Securities Industry News articles from October 2008

Securities Industry News archives from October 2008

HSBC Combines Officer Roles.(News Desk)
October 6, 2008... Byline: Editorial Staff London-based HSBC Holdings is integrating its technology and operations staff under a newly created position-chief technology and services officer. Ken Harvey, chief information officer since 1997, was appointed to...

Wanted: CCP Services for OTC Derivatives, Now~The buy side and regulators alike are clamoring for centralized clearing.(Special Report)
October 6, 2008... Byline: Tom Groenfeldt Although "OTC R.I.P." was the title given to a panel discussion at Swift's recent Sibos conference in Vienna, the death sentence as applied to over-the-counter derivatives was clearly premature. The instruments are...

SEC Puts Off Decision on Short Sale Solution.
October 6, 2008... Byline: John Hintze The Securities and Exchange Commission dashed hopes for a long-term answer to short selling concerns last week by simply extending emergency orders issued in mid-September, leaving the industry in the dark about the...

Momentum Builds for CDS~Oversight-But in What Form?
October 6, 2008... Byline: Shane Kite Regulation is coming to the credit default swaps (CDS) market. That outcome was virtually assured long before Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Christopher Cox asked Congress to grant the agency authority to...

September Surge for Dark Pools~Is volatility benefiting independently operated venues disproportionally?
October 6, 2008... Byline: Alexa Jaworski Though recent market turmoil spurred by the collapse of several storied financial institutions has been painful for Wall Street, it has been good for business for execution venues. But independent dark liquidity...

EuroCCP Points to Clearing Ramifications of Fortis Woes~DTCC subsidiary says it has capacity to support EMCF business.(European Multilateral Clearing Facility)(Depository Trust & Clearing Corp.)
October 6, 2008... Byline: Chris Kentouris EuroCCP courted controversy last week by stating it is prepared to take over the business serviced by Fortis' European Multilateral Clearing Facility (EMCF) should the financial difficulties of its parent create...

Low-Latency FX From Integral.(News Desk)
October 6, 2008... Byline: Editorial Staff Mountain View, Calif.-based Integral Development Corp., a provider of foreign exchange trading technology, has introduced an ultra-low-latency version of its FX Inside Professional execution management system (EMS)....

Asset Control Signs Postbank.(News Desk)
October 6, 2008... Byline: Editorial Staff Deutsche Postbank has tapped Asset Control's AC Plus solution to provide pricing data to its risk control department for the calculation of daily VAR, or value at risk. According to Asset Control, Postbank needed a...

People in the News.(News Desk)(StreamBase Systems has appointed Mark Palmer)(Milestone Capital Inc. has appointed Douglas McGann)(Brief article)
October 6, 2008... Byline: Editorial Staff StreamBase Systems, a Lexington, Mass.-based supplier of complex event processing technology, has promoted Mark Palmer, president and COO since April, to chief executive. Palmer replaces Chris Risley, who joined as...

FASB and IASB Convergence: Implications for Investment Funds.(Guest Comment)
October 6, 2008... Byline: Brent Oswald In February 2006, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) released a memorandum of understanding renewing their commitment to the convergence of U.S....

GFI Dealing With Fallout From Lehman Collapse.(In The News)
October 6, 2008... Byline: Editorial Staff On Sept. 9, GFI Group broke off discussions-ongoing since late July-with rival Tullett Prebon about a possible merger. While the combination of GFI, the leading interdealer broker in the credit derivatives sector,...

Study: Firms Turning to Third Parties for Derivative Valuations.(In The News)
October 6, 2008... Byline: Carol E. Curtis The risks posed by incorrect pricing of derivatives are driving a fundamental shift in the marketplace, according to a survey from Vancouver-based OTC Valuations and the Professional Risk Managers International...

Norkom, IBM Deal Could Herald Compliance Consolidation.(Compliance)
October 6, 2008... Byline: John Sandman Offering a more comprehensive approach to combating financial crimes, anti-money-laundering (AML) systems vendor Norkom Technologies is teaming with IBM Corp. to supply software to institutions across the financial...

Outsourcing Taking Hold in Derivatives Processing.(Special Report)
October 6, 2008... Byline: Chris Kentouris As the asset management and brokerage communities place increasing emphasis on over-the-counter derivatives, their middle and back offices are struggling with the demands. Many are turning to outsourcing for help...

Merlin Automates Form SH.(News Desk)(Merlin Securities )
October 20, 2008... Byline: Editorial Staff Reacting quickly to an emergency order from the Securities and Exchange Commission, New York-based Merlin Securities has adapted its platform to permit hedge fund customers to report their short-sale positions. ...

CBOE, CBSX Offer Combined Option and Stock Executions.(Asset Servicing)
October 20, 2008... Byline: Alexa Jaworski The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and its equities market offshoot have introduced functionality that automates on a single platform the execution of orders that combine option and stock trades. David...

Regulations Aside, Credit Crunch Spells Danger for Asian Firms.(Trading)
October 20, 2008... Byline: Wang Fangqing Not long ago, many observers thought Asian firms might escape the credit crisis relatively unscathed, as local regulations and lack of maturity in the derivatives space insulated them from overexposure. However, the...

Tora Using Trading Metrics for Asian EMS.(Trading)
October 20, 2008... Byline: Tom Groenfeldt Tora Trading Services, a San Francisco-based provider of Asia-specific order management and execution management systems (EMS), has tapped Trading Metrics to let its users measure the latency of brokers and...

Market Ready to Embrace Futures Competitor, Says ELX's New CEO~ Amex veteran Wolkoff on upstart exchange's future.
October 20, 2008... Byline: Alexa Jaworski As ELX Electronic Liquidity Exchange prepares to go up against futures giant CME Group, it has enlisted Neal Wolkoff, former American Stock Exchange chairman and CEO, to lead the effort. Initially announced by...

Turbulence and Fear Shift Stock Lending Fundamentals.
October 20, 2008... Byline: John Hintze The collapse of financial giants' share prices and U.S. regulators' recent ban on short selling have taken their toll on the securities lending market by dramatically reducing borrowed shares, lifting collateral...

As Hedge Funds Go, So Goes GlobeOp? Riding booming OTC derivatives business, administrator says it will continue to grow.
October 20, 2008... Byline: Katherine Heires The financial crisis has hit the hedge fund industry hard, and even as it faces contraction, increased oversight may be on the horizon. However, GlobeOp Financial Services, an administrator with over 150 hedge fund...

Guidance Arrives For Fair-Value Methodology, But Some Call For Suspension.
October 20, 2008... Byline: Chris Kentouris Two years since the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued its guidelines on fair-value accounting, the non-profit organization and the Securities and Exchange Commission are still addressing industry...

Pivot Partners Marco Polo.(News Desk)(partnership between Pivot Ltd. and Marco Polo Network)(Editorial)(Brief article)
October 20, 2008... Byline: Editorial Staff Pivot is partnering with Marco Polo Network, a direct-market access (DMA) provider focused on emerging markets, to distribute its IMTrader platform to buy-side firms around the world. The rollout, which is under way...

DTCC Joins XBRL US.(News Desk)(Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. joins XBRL International)(Editorial)(Brief article)
October 20, 2008... Byline: Editorial Staff The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. (DTCC) has become a member of the XBRL US consortium and Donald Donahue, DTCC's chairman and CEO, has been added to its board. A branch of the non-profit XBRL International, the...

Capital IQ Adds FDIC Data.(News Desk)
October 20, 2008... Byline: Editorial Staff Capital IQ, a provider of Web-based financial research and analytical solutions, has added Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) data on more than 8,000 U.S. banks to its platform. Customers of Capital IQ, a New...

Central Device Management: Critical Component of Mobility Adoption.(Guest Comment)
October 20, 2008... Byline: Mort Rosenthal In today's highly regulated, fast-paced and tumultuous financial services industry, employees at all levels need to access critical information on the go. As a result, mobile devices are becoming ubiquitous. While...

ICE Joins CCorp as CDS Clearing Projects Multiply.(In The News)
October 20, 2008... Byline: Shane Kite As a bevy of exchanges and market players present plans to offer clearing for credit default swaps (CDS), IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) has joined with consortium-owned Clearing Corp. (CCorp), Markit Group and...

NYSE Euronext MTF To Offer Clearing Choice.(In The News)
October 20, 2008... Byline: Chris Kentouris When NYSE Euronext launches its multilateral trading facility (MTF) next month, Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. subsidiary EuroCCP will provide clearing services. But the transatlantic exchange operator says...

Nasdaq MTF an Agent for Change, Says Head.(View Point)
October 20, 2008... Byline: Editorial Staff On Sept. 26, Nasdaq OMX Group's London-based multilateral trading facility (MTF) began limited operations, trading 25 securities on the FTSE 100 index. By next month, Nasdaq OMX Europe, headed by president Charlotte...

Hedge Funds Struggling With Operating Costs.(Asset Servicing)
October 20, 2008... Byline: Chris Kentouris Amid falling returns, hedge funds are spending about 19 percent of their revenues on operations, according to a study from KPMG. If not contained, such costs could cut into profits, said the audit and consulting...

NYSE Liffe Joins OCC.(New Desk)
October 27, 2008... Byline: Editorial Staff NYSE Euronext's U.S. futures exchange, which launched Sept. 8, has selected Options Clearing Corp. (OCC) as its clearinghouse. OCC will begin clearing for NYSE Liffe by the second quarter next year, and the exchange...

Clients to BCP Vendors: 'Can You Do It All?'.(Special Report)
October 27, 2008... Byline: Shane Kite Ever since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 made disaster recovery and continuous availability top concerns for Wall Street, business continuity planning (BCP) products and services have been maturing rapidly. And...

Faced With New Challenges, BCP Continues to Evolve.(Special Report)
October 27, 2008... Byline: John Sandman About a decade ago the primary business continuity planning (BCP) focus was Y2K, a global initiative with well-defined benchmarks and a hard deadline for systems migration. By contrast, the events of Sept. 11, 2001 saw...

Trading Turret Vendor Stresses Logistics in Disaster Planning.(Business Continuity Planning)
October 27, 2008... Byline: Tom Groenfeldt Business continuity planning (BCP) requires a comprehensive and global approach, says Thierry Charvet, marketing manager for trading solutions at Orange Business Services. A provider of trading turrets to major...

Excel Abuse Running Rampant~Financial firms look to improve spreadsheet controls.(News)
October 27, 2008... Byline: Tom Groenfeldt Microsoft Corp.'s Excel spreadsheet application is celebrated among financial firms for its power and flexibility on the desktop. But those same attributes can cause problems when it is used as an enterprise...

Merger of DTCC, LCH.Clearnet Set to Shake Up European Scene.(News)(Merger between Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. and LCH.Clearnet Group Ltd.)
October 27, 2008... Byline: Chris Kentouris Seeking to propel its expansion into the European market, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. (DTCC) has reached a non-binding agreement to acquire LCH.Clearnet. For the London- and Paris-based clearinghouse, the...

Tightening Budgets, Consolidation Could Re-sculpt Indian Offshoring Industry.(News)
October 27, 2008... Byline: Rekha Menon With financial institutions in the U.S. and Europe reeling, the ripple effects are being felt throughout India's offshore outsourcing industry. "IT outsourcing decisions by banks and financial institutions are...

Credit Crisis Probes and Lawsuits Mean Boom Times for Electronic Discovery.(News)(Company overview)
October 27, 2008... Byline: Carol E. Curtis With the credit crunch spawning government investigations and lawsuits, the emergence of e-mail as a key prosecutorial tool means that it is increasingly important for securities firms to have effective electronic...

NYSE Euronext's TradeCheck.(New Desk)(NYSE Euronext Inc.)(Brief article)
October 27, 2008... Byline: Editorial Staff NYSE Euronext is targeting small and midsized trading firms with a new online service that lets them verify that they got the best price when trading on 18 European venues. Called TradeCheck, NYSE says the service...

Enter Nasdaq Commodities.(New Desk)
October 27, 2008... Byline: Editorial Staff Nasdaq OMX Group last week completed its purchase of Oslo-based Nord Pool's clearing and consulting units, as well as its international derivatives instruments. Under the agreement, the Nord Pool ASA exchange will...

People in the News.(New Desk)(brokerage subsidiary)(Editorial)(Brief article)
October 27, 2008... Byline: Editorial Staff After 15 years at Instinet, Michael Plunkett, president of its U.S. brokerage subsidiary since 2003, has stepped down. Succeeding Plunkett, who Instinet says left to "pursue other personal and professional...

Revisiting Risk.(Comment)
October 27, 2008... Byline: Chris Kentouris Waves of layoffs, a growing list of corporate takeovers, a massive government bailout plan-Wall Street executives are asking how they got into this mess and how they can prevent it from happening again. The...

Standards Are Standing in Way of External SOA.(In The News)
October 27, 2008... Byline: Maria Trombly The promise of service-oriented architecture (SOA) is a world where everything interoperates seamlessly, pieces of applications are reused endlessly and development of new systems is quick, cheap and easy. But despite...

Wall Street Systems Launches Pay-as-You-Go Processing.(In The News)
October 27, 2008... Byline: Chris Kentouris Trading and treasury solutions provider Wall Street Systems has introduced an on-demand post-trade processing utility for foreign exchange cash, FX derivatives, money markets, vanilla interest-rate derivatives and...

BOX Prepares for SRO Filing, Hires Legal Officer.(Trading)
October 27, 2008... Byline: Alexa Jaworski When Nasdaq OMX Group completed its acquisition of the Boston Stock Exchange (BSE) in August, the Boston Options Exchange (BOX) "found itself in a situation where our regulator is owned by a competitor," said Will...

FirstRain Partners With FactSet Research.(Trading)
October 27, 2008... Byline: Janice Fioravante FactSet Research Systems is integrating FirstRain's Web-based research and qualitative analytics into its Marquee real-time market data platform. Norwalk, Conn.-based FactSet provides financial information and...