Perspectives

Guest Comments

Finding the Smoking Gun

May 3, 2010 - It’s understandable that everyone is looking for a “smoking gun” behind last Thursday’s dip; however the circumstances are more complicated than that.

Mitigating the Risk of Reform. Scotch, Please.

May 3, 2010 - During my flight to SIFMA’s operations conference in Palm Desert, I was thinking about proposed financial regulation, the bedlam of last couple of years, and wondering how in the world this country and this industry landed on a financial precipice.

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Comments

Reforming Deadlines

May 1, 2011 - BOCA RATON, Fla. -- When is a deadline not a deadline? When it has to do with financial reform. According to more than one speaker in the past two days here, there were 26 deadlines that were supposed to be met by the end of last month for setting of rules coming out of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, enacted last year. After all, as one wonk put it, this is a law that…

Allan D. Grody Statement regarding DTCC, July 2, 2010

June 21, 2010 - "This is an exciting step for the realization of a truly universal identification system for the products and trade counterparties and other supply chain participants of the global financial services industry. "While DTCC is truly a dominant and highly valued infrastructure utility in the US market, it is one of hundreds of such facilities globally. Its willingness to collaborate with other infrastructure utilities must be mutual and its ambitions to be a global player must be…

Alice's Doctrine of 'Unintended Consequences'

June 21, 2010 - When was the last time anyone figured out how to prevent "unintended consequences." Even Alice worried about rat-holes. Let's start dealing with consequences that can be foreseen and accept that not all can be.

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Original Sources

Bring Building Codes to OTC Markets in Derivatives

March 22, 2010 - The recent chill winds blowing through Europe, including press reports that Greece used derivatives to help mask its fiscal health, are reminders of the pressing need for comprehensive regulation.

What Is the End Game for the “End User” Exemption?

January 25, 2010 - Regulators and legislators, some of whom equate energy derivatives with the credit default derivatives that spiked the financial crisis, want mandatory, regulated central clearing of all “standardized” derivatives.

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Viewpoints

The Race to T+Zero. Not.

May 1, 2012 - So you think getting to same-day settlement of stock transactions is tough? Must be. The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation next week is going to start a study that – once again -- investigates what it will take to reduce the time it takes to clear and settle trades from the current three days. The choices: two days, one day or none. …

Extremely Big, Still Unpredictable

May 1, 2012 - I thought I was joking yesterday morning, when I said, basically, that was my heart was palpitating on the way to SIFMA Ops 2012. That was because the past two years have indelibly conjoined this great industry event – where the heroes that keep capital markets operating through thick and thin convene – have been marked by astounding events. The Flash Crash happened on the second day of this conference two years ago.…

Extremely Big, Incredibly Unpredictable

May 1, 2012 - I am 30,000 feet up in the air. This particular U.S. Airways jet does not have onboard wifi, which I have suddenly come to count on and expect as routine. These days, even in flight, I am accustomed to working seamlessly on the Internet, watching the news, researching my own stories and posting them online. Just as if I was at the office, at a hotel or at home. …

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