Electronic Behavioral Analysis Can Zero in on Fraud

June 25, 2010 - As the trial of Jerome Kerviel, a former trader at Societe Generale in Paris, came to a close on Friday, there is plenty of talk on the lessons which firms should learn to avoid a similar scam.

SIFMA Tech 2010: Preparing to Monitor Systemic Risk

June 18, 2010 - The Securities Industry and Financial Market Association’s technology conference this week will serve to highlight the technology spending and operational changes which financial firms will have to undertake to try and ensure that a financial crisis like that of 2008 and 2009 does not reoccur.

Beyond Swaps: Now, A Repository of Details on Equity Derivatives

June 11, 2010 - Transparency is in -- and the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation is not satisfied with just a Trade Information Warehouse on credit derivatives. The industry utility says it is on target to go live with a new repository for equity derivatives on July 31.

Sounding the Alarm for Compliance Technology

June 7, 2010 - Articles on information systems that securities firms use to comply with laws and regulations frequently focus on progress in a specific area – email archiving tools, for example – or on how impending rules could increase the demand for certain types of technology.

A Hint About Redefining Transaction Cost Analysis: It’s Not About Cost

June 1, 2010 - When electronics started to win out in the execution of trades, the ability of digits to store information on orders on the fly made it possible to figure out both the explicit costs of a transaction – commissions, markups, etc. – but the implicit ones – like opportunity costs or the movement of a stock price from the time of the investment decision to the expiration or completion of the order.

Before Rules are Written, Technology is Advancing for OTC Derivatives Buyers

May 24, 2010 - Efforts to ensure that trading in derivative securities cannot run amok will almost certainly result in major changes to this $604 trillion market.

Seeing Triple: Changing Times, Changing Tunes at Euroclear

May 17, 2010 - When Euroclear SA came up with the idea of a single operating platform for all its settlement and related services under one roof, it was considered a pretty bold step.

Warning: Destruction Could Be Only Goal of Next Market Convulsion

May 9, 2010 - If you think a 1,000-point plunge in the Dow Jones Industrial Average is a big deal, just look at that number in a different light. The amount of wealth that was wiped away in less than a day was $1 trillion, according to a former director of the National Security Agency.

Email Archiving Is Not Just For Compliance, Any More

May 1, 2010 - The outsize role of emails in the Senate grilling last week of Goldman Sachs executives is a stark reminder that – despite newer forms of e-communication such as texting and instant messaging – reliance on emails in the securities industry remains an integral fact of life.

SEC’s Python Project To Cut Down the Forest in Complex Securities

April 25, 2010 - As King Arthur contended in Monty Python’s hunt for the Holy Grail, you can’t cut down “the mightiest tree in the forest” with a herring. Yet, investors some times are asked to do just that, no matter how sophisticated they are.

Prime Brokers, Protect Those Client Assets

April 19, 2010 - The Financial Services Authority is finally cracking down on how prime brokers protect client assets.

Credit Rating Agency Reform Could Up the Stakes for Money Managers

April 11, 2010 - Depending on what comes out of the Dodd bill, institutional money managers could be forced to set up their own systems for analyzing the creditworthiness of bonds they invest in.

Market Access Proposal: Great in Concept but not in Practice

April 4, 2010 - Broker-dealers and other market players give a thumbs-up for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s efforts to tighten controls on unfiltered sponsored or “naked” access to exchanges and other market centers.

Why the Back Office Avoids The Cloud. Hint: It’s Not Technical.

March 29, 2010 - Cloud computing may be taking some industries by storm, but it’s not making much of a dent in core trading systems or brokerage back offices. Nor will it any time, soon.

Five Priorities for the Middle and Back Offices, from the Financial Crisis

March 22, 2010 - Regulators want it, investors want it, and financial firms are now beginning to understand they need it. “It” constitutes a far-better understanding of just what trades in which types of securities Wall Street firms are executing and processing, with whom else and when.