The transformative impacts of emerging technologies are not limited to new ways of interacting with customers, but have the potential to reshape the operations, systems, and processes that drive the securities industry.  This panel brings together operations leaders to explore looking how new technologies and industry initiatives can drive greater efficiency and reduce risk, and how the industry and the role of the operations professional may evolve over the next five years.

Automation technologies, such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA), present opportunities to reduce cost and improve quality, leveraging existing legacy platforms. However, firms have struggled to gain significant scale with RPA using centralized, top-down efforts.  This struggle is often caused by ineffective opportunity identification mechanisms and ROI hurdles that only allow for large implementations.  PWC and UIPath will introduce the concept of Citizen Led automation, allowing users to drive both ideation and implementation of big and small automation projects, surrounded by the appropriate crowd sourcing mechanisms, change management processes, and control framework.  This approach and framework provide the starting point for key considerations in Digital Upskilling of the workforce and provide a way to engage your staff in framing the Operations analyst of the future.

Blockchain and Distributed ledger technology has everybody talking about the golden source of truth.  Given that, the state of a singular dataset has been extremely difficult to achieve in practice, what constitutes a “golden copy” as it applies to data and how data is actually ensured to be this golden source.  Does DLT truly enhance the notion of Golden source of data and how can we leverage it for production scale applications.

• Understand applications of single trusted & verifiable representation of data or “golden source” in Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology
• Introduces the field of golden source of data, including information systems design for DLT, data normalization & canonicalization.
• Reviews how a golden source is achieved and its applications in DLT.

Robotics Process Automation (RPA) is a powerful technological tool that firms can use to transform their operations to build greater efficiency and accuracy, and better understand and manage risk.  As the industry increasing adopts RPA, this expert panel will explore what you need to do to successfully implement this technology – from identifying the right use cases, applying the technology, and building it into risk management and governance frameworks.

Operations professionals continue to focus on the enhancement of the customer experience while mitigating risk created by the complexity and regulatory requirements in the corporate actions space. This session will highlight how firms are looking to manage regulatory and operational risk in corporate actions operations. Panelists will also explore the challenges and financial risks associated with worthless securities, 144A restricted to unrestricted voluntary exchanges and proxy, while looking at ways that operational organizations can be better prepared to handle these risks.

November 15, 2019 marks the commencement of industry reporting to the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT).  The industry – in conjunction with the Exchanges, FINRA, and the SEC – has been preparing for this milestone over the last several years given that the CAT is one of the industry’s most significant builds in recent memory.  During this session, subject matter experts will discuss various aspects of CAT reporting and what should be top of mind for firms as this critical reporting date approaches.

Personal financial data is an increasingly valuable asset in today’s global economy. Improving data quality to enhance the customer experience is critical to business success but protecting data from improper use is paramount. Discover the best practices to collect, store and use data while also safeguarding it from internal and external threats in an evolving environment.

The panel will discuss the Bulk Transfer initiative, a collaboration among regulators and the industry to create a common data and regulatory architecture for the efficient and speedy ‘bulk transfer’ of customer accounts, from a carrying broker dealer experiencing financial difficulties to a new carrying broker dealer(s). Subject matter experts and regulators will discuss the recently published Bulk Transfer Playbook, and the ongoing effort to standardize Bulk Transfer conversion files with the assistance of Sheltered Harbor.

With the Consolidated Audit Trail’s go-live date of November 2019 fast approaching, firms are working through this complex implementation project to ensure they meet their reporting obligations. During this session, project managers will share how their firms are working through this vast effort including coding, compliance, connectivity, testing, error correction and FDID generation.

While buy-side is driving operational transformation to an ideal end-to-end automation, we still need to deal with the reality of working with archaic structures and processes across counter-parties and custodians. The buy-side operations community is collaborating on the exchange process for single security, implementing the process for initial margin for uncleared derivatives, and determining the impact of moving to SOFR to systems and operations.  Join buy-side operational leaders and experts for an informative discussion on today’s challenges.

Disruptive technologies like AI, ML, RPA, and SPA are no longer the stuff of science fiction, nor the “next big thing”. Successful firms are leveraging these technologies today in many facets of their operations: from trade analytics to advisor insights to smarter processes. This workshop will highlight current successes and observation on innovation from industry-leading [banks/brokers], service providers and analysts.

Throughout the industry, firms are looking to Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies to optimize their business. Text analytics uses AI, ML, and Natural Language Processing to unlock data from documents, filings, forms, agreements, and other unstructured formats. From risk monitoring and corporate actions processing to client on-boarding and data management, this Learning Lab explains text analytics and provides practical applications of text analytics for capital markets leaders.

This panel will bring together regulators across multiple asset classes to share their views on the emerging regulatory landscape. Regulators will share their perspectives on agency priorities and discuss current and potential new regulatory initiatives in 2019 and beyond.

This panel will address the critical role of the DTCC in managing risk, clearing operations and capital on behalf of the industry. You will hear from the senior leaders of the DTCC who are shaping important capital and cyber risk management efforts and leading innovation as the industry’s largest financial markets utility. The panel will also discuss DTCC led projects for 2019 and beyond including Settlement Optimization and others.

LIBOR is the most widely used reference rate in the world, referenced in trillions of dollars of bond and swap transactions. However, its future is uncertain. Global regulators have directed market participants to develop alternatives to LIBOR, and it is unclear whether LIBOR will exist after 2021.  In the US, the Alternative Reference Rates Steering Committee has developed an alternative – SOFR – and trading has commenced in futures, swaps, and bonds referencing this new, more robust rate.

During this session, subject matter experts will discuss open issues and the roadmap. Many issues remain to be addressed, and much work still needs to be done across the industry to prepare for a broader transition to new rates. LIBOR is not just about bonds and swaps – it is also used in internal models, agreements, systems and other areas. Panelists will discuss where we are, where we are going, and what the industry needs to focus on to enhance resiliency and the robustness of our financial markets as we move towards new reference rates.

The role of the operations professional continues to evolve – driving the securities industry’s efforts to adopt new technologies, innovate processes and products, and expand the role to understanding and managing risk. As operations changes and evolves, this panel will explore the new skills, responsibilities and the place in the firm that ops professionals will take on.

The Automated Customer Account Transfer Service (ACATS), with their partner DTCC, have identified opportunities to modernize the transfer process. As we move closer to implementation, this panel of subject matter experts will explore the transfer changes including technology, best practices and regulatory rule changes as well as the benefits to the client.

This panel of industry experts will discuss the techniques and tools that firms are employing to increase resilience and reduce the probability of operational failure. Many failures were the result of poor technology change management processes, prompting new regulatory guidance for operational, cyber and technology resilience. How do you manage towards production stability and achieve recovery time objectives including the use of software and other tools without compromising client experience?

This workshop reviews the upcoming changes to the “to-be-announced” (TBA) mortgage market with the implementation of the Single Security Initiative going live on June 3^rd this year. Representatives from the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will present valuable information to any firm that participates in the TBA market or invests in single-family mortgage-backed securities (MBS). Workshop attendees have the opportunity to delve into the intricacies of the optional PC Exchange and the new “uniform MBS,” (UMBS) commingled securities. The GSEs are here to answer questions and assist firms in getting to the finish line.

Sponsored by Fidelity Clearing & Custody Solutions and PwC 

Sponsored by Fidelity Clearing & Custody Solutions 

Recent advances in Fintech have driven a transformation of middle- and back-office functions. As firms evaluate new products and services, which will be most impactful to their firms? With new offerings in robotics to artificial intelligence, big data to cyber, panelists will share how these new initiatives can reduce risk while driving greater efficiencies.