MiFID II may cause pain in the dark
New EU regulations on market making and dark pools could be damaging investor choice and forcing participants to make decisions that are not in their best interests.
Regulation
Algo tagging: where’s the logic in that?
When the requirement brought about by the German high frequency trading act to tag algorithms comes into force this month, market participants may well feel hamstrung by the complexity of the regime – and some might wonder whether this requirement goes one step too far …
Firms still struggling with SEFs for swaps trading says IPC survey
Trading firms are still struggling with the Dodd-Frank requirement for certain swaps to be traded on registered Swap Execution Facilities. According to a survey conducted by trading communications vendor IPC Systems, 60% of survey respondents said the industry as a whole was behind on meeting the deadlines on SEF trading, though only 39% said their […]
Europe needs more competition, not more exchanges …
Europe doesn’t need more trading venues – instead, it needs more innovation, more fairness, more competition and better enforcement, according to panellists speaking at the Trade Tech conference in Paris.
La. Reps Favor Paper Checks over Prepaid Cards in Certain Instance (April 8, 2014)
As tax day approaches, the Louisiana House of Representatives yesterday approved a bill that would end the state’s Department of Revenue practice of automatically sending tax refunds on prepaid debit cards to taxpayers who don’t select a specific method for receiving their funds.
Equity markets “not broken” say TradeTech speakers
Despite the deep controversy created by Michael Lewis’ expose of HFT Flash Boys, global equity markets are not broken, according to a senior capital markets panel at Trade Tech Paris 2014.
EU Parliament Postpones Final Vote on Payments Package until After July Elections (April 3, 2014)
European Parliament today voted in a plenary session to accept the text of the revised payment industry regulations (PSD2 and MIF) that the ECON committee voted on last month.
U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority Comment Period Ends April 15 (April 3, 2014)
Building on previous consultations by Her Majesty’s Treasury and the Office of Fair Trading, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is soliciting comment regarding the U.K. payments industry, in particular on issues of competition, access, governance, ownership and innovation.
Viewpoint: CFPB’s Draft Model Forms Highlight Problems with Uniform Disclosures
What do apples and oranges have to do with prepaid model disclosures? See David Beam’s analysis of the CFPB’s blog proposal.
D.C. Court Rules ZIP Code Isn’t an Address
Had the case not been dismissed, ZIP code-related class action lawsuits likely would spread.
Transparency: the new wonder drug?
While transparency may be seen as a new wonder drug that will cure all the industry’s ills, it does not come without side effects, so it was refreshing to see ESMA promoting a collaborative approach with the industry in defining the details of how MiFID II and MiFIR are implemented.
International Bank of Qatar clamps down on money laundering
The International Bank of Qatar has installed a financial crime risk management platform from tech vendor Fiserv, which it says will help it to better manage its money laundering and fraud prevention strategy.
IRS Says Digital Currency is Property (March 27, 2014)
The IRS has ruled that Bitcoin and other digital currencies are property, not currency, and will be treated as such for tax purposes.
Walmart Opts Out of Interchange Case Settlement, Seeks Damages in New Lawsuit (March 27, 2014)
Walmart this week opted out of the $7.25 billion settlement Visa and MasterCard reached last fall over interchange fees and filed its own antitrust suit against Visa.
US risk spend hits new peak reports DTCC
US financial institutions are spending more on risk mitigation than ever before, according to a new study by post-trade services utility the DTCC.
NTIS Issues Interim Final Rule on Access to Death Master File (March 26, 2014)
The National Technical Information Service today has issued an interim final rule establishing a certification program for access to the Social Security Death Master File. The DMF is a tool used by many industries as a means to thwart fraud.
CFTC calls for international swaps data sharing deal
Global standards and approaches to regulation need to focus more on removing risk from the financial system rather than on compliance – but to do so international regulators will need to harmonise their efforts and embrace technology to a much greater degree.
If you’re not ready, the regulators will get you
The complexity of regulatory reforms in Europe and the US are placing pressure on the industry and may catch some participants unawares.
Viewpoint: Dept. of Education Student Debit Card Report Doesn’t Make the Grade
Heading to college is all about the quest for knowledge. Part of that process is learning to use fact-based, impartial research to reach educated conclusions. Unfortunately, the March 10 Department of Education’s Inspector General’s report, “Third-Party Servicer Use of Debit Cards to Deliver Title IV Funds,” doesn’t make the grade.
EBA Clearing reports uptick in SEPA payments
EBA Clearing has reported that market participants are gradually adapting to SEPA, with peak day volumes on its Step2 clearing platform above 100 million SEPA credit transfers and SEPA direct debits.
Breaking News: Appeals Court Interchange Ruling a Big Win for Fed
The Federal Reserve Board has earned a major victory in its long-running legal battle with a group of merchants over its rules implementing the Durbin Amendment, including caps on interchange fees for debit card transactions.
ESMA looks for guidance on CSD technical standards
European securities regulator ESMA has published a discussion paper asking for public feedback on the technical standards that should be used for CSDs, including registration, settlement discipline, confirmation rules, acceptance or rejection of terms, as well as access to CSDs by other CSDs and market participants.
Extraterritoriality and volumes make future uncertain for CCPs
The number of central clearing counterparties is likely to rise in the near future as new entrants put Latin America, Africa and Australia on the map for OTC derivatives clearing, but with more regulatory intervention expected and unpredictable customer flows, the new venues face an uncertain future
CFPB Seeks to Standardize Prepaid Fee Disclosures (March 20, 2014)
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is developing a new fee disclosure format for prepaid cards, ahead of new rules on the topic the agency expects to propose this year.
EU Cybersecurity Directive Gets OK from European Parliament (March 20, 2014)
European Parliament has voted to adopt proposed cybersecurity rules requiring organizations to meet new security standards and share information in case of security breaches.
Viewpoint: Better Disclosures Are Good for Consumers and Industry
Legislators and companies, such as MasterCard, are introducing standards for prepaid card disclosures that help us all.
Wheels in Motion for Digital Currency Regulation in N.Y. (March 13, 2014)
The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has begun accepting applications from firms looking to set up digital currency exchanges and will issue proposed regulations on digital currency in the coming months, the agency said.
Lombard Risk in global collateral management deal with Broadridge
Broadridge Financial Solutions has formed an alliance with UK software developer Lombard Risk Management under which Lombard’s collateral management system will be integrated into Broadridge’s applications and infrastructure services.
Viewpoint: Inside the EC Payments Package and the Aggressive Timeline for Passage
The European Parliament’s ECON Committee vote on the “Payments Package” has resulted in inconsistent legislative text that differs significantly from the EC draft proposal. With an aggressive timeline for passage, including an April plenary vote, the payments industry needs to make its voice heard on the potentially harmful impacts of the proposed changes.
Custodian bank trio cut T2S asset servicing deal with Clearstream
Post-trade services institutions Clearstream, BNP Paribas Securities Services, Intesa Sanpaolo and BBVA have formed a tie-up in Europe, which they say is aimed at better asset servicing n Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain under the ECB’s forthcoming T2S project.
Manual processes and bottlenecks threaten to throttle OTC derivatives reform
Regulatory change in the OTC derivatives market has produced serious problems that indicate a clear need for more automation of cleared derivatives post-trade processing, according to a new report published by research house Greenwich Associates.
Bank of England live on Swift’s MIRS contingency platform
The Bank of England has become the first central bank to go live with an implementation of the Market Infrastructure Resiliency Service contingency system it has been piloting with Swift over the past few years.
Ukraine, Turkey and Russia crises pose banking challenge
Political turbulence in the Ukraine, Russia and Turkey this year produced disagreement between senior financial industry executives at a FIX Trading Community conference in London yesterday, with some arguing that politics should not be allowed to detract from the longer-term rise of non-western economies and others arguing the opposite.
Making sense of data poses challenge for trading firms
Despite efforts to create a more transparent OTC derivatives market, market data costs have increased significantly since 2008 and the buy-side has very little to show for it, according to senior financial executives speaking at an event organised by FIX Protocol in London on 6 March.
Visa, First Data EMV Pact Could Boost Adoption (March 6, 2014)
First Data’s plan for its STAR Network to license Visa’s common Application Identifier (AID) could help get the ball rolling for EMV adoption as other debit networks continue to weigh their own options for routing debit transactions under the Durbin Amendment, observers say.
APEX Panel: Cardholder Satisfaction Up on Gov’t Prepaid Cards; Data Analytics Key (March 6, 2014)
Government agencies using prepaid cards to deliver benefits are seeing solid user satisfaction and improving efficiencies as such programs evolve, amid an environment of pending regulatory changes and heavy scrutiny by consumer advocates, according to a panel of experts convened at the All Payments Expo (APEX) in Las Vegas this week.
House Approves Bill to Restructure CFPB (March 6, 2014)
The U.S. House of Representatives last week passed the Consumer Financial Protection and Soundness Improvement Act (H.R. 3193), which combines six bills, approved by the House Financial Services Committee last November, that are designed to bring more accountability, oversight and transparency to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), according to the bill’s supporters.
BNP Paribas Securities Services rolls out intraday bank liquidity reporting tool
BNP Paribas Securities Services has launched a reporting tool for investment banks, which it says will help them cope with tough new financial regulations by better monitoring their intraday liquidity.
APEX EMV Panel: U.S. Adoption Moving ‘At a Fast Clip’ (March 5, 2014)
Lawmakers in Washington, D.C., today are hosting the fifth in a series of hearings to discuss data breaches, their effect and possible methods to prevent them, as the All Payments Expo (APEX) wraps up four days of hot-topic discussions in Las Vegas, including payments security and fraud trends.
The man from CHAPS
The UK’s Clearing House Automated Payments System turned 30 earlier this year. It wasn’t an anniversary marked with street parties by a grateful nation, but in its quiet way it was a significant moment, for – in common with the whole payments infrastructure – the system is going through a period of change. Phil Kenworthy, […]
