As part of its drive to compel financial services firms to provide more transparency into their data, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has confirmed this week that it will require UK firms to publish information on how they handle complaints. According to the regulator, this will help people see how firms are performing in this area and to drive up complaints handling standards across the industry. It will also pose another data challenge for firms already facing new requirements around risk data reporting and single customer view (SCV) reforms (see 
This week the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has added another set of proposals to its regulatory to do list, this time in the form of new reporting requirements for money market funds. The rules, should they be passed, would require these funds to regularly report their net asset value (NAV) to the regulator, a turnaround from the current situation where these funds are often treated in a similar manner to cash and carry a steady value of US$1 a share. The proposals are likely to prove unpopular with the market as a whole and would entail a data challenge in tracking pricing and valuations data on a monthly basis, as well as impose changes to the way ratings data is used and introduce new stress testing requirements.
January seems to be turning into the month for senior staff attrition at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); not only has ex-associate director of the enforcement division Fredric Firestone left the building (see 
Risk and regulatory compliance solution vendor FRSGlobal has completed its first client rollout of the year with an undisclosed Chinese investment bank. The vendor, which revamped its regulatory reporting solution last March, indicates that the client opted for FRSGlobal’s RegPro to provide reports to meet the specifications of regulators in China including the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), People’s Bank of China (PBC) and State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) regulators.
This week, the UK Financial Services Authority published another “Dear CEO” letter, this time aimed at compelling insurance brokers and investment firms to improve the way they protect client assets, including record keeping considerations. The letter, sent by the FSA’s managing director of risk, Sally Dewar, warns that firms must take heed of the regulator’s client money and custody requirements (CASS) or face further action.
New faces may be appearing at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) enforcement division, as it swells its ranks to crack down on the financial markets, but familiar faces are also exiting the building. One such exit this month is associate director of the division, Fredric Firestone, who was heavily involved in the Enron case and the prosecutions following the collapse of the auction rate securities (ARS) market.
A-Team Insight Exchange is a new event series for 2010, which will combine A-Team’s expertise in financial markets IT with thought leadership from world-class technology innovators and practical experience from financial market practitioners.
The Division of Market Oversight of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has criticised futures exchange ICE Futures US for its failings with regards to its compliance systems. In its recently published rule enforcement on the matter, the CFTC division claims that ICE staff cuts and a lack of investment in compliance automation meant that the exchange was unable to adequately comply with core principles relating to audit trail, trade practice surveillance, disciplinary and dispute resolution programmes.
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