trading and client connectivity, SunGard’s global trading business

27
Jan
2012

Making sense of MiFID 2

Contributor:

Interested parties have now had time to digest the European Commission’s October MiFID 2/MiFIR proposals, and major questions have been raised by a wide range of people. Looking briefly at the main areas of debate: Transparency is clearly the Commission’s central watchword in seeking to protect the interests of retail investors, but the big question is whether overly prescriptive regulation of dark pools may damage the ability of asset management firms to trade optimally on behalf of their (ultimately retail) clients.... read more

global head of connectivity, SunGard’s global trading business

26
Jan
2012

Are Latin American markets moving mainstream?

Contributor:

When people speak about Latin American markets, we know they tend to think of Brazil first. Of course, Brazil has opened the door to trading activity in the region and has been developing at a tremendous pace over the past few years, so that’s a natural response. However, as the region continues to boom, investors have been looking around, seeing many more opportunities across Latin America. Beyond Brazil, eyes are on Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Argentina – Latin American countries with surging economies that I believe will become much more mainstream within a few years.... read more

senior consultant, SunGard's banking business

24
Jan
2012

System focus – Does it matter for equipment leasing & asset finance companies?

Contributor:

For some time now there has been an ongoing discussion of what should be the “focus” of a system designed to support equipment leasing and asset finance companies. For years these systems were built as “lease-centric”, that is they started with a contract/lease amount and prorated portions of that amount down to the various assets.... read more

vice president, product management, AvantGard Payment Services, SunGard’s corporate liquidity business

23
Jan
2012

Tackling remittance challenges: Highlights from the remittance coalition workshops

Contributor:

The Remittance Coalition held its second workshop last week, just prior to the start of the Association of Financial Professionals (AFP) annual conference in Boston. The workshops are designed to better understand the barriers to the automated reconciliation of payment transactions with remittance data. The participants included representatives from financial institutions, software vendors, corporate treasury practitioners, payment services providers and standards developers as well as standards groups including X9, X12, Federal Reserve, SWIFT, OAGi, IFX, GS/1, NACHA and ISO. During this meeting it was emphasized that the Remittance Coalition is not a new standards body. The Coalition consists of parties (including existing standards groups) who are interested in understanding and addressing remittance problems. Key to this is ongoing input from corporate end users to understand their problems and develop effective solutions.... read more

vice president, product management, AvantGard Payment Services, SunGard’s corporate liquidity business

18
Jan
2012

Is “Same-day ACH” In Our Near Future?

Contributor:

NACHA, the Electronic Payments Association, is the organization that manages the development, administration and governance of the ACH Network. They recently proposed the Expedited Processing and Settlement (EPS) amendment to the NACHA Operating Rules (“Rules”) that would enable ACH entries to be processed and settled on the same day that they are originated. There are several forces that are driving the proposed changes:... read more