Quebec’s financial regulator, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers, has created an internal think tank to explore applications of new technologies among the entities it regulates, including exchanges and clearinghouses, as well as potential applications to its own regulatory activities.
CONTINUE READINGOn March 22, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved a rule that will shorten the standard settlement cycle for most securities transactions to T+2 from T+3. Broker-dealers will be required to comply with the shorter settlement cycle beginning on Sept. 5.
CONTINUE READINGOn May 2, the Senate confirmed the nomination of Jay Clayton to serve as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The nomination was approved in a 61 to 37 vote, with several Democrats joining their Republican colleagues in supporting the nomination. He was sworn into office on May 4.
CONTINUE READINGCustomers may not be able to find a new home for their cleared derivatives if their clearing member goes into default, several industry participants warned the Commodity Futures Trading Commission at an April 25 meeting of the CFTC’s Market Risk Advisory Committee.
CONTINUE READINGThe World Federation of Exchanges, which represents more than 200 exchanges, clearinghouses and other market infrastructure operators, published a set of cyber-resilience standards in April. The new standards, which are voluntary, are meant to ensure alignment and common minimum standards for trading venues around the world.
CONTINUE READINGOn Sept. 20, the European Commission published a package of proposals to strengthen the European system of financial supervision. The proposals aim to improve the mandates, governance and funding of the three European supervisory authorities and the functioning of the European Systemic Risk Board, which should ensure stronger and more integrated financial supervision across the EU. Key features of the proposal include:
CONTINUE READINGThe Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Division of Market Oversight on July 10 launched a comprehensive review of its swap data reporting regulations and invited input from entities involved in swaps reporting. The CFTC said the review has two goals: 1) to ensure that the CFTC receives accurate, complete and highquality data on swaps transactions for its regulatory oversight role; and 2) to streamline reporting, reduce the messages that must be reported, and "right-size" the number of data elements that are reported. The CFTC also provided a "roadmap" for the review process. The first tranche of rule changes will address swap data repository operations and the confirmation of data accuracy by swap counterparties. The second tranche will address reporting workflows generally, including standardization of data fields and potential delayed reporting deadlines.
CONTINUE READINGThe Basel Committee on Banking Supervision released a consultative document in August on the implications of fintech for the financial sector. The report assessed how technology-driven innovation in financial services may affect both the banking industry and its supervisors, and asks for feedback on "10 key observations" about the fintech trend and related recommendations for banks and bank supervisors. The report included three case studies focused on technology developments (big data, distributed ledger technology, and cloud computing) and three on fintech business models (innovative payment services, lending platforms and neo-banks). The report also described some of the ways in which bank supervisors have responded to fintech, including the formation of accelerators and sandboxes.
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