Thursday, November 17, 2022

Common Domain Model Paves the Way to the Future

"The common domain model is a natural starting place for DLT-based smart contracts"

Author: David Schwartz J.D. CPA

The Common Domain Model (CDM), ISDA's ambitious securities lending standardization project, is a step closer to reality. And industry leaders already see opportunities for application. In a report jointly produced with Linklaters, ISDA outlined the project's progress since its launch in 2021 [1] and described how the CDM lays the foundation for distributed ledger (DLT)-based smart contracts to remake the securities lending landscape. 

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Saturday, October 8, 2022

Bringing Crypto Asset Activities Into the Regulatory Perimeter

Tech Innovation Meets Prudential Regulation

Author: David Schwartz J.D. CPA

A collection of the globe's most significant securities trade associations[1] joined forces to file a comprehensive response to the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision's (BCBS) second public consultation on the prudential treatment of banks' crypto-asset exposures. The September 30, 2022, letter voiced support for the design of the crypto-asset exposure framework proposed by  in its June 10, 2021, initial and follow-up June 30, 2022, consultations. However, the associations identified some elements of the proposal that they say "would  meaningfully  reduce banks' ability  to—and  in  some  cases  effectively  preclude banks  from—utilising the benefits of distributed ledger technology ("DLT") to perform certain  traditional  banking, financial  intermediation and  other  financial functions  more efficiently."

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Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Alarm Raised on Stock Loans for "Withholding Tax Schemes”

Findings Point to a New Role for Emerging Fintech

Author: David Schwartz J.D. CPA

European commissioners are reviewing a study from their securities and market authority (ESMA) that includes a recommendation for new laws to combat unfair trading practices and an extended remit for National Competent Authorities (NCAs) to conduct snap audits of securities loans and transactors. Loans deemed to be suspicious would prompt an inquiry to determine penalties for unfair strategies and inappropriate beneficiaries. However, useful audit results may be doubtful based on our preliminary review that uncovered shortcomings in the proposed SFTR surveillance datasets, as well as possible flaws in the study’s basic methodology. 

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Sunday, February 26, 2017

Fintech Poised to Create a New Financial World

IOSCO Report Looks at Intersection of Fintech and Financial Regulation

Author: David Schwartz J.D. CPA

“Fintech,” or financial technology," is a term that seems to be on everyone's lips these days, from bankers to global finance ministers.  Dramatic advances in computing power, speed, interoperability, and nearly instantaneous internet communication are changing the ways banks, brokers, and other financial institutions relate to their customers, investors, regulators, and each other. But what do these changes mean to the future of financial markets and regulation?  In February 2017, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published a document that ambitiously charts the bewildering array of fintech innovations and describes how these innovations are beginning to intersect with securities markets regulation. Based on industry surveys, the report looks at the most important technological innovations affecting global finance and makes some observations about regulatory responses.

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Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Is Blockchain the Future of Securities Lending?

Author: David Schwartz J.D. CPA

By now, all but the most strident luddite has heard of Bitcoin, the notorious stateless crypto-currency. Naturally, financial firms and regulators have started to take notice of Bitcoin. But it is not necessarily the currency they are interested in. Rather, they are exploring the technology that makes the virtual currency possible. Computer-driven concepts borrowed from Bitcoin like the blockchain, distributed ledgers, and self executing contracts are starting to become the new frontier in areas like securities lending and repo.  

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