ACA Group and Foreside Financial Group, LLC, US-based providers of governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) solutions to clients in the financial services industry, have announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to combine their two companies. 

What the industry learned from the Guinness Atkinson conversion of the first mutual fund to ETF is that “it is a very complex project plan that touches all aspects of your business and relationships with service providers, investors, and intermediaries,” according to Sonja Formato, senior director at compliance and consulting firm Foreside. Foreside acts as legal underwriter for their mutual fund and ETF.

By Matthew Chapman (pictured), Director, ACA Compliance Group – Geopolitical change and uncertainty, regulatory sabre-rattling and industry shake-ups have combined to create a perfect storm for many financial services firms when it comes to their trade and transaction reporting obligations under MiFIR, EMIR and SFTR.

ETF assets are on a roll and currently predicted to grow to USD50 trillion by 2030, driven by their improved regulatory status in the US, with the arrival of the ETF rule, and the rise of active funds, including the semi and non-transparent version. July saw the launches of actively managed ETFs exceed passive ETFs for the first time.

Jim Nash (pictured), director at compliance consulting and outsourced broker/dealer firm Foreside, is urging ETF issuers to call their compliance consultants now as the December 2020 deadline looms for compliance with the ETF rule, rule 6c-11.

The SEC has postponed the resolution of the application filed by Direxion Investment for a series of ETFs designed to track the performance of Bitcoin.

Founded in 2002, the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association (CAIA) has gone from strength to strength in the alternative investment education arena.
William Kelly (pictured), CAIA CEO, joined in 2014 and declares that, while it's been an interesting run, the value proposition of alternatives is alive and well.
 

A new ETF provider is set to launch a range of fixed income funds targeting European institutional investors including insurance companies, pension funds, asset managers, private banks and wealth managers. 

Dave Shastri, the 18-year veteran of Bank of Bermuda and alternatives fund administration generally, is chief strategy officer of Truss Edge – a business designed to offer support to fund managers and one that is targeting the ETF industry.

Carne Group has been appointed by HANetf to provide Compliance, Designated Persons, Global Registration and Money Laundering Reporting Office services.