCC Initiatives.  FIF would like to thank Cboe Global Markets for sponsoring this...

Several key FIF Members were interviewed by Pensions & Investments on the progress of CAT. Among those interviewed were FIF Cybersecurity Working Group Chair, Jim Dolan of Luminex, Ron Veith of J.P. Morgan Chase, Manisha Kimmel of the SEC (and former Managing Director of FIF), and Jim Toes of STA. To read this article, please follow the link here.

FIF Regulatory Notice 19-27 - Financial Exploitation of Seniors - FIF continued review the rules under FINRA's retrospective rule review of current rules in effect that are designed to protect senior investors from financial exploitation.  FIF will review a draft of our comment letter in response to Regulatory Notice 19-27 on Thursday, October 3 at 10:00am et. FIF TRACE Working Group - FIF reviewed the draft of version of FIF's comments on Regulatory Notice 19-25 and requested additional comments and feedback.  FIF submitted the final letter to FINRA on Tuesday,...

Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. announced IBKR Lite, a new offering that will provide commission-free, unlimited trades on US exchange-listed stocks and Exchange Traded Funds. IBKR Lite was designed to meet the needs of investors who are seeking a simple, cost-free way to trade US exchange-listed stocks and ETFs and do not wish to consider efforts to obtain greater price improvement through the IB SmartRouting℠ system. The new offering will complement Interactive Brokers’ existing services, which will be rebranded as IBKR Pro. IBKR Lite will be available in October.

Interest rate derivatives trading services provider OTCX has teamed up with IHS Markit to integrate its platform with the investment management platform, thinkFolio. OTCX, which operates a multi-dealer bilateral request for quote (RFQ) trading platform, will provide its clients with advanced modeling and trading management tools for fixed income and derivatives as part of the integration. A story in The Trade says that it links clients directly to dealers for greater trading workflow efficiencies and to reduce the risk associated with manual input. Clients of thinkFolio will be able to...

Asset managers based in Europe and North America are increasingly seeking cloud technologies to manage the onslaught of data, according to a survey from IHS Markit. IHS Markit’s research, conducted by WBR Insights, of 100 buy-side representatives with $10-100 billion in assets under management found that cloud adoption has reached a tipping point on the buy-side, with 80% of firms stating they will use the cloud for data management by the end of 2020. The results revealed that 52% of investment firms currently use the cloud for data management, and a further 28% have plans to migrate...

Deutsche Bank Securities Services has successfully piloted a solution using distributed ledger technology (DLT) to enable further automation of custodial services, according to MarketsMedia. The solution addresses the transparency requirements within many custodial services, such as around the tax processing of asset holdings at an ultimate beneficial owner level, and streamlines complex data and reconciliation processes for both the bank and its clients. The first implementation of the solution will help reform the shareholder information disclosure in Europe for global and...

SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire certain Algorithmics and related assets from IBM. Algorithmics provides risk analytics products and services for the financial services industry worldwide. The addition of Algorithmics will extend SS&C’s risk analytics and regulatory offering. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter, pending the completion of customary closing conditions. The acquisition adds over 200 clients, 350 employees and offices in 25 countries. Client types include banks,...