Blackrock Retains Top Position In Broadridge’s Fund Brand 50 Global Asset Manager Rankings, Significantly Increased Its Total Brand Score    The latest edition of Broadridge’s Fund Brand 50 (FB50), an annual research study by global Fintech leader Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR), was released today, highlighting the world’s best-performing third-party asset management brands. The study reveals a shifting brand landscape as asset managers jockey for position amid geopolitical tensions, market volatility, and intense fund selector scrutiny. Managers are enhancing their brand by offering clients access to high-growth markets such as private equity and private debt via strategic partnerships or through targeted acquisitions. Another critical trend that continues to shape the competitor environment, and the brand ranking, is investor appetite for passive and active ETFs. Innovative funds are highly prized in these dynamic growth areas. “JPMorgan AM no longer poses a significant threat to BlackRock as its total brand score has dropped 48 points after surging 755 points in 2024,” notes Barbara Wall, Broadridge’s EMEA Director of Data & Analytics. “BlackRock emerges top in four brand attributes including ‘Expert in what they do’ and ‘Solidity.’ The US leader is also the foremost recognised brand in eight out of the ten European markets covered. However, JPMorgan narrowly leads BlackRock in Germany, while Amundi moves into top position in France.”   The independent study, now in its 15th year, is powered by insights from Broadridge’s Global Fund Buyer Focus Intelligence - a comprehensive, continuously updated intelligence and analytics dataset capturing fund selector preferences, behaviours, and market trends across global markets. FB50 measures and ranks asset managers’ relative brand attractiveness based on fund selector perceptions: considering 10 brand attributes to reveal the top fund brands in Europe, APAC and the US. This is the latest study from Broadridge’s Data and Analytics business and highlights the depth and breadth of the firm’s global market insights.    Top-10 European Asset Management Brands   Rank   Fund Group   Change   1   BlackRock   0   2   JPMorgan AM   0   3   Fidelity   0   4   Amundi   +1   5   Pictet   -1   6   iShares   0   7   Vanguard   0   8   Schroders   +1   9   Robeco   -1   10   UBS   +1   Key insights   Amundi upsets the established order by replacing Pictet in fourth position (a post held by Pictet since 2021). It was also a productive year for Schroders and UBS – both move up a rung into eighth and tenth place, respectively. While Schroders’ top attribute is ‘Stability of investment management team’, the group is also valued for its extensive product range and expanding private markets offerings, including liquid alternatives. Home bias might have been a factor in the rise of UBS, with Swiss selectors remarking that their domestic clients are more at home with a provider which, like UBS, is a well-known local brand. UBS’s top attribute is ‘Local Knowledge.’   Fidelity remains in third place scoring highly for ‘Keeping best informed.’ Selectors also like this provider for its consistency, sheer professionalism and the great capacity that it has for fundamental analysis. Passive powerhouses iShares and Vanguard retain their top-10 slots in sixth and seventh place, respectively. Both groups are valued for their solidity and core passive fund ranges.   Social responsibility may not be top of mind for many providers in the current market climate, but it is noteworthy that some of the biggest asset management brands in Europe have lost institutional mandates due to a perceived reduction in their focus on ESG issues. At the retail level, fund selectors view promoters’ sustainability credentials as relevant, though increasingly less so amid mixed performance, closures and mergers, and regulatory uncertainty.     Active ETFs were a hot topic in 2025, and, while AUM remains low, flow momentum is building. Establishing a distinctive and authoritative message will be critical for building brand recognition in what is a highly concentrated space. As the sector matures, selectors are increasingly looking for high conviction active ETFs (many of which are thematic) distinguishable from the more widespread index enhanced strategies.    Valued attributes   While the top-five most important attributes in Europe are ostensibly unchanged from the previous year, with ‘Appealing investment strategy’ retaining top position, the precise ranking is rather more nuanced, with multiple attributes tying for second and fourth place. This serves to underscore the importance for asset managers of being seen to offer both fund selectors and investors alike the whole package.   Increasingly, asset managers are being asked to provide continuous, high-quality, and transparent market updates to navigate an investment landscape defined by geopolitical uncertainty, elevated valuations, and choppy markets. While size can enable a provider to leverage higher communication budgets to great effect, selectors want targeted communication that is easy to understand and in more engaging formats.   Additional findings from this year’s study include:   Traditional active equity managers continue to face an uphill struggle as ETF providers expand their market share. However, there are notable successes among independent managers with selectors valuing certain groups for their smaller size, longevity, low staff turnover and niche product sets.    It was a banner year for fixed income, and this was reflected in flows and brand perception. This is one area of traditional active management where bond providers were able to shine. Active flexible strategies and short-term fixed income exposure were popular with fund selectors.   One of the year’s most significant thematic trends in equity markets has been European defence. Two providers that have made significant gains in the top FB50 brand ranking – WisdomTree and VanEck – have made a notable impression here and in other popular thematic ETF strategies. Selectors want to see further product innovation in areas such as cryptocurrency and AI.   A webinar is scheduled for Tuesday, 14 April 2026 at 2:00pm BST | 9:00am EST | 9:00pm CST to reveal the top asset management brands in each region. Registration is available to all  https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/5270343/9C55A720DB344CF0E2D572C76AB46728   About the report   Broadridge Fund Brand 50 is an annual study derived from Broadridge’s Global Fund Buyer Focus Intelligence, which equips asset managers with critical analytics on their fund selector preferences, brand tracking, and quality scores. The analytics are driven by intensive interviews with more than 1,300 of the most significant fund selectors in Europe, APAC, and the US. Fund selectors name their top-three suppliers across 10 brand attributes.    These attributes for Europe are as follows:   Appealing investment strategy                         Client-oriented thinking                                     Expert in what they do                                       >Keeping best informed                                       Key international player                                     Solidity                                                                   Innovation/adaptation to market                   Stability of investment management team                   Local knowledge                                                  Social responsibility/sustainability           These answers, as well as commentary from other preference questions, are collated using statistical analysis and transformed into a ‘Total Brand Score’, on which groups are ranked.    Asset managers, consultants and other industry stakeholders interested in receiving more detail about  Fund Buyer Focus Intelligence can visit this website page. To inquire about Broadridge’s Fund Brand 50 report, please visit the Fund Brand 50 information page.     Broadridge helps asset managers streamline investment operations, comply with changing regulations, and drive revenue and profitability with advanced data, analytics, and global market intelligence. Broadridge’s fund solutions business serves nearly 500 asset managers, and tracks $110 trillion of assets under management, providing fund clients with an unparalleled global view into investor and asset trends.  

As financial markets become increasingly unstructured, a growing misalignment is emerging between the economics and technical challenges of connecting to markets and policy makers’ objectives for market growth and stability. In paper 1 of its three-part series “Markets Unstructured: The Importance of Connectivity in the Reinvention of Markets”, MSP explained how liquidity is dispersing and increasingly moving to multiple Request for Quote (RFQ) channels, pitching trading venues, sell-side intermediaries and automated market makers against each other as their value propositions merge. Paper II, released today, examines the challenges of the technical and commercial transformation required to underpin these changes and the implications for market access, competition, and execution outcomes. Key Findings: The buy-side does not own the technology upon which it relies to access markets.  88% of buy-side firms still rely on broker-sponsored Order and Execution Management Systems (OEMS) for broad access to markets and 47% are dependent on individual Fixed Income, Currency and Commodity (FICC) trading venues to provide direct, bespoke interfaces to each of their markets. As liquidity disperses, 71% of sell-side firms expect to have to connect to, and/or compete with more liquidity pools, increasing the spaghetti of pipes and connectivity costs that is already in existence.  Meanwhile, the buyside trading desks face a “swivel” curse of inefficiencies as they navigate between the OEMS solutions provided by brokers and the interfaces provided by individual trading venues that want to connect to them directly. 78% of sell-side say they are already offering a myriad of hybrid technical solutions to their clients across asset classes, which may be unsustainable and lead to commercial decisions about whether to continue paying for buy-side connectivity. 44% of both buy and sell-side firms are planning a connectivity overhaul and a further 33% are evaluating their options, but many struggle to prepare for strategic change or know how to unpick the current commercial and technical models, which, they say, are steeped in contractual vendor lock-ins, opaque pricing models and inertia to transform. Some sell-side are modernising, accelerating API investment: 67% plan to deploy cloud APIs.  However, as the motivation to sponsor connectivity reduces, access to such capabilities and efficiencies will become more uneven and the buy-side increasingly need to prepare to own their own technology and take up the reins of investment. Connectivity can no longer be treated as background plumbing. It now determines whether firms can actually reach liquidity, interact with prices, and participate competitively in the market.  Uneven access will contribute to further distortions in market structure. Connectivity-as-a-service and clean, standardised data for all participants are now the base requirements for the growth and stability of markets. If the buy-side is going to invest to modernise, it needs help to eradicate fragmented workflows across asset classes, remove opaque pricing and contractual vendor lock-ins, fix poor data quality, and break down legacy asset class silos.  Future growth and market stability depends on four pillars: Transparency – clear contractual arrangements and consistent pricing, particularly in fixed income where EMS costs remain opaque Standardisation – mandated, enforceable standards such as FIX, with consistent, flexible APIs (aligned where possible to FDC3-style cross-asset models) Interoperability – portable data, integrated pre- and post-trade tooling, seamless onboarding, and unified, real-time information across the trade lifecycle Cultural change – reduced vendor lock-in, dismantling silos, and shifting from entrenched partnerships to more flexible, open structures. Niki Beattie, CEO of MSP and one of the authors of the report comments “Too often people forget the importance of plumbing.  Without greater efficiencies in secondary markets, growth and innovation will stall. As markets become more unstructured, connectivity is no longer just the ability to send orders from a participant to one or two trading venues- it has become the nervous system of modern markets.  Getting the foundations right to ensure participants can send and receive accurate and validated data and interpret risk signals between all liquidity pools, across asset classes and up and down the processing chain is critical.  Policymakers and participants who underestimate its importance will find their markets and smaller businesses left behind, further reinforcing structural disparities./p> A copy of the Paper II report is attached.    

LSEG today announced a multi-year collaboration with Dell Technologies to optimise its existing on premises infrastructure and build a new private cloud platform. The new platform will strengthen resilience and performance across a number of LSEG’s Data & Analytics and Markets platforms that operate outside of LSEG’s existing public cloud environments. Dell will support LSEG in the design and build of a new secure, high-performance private cloud platform, integrating Dell servers, storage and automation software to create a unified infrastructure. The agreement forms part of LSEG’s multi-cloud strategy, complementing LSEG’s existing public cloud partnerships.  Irfan Hussain, Chief Information Officer, LSEG, said:“LSEG plays a crucial role powering the world’s financial markets through our trusted data and market infrastructure. Optimising our on-premises and public cloud estate is vital in ensuring we continue to serve our customers with best-in-class services. Working with Dell Technologies enhances the flexibility and resilience of our systems, enabling us to continue delivering high-performance services for the financial markets.” Doug Schmitt, Chief Information Officer and President of Dell Technologies Services, Dell Technologies, said:"The financial services sector demands infrastructure that maintains continuous availability while meeting strict security and regulatory requirements. Our integrated infrastructure and automation capabilities give LSEG the operational resilience and flexibility to run their most demanding workloads while maintaining full control of their environment.”

BNP Paribas’ THEAM Quant platform recently won various independent European fund awards for the performance of its flagship Guru equity strategies, highlighting the consistency and robustness of its rules‑based stock‑selection approach across European and US equity markets. The awards acknowledge the performance of the THEAM Quant - Equity Eurozone Guru and THEAM Quant - Equity US Guru strategies, which apply a disciplined, systematic framework designed to identify companies with strong fundamentals and attractive long‑term return profiles. LSEG Lipper Fund Award 2026 At the LSEG Lipper Fund Awards Europe 2026, THEAM Quant - Equity Eurozone Guru was named Best Equity Europe strategy over three years, recognising its consistently strong risk‑adjusted performance relative to peers, as measured by Lipper’s independent and quantitative methodology. Italian market awards The Guru range was also awarded by leading Italian financial publications; THEAM Quant - Equity Eurozone Guru was recognised at Bluerating’s Asset Class Awards, while THEAM Quant - Equity US Guru was awarded by Il Sole 24 Ore’s Premio Alto Rendimento for the third consecutive year, underlining the relevance and consistent performance of the strategy across regional markets. Belgian market recognition Additionally, THEAM Quant - Equity Eurozone Guru was awarded in its category by De Tijd, L’Echo media group. This prestigious fund award was presented during the Asset Management Tomorrow event that took place in Brussels earlier this month. Vincent Berard, Head of BNP Paribas Global Markets' Product Strategy for THEAM Quant funds, said: “The Guru strategies are built to deliver disciplined, repeatable equity exposure through a systematic stock‑selection process grounded in fundamental quality. This recognition reflects the strength of our systematic research and the robustness of the framework we apply consistently across regions.” Roberto Bartolomei, Head of BNP Paribas Global Markets' Sales for THEAM Quant funds, added: “We are pleased to see our Guru strategies recognised across multiple markets and by independent organisations. These awards highlight the relevance of our approach for clients seeking consistent equity exposure delivered through a transparent and rules‑based investment process.”

The FIX Trading Community, the industry association that manages the world’s trading language, the FIX Protocol, has called for changes to UK financial regulation as part of its responses to FCA consultations on the UK consolidated tape (CP25/31), and transaction reporting (CP25/32). Executive Director Jim Kaye said both consultations highlighted concerns with post-trade transparency that, if addressed, would improve UK market data and allow investors to more confidently engage with UK-based liquidity. “FIX has long been of the view that the UK could benefit from harmonising more closely with EU reporting rules, to reduce complexity and improve efficiency, and reduce the reporting burden,” he said. “These two consultations represent an excellent opportunity to move UK markets in this direction.” The UK consolidated tape for equities, which will be introduced in 2027, will deliver better access to UK market data. FIX made a number of recommendations around the framework of the tape, aiming to address regulatory gaps, improve clarity around compliance, and remove post-Brexit duplicative reporting. They include: Aligning the post trade transparency exemptions currently applicable to off-venue activity to apply to equivalent off-book on-exchange trades.  Remove the requirement to report, in the UK, trades that have already been reported by an EU APA. adding disclosure of trade execution methodology (manual versus automated) through FIX field ExecMethod(2405) for all off-venue trade reports.  Clarify via regulatory guidelines that when chains of orders are involved in a trade, the trade report should be performed by either the executing counterparty or its direct counterparty. Clarify via regulatory guidelines that when reporting an off-book cross-border transaction, the trade report should be performed by the first investment firm to receive the trade within the UK. To have a single consolidated tape provider to ensure a single source of truth. With regard to transaction reporting, the FCA consultation proposed changes to “reduce the regulatory burden on firms, support sustained economic growth in the UK, enhance our ability to fight financial crime and protect market integrity.” Mr Kaye noted that FIX’s recommendations focused on simplifying reporting, and included: Harmonising and aligning the rules with EU post-trade reporting rules. Clarifying single-sided and conditional single-side reporting with respect to data sharing, data repair responsibilities, and scenarios involving multiple intermediaries. Ensuring pragmatic approaches to data sourcing and identifiers – ie using Legal Entity Identifiers for trusts, and the FCA’s Financial Instrument Reference Data System (FIRDS) as a golden source – and addressing data quality issues with CFI codes. Removing RTS 22 fields while ensuring any data used for post-trade transparency is preserved. Ensuring unintended consequences of scope changes, such as removing instruments, fields or reporting oblications, do not complicate reporting logic or erode post-trade data quality. Recognising that some firms’ transaction reporting systems may not currently encompass proposed data points such as DEA indicators, and that upgrades will create additional work. The FIX Trading Community is an independent global community where capital markets firms come together to solve common issues and shape the evolution of capital markets. FIX groups in over 60 countries are working on a range of global issues including digital assets; reference data; carbon trading; AI; algo trading; FICC and ETFs, while country and regional committees work together to manage local regulation and market structure matters.    

ExeQution Analytics, the specialist trading analytics company, has launched a hallucination-resistant AI assistant for trading - Eolas. Eolas is an agentic tool designed specifically for trading, quant and IT teams in financial institutions to extract more value from their data and improve trading decisions. Critically, Eolas has been engineered to be hallucination-resistant, ensuring its responses are drawn from a firm’s market or proprietary data, with no margin of error to fabricate responses. CEO Cat Turley said Eolas represented a step-change in institutions’ ability to monetise data investments. “Eolas essentially removes all the bottlenecks firms grapple with around data,” she said. “It allows anyone involved in the trading function to speak directly to the data source, in natural language – and for the data to speak back.” Eolas can be used to power best execution by allowing traders to interrogate realtime and historical data without going to quant or IT teams to pull reports, meaning intraday opportunities can be captured on the fly and issues mitigated before they drag on performance. For sales teams, Eolas can prepare client reports and insights in minutes that today take hours or days, improving responsiveness and service levels. For Heads of Trading, Eolas provides both the helicopter view needed to manage the floor as well as the ability to dive deeply into issues the moment they arise. This ability for trading functions to use data without going to quants or IT relieves these teams of the burden of constant ad-hoc requests and regular reporting. This allows these valuable resources to focus on higher-value work, supported by the ability to interact with data far more quickly and easily themselves. Eolas also supports compliance and risk by allowing direct access to the data that surfaces risk or confirms adherence to rules and regulations. Eolas is prevented from hallucinating by converting natural language queries into API calls. This limits it to performing approved functions on approved data, and ensures auditable execution paths, but still at the speed users expect from experience with other agentic agents. The API integration allows existing entitlement systems to be used, ensuring data is secure and only visible to permissioned users. “The largest data set and most powerful analytics engine in the world is of limited use if only a few people can access it,” Ms Turley said. “Eolas is the next generation of trading intelligence, a true democratisation of data that can match the speed of insight to the speed of markets for the very first time.” ExeQution Analytics has also released a paper, The role and future of AI on the trading floor <link>, discussing the role of agentic AI in trading. Eolas architecture is based on the Model Context Protocol, Anthropic’s open-source integration protocol. It connects the client’s AI interface – typically via Claude, Gemini or CoPilot – to a KDB MCP server and then to ExeQution Analytic’s powerful analytics framework, built in q on KDB. The framework, and Eolas, are delivered as a bespoke service for each client. ExeQution Analytics was launched in Australia in 2021, and has grown to service a global client base including hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds, propriety trading firms, asset managers and brokers, across all exchange-traded asset classes, with FX being added this year.

The Financial Markets Authority – Te Mana Tātai Hokohoko (FMA) has granted a class exemption that provides an easier pathway to market for issuers to make offers of green, social, sustainability or sustainability-linked (GSSS) bonds. FMA Executive Director Governance, Policy and Strategy Liam Mason said, “There is increasing investor demand for products that offer environmental or social value alongside investment returns. This means there is an opportunity to grow and develop New Zealand’s sustainable finance market, and for New Zealand retail investors to participate in capital raising with green or socially responsible objectives. However, during consultation with industry we heard that current disclosure requirements may be discouraging issuers from making offers of bonds with GSSS features. “We are granting this class exemption to allow issuers to get to market quickly and cost-effectively, while still ensuring that investors are given information that they will find timely, accurate, and valuable in making investment decisions.” The exemption notice enables issuers to make offers of bonds that have identical features to existing quoted bonds, except for a different interest rate, redemption date and GSSS status, without the usual disclosure requirements that involve preparing a product disclosure statement. This aligns with the Financial Markets Conduct Act ‘same class’ exclusion, which provides relief from disclosure requirements for offers of quoted financial products when appropriate information is already publicly available about products of the same class. It recognises there is already sufficient information for investors to make confident and informed decisions, and that the quoted products are appropriately priced by the market by the time a same class offer is made. Since they offer an additional non-financial benefit, GSSS bonds are not the same class as regular (also known as ‘vanilla’) bonds with identical terms. “Granting this exemption removes unnecessary regulatory burden, which has been an ongoing focus for the FMA. We believe that by providing relief from the time and cost required to produce a product disclosure statement, more issuers will be incentivised to offer these types of products, which will increase opportunities for New Zealanders to invest in products that align with their values, while supporting growth in New Zealand’s GSSS bond market,” Mr Mason said. The exemption is subject to conditions, including that the issuer must make available to investors information about the GSSS status of the bond. “This condition will ensure investors are still able to make informed decisions. In fact, having a separate terms sheet that is shorter and simpler may make it easier to understand and assess the GSSS features of the product.” 

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) reported on the performance of first-lien mortgages in the federal banking system during the fourth quarter of 2025. The OCC Mortgage Metrics Report, Fourth Quarter 2025 showed that 97.5 percent of mortgages included in the report were current and performing at the end of the quarter, a slight increase from 97.4 percent in 2024. The percentage of seriously delinquent mortgages – mortgages that are 60 or more days past due and all mortgages held by bankrupt borrowers whose payments are 30 or more days past due – remained unchanged from the fourth quarter of 2024. Servicers initiated 7,519 new foreclosures in the fourth quarter of 2025 showing a decrease from the previous quarter and an increase from a year earlier. Servicers completed 5,888 modifications during the fourth quarter of 2025, a 39 percent decrease from the previous quarter’s 8,190 modifications. The data in this report reflects a decline in mortgage modifications for the fourth quarter of 2025 attributed to changes in secondary market investor loss mitigation programs. Of these 5,888 modifications, 5,565, or 94.5 percent, were “combination modifications” — modifications that included multiple actions affecting the affordability and sustainability of the loan, such as an interest rate reduction and a term extension. The first-lien mortgages included in the OCC’s quarterly report comprise approximately 19.2 percent of all residential mortgage debt outstanding in the United States or approximately 10.3 million loans totaling $2.6 trillion in principal balances. This report provides information on mortgage performance through December 31, 2025. Related Link OCC Mortgage Metrics Report, Fourth Quarter 2025

CFTC's Weekly Swaps Report has been updated, and is now available: http://www.cftc.gov/MarketReports/SwapsReports/index.htm.Additional information on the Weekly Swaps Report. Archive Explanatory Notes Swaps Report Data Dictionary Release Schedule Released: Weekly on Mondays at 3:30 p.m.

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) is seeking feedback on how to best build and shape a machine-readable dataset of securities rules and regulatory documents to facilitate improved access, clarity and usability for capital market participants. To support this work, the OSC has published an overview describing how this machine-readable dataset could transform access to securities regulation in Ontario and reduce burden. “The OSC is exploring how a machine‑readable regulatory framework could reduce compliance burden and translate rules into clear, consistent data that firms can build into their systems from the outset,” said Leslie Byberg, Executive Vice President, Strategic Regulation. “This could result in lower costs and faster compliance, allowing resources to be focused on serving investors and enhancing Ontario’s capital markets.” In 2025, the OSC collected preliminary stakeholder input on this initiative with the support of RegGenome, a regulatory data technology company. This early work explored the impacts and feasibility of using machine-assisted annotation by OSC experts to label and categorize segments of relevant statutes, regulations, rules and policies. These annotations would enhance searchability, highlight linkages across documents, and improve the ability of humans and computers to understand and analyze the regulatory framework with the potential to make compliance faster and more accurate. The overview published on our website sets out more of the potential impacts of machine-readable regulations for Ontario capital markets participants. The Commission is requesting further feedback on the next steps to best support investors, industry, and regulatory technology innovators with this dataset. The OSC’s 2026–2027 Statement of Priorities includes our commitment to develop a proof of concept for a machine-readable version of Ontario’s securities regulation, and stakeholder input will help guide the next stage of this important work. The OSC welcomes comments until June 30, 2026. The mandate of the OSC is to provide protection to investors from unfair, improper or fraudulent practices, to foster fair, efficient and competitive capital markets and confidence in the capital markets, to foster capital formation, and to contribute to the stability of the financial system and the reduction of systemic risk. Investors are urged to check the registration of any persons or company offering an investment opportunity and to review the OSC investor materials available at www.osc.ca.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the premier post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry, today announced that four new Board Members have joined its Board of Directors. The Board plays a critical role in overseeing the strategic direction of DTCC, working closely with the firm's leadership and advising on topics including risk management, regulatory matters, the development of new products and services, emerging fintech and more. The new Directors are Roland Chai of Nasdaq, Massimiliano Ciardi of Citadel, Stephen Hood of Marex, and Georges Lauchard of Barclays. Roland Chai serves as the President of European Markets and Head of Digital Assets at Nasdaq. He is responsible for overseeing seven exchanges, a CCP, and a CSD group. Earlier, Chai served as Nasdaq’s first Global Chief Risk Officer, where he was responsible for developing, reviewing and maintaining Nasdaq’s global risk program. Massimiliano Ciardi serves as Global Treasurer of Citadel, where he oversees global liquidity, counterparty risk and capital management. Previously, Ciardi spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs, where he rose to Partner and Global Head of the Equities Funding Group in the Global Markets Division. Stephen Hood serves as Americas Head of Clearing at Marex. In this role, Hood is responsible for leading the firm’s futures and options clearing operations as well as supporting digital asset clearing and tokenized frameworks. Hood brings over 25 years of leadership across global FCM and broker-dealer markets. Georges Lauchard serves as Chief Operating Officer of Barclays Investment Bank. Lauchard leads global technology, operations, and controls across the division’s multi year transformation strategy. He has extensive experience, holding various leadership roles, including 20 years in senior global COO, Markets, Technology, and Controls at J.P. Morgan. “We are delighted to welcome Roland, Massimiliano, Stephen, and Georges to the Board of Directors,” said Kevin M. Kessinger, Non-Executive Chairman of DTCC’s Board. “Their collective experience and expertise across global markets, risk management and financial infrastructure will be invaluable as DTCC continues to advance market resilience and innovation to help lead the evolution of the global financial system.” The DTCC Board of Directors is currently composed of 21 Directors. Of these, 13 are participant Directors who represent clearing agency members, including international broker/dealers, custodian and clearing banks, and investment institutions; four are non-participant Directors; two Directors are designated by DTCC's preferred shareholders, ICE and FINRA; and the remaining two Board members are DTCC's Non-Executive Chairman and its President and Chief Executive Officer.

SIFMA today released the after-action report from its biennial Quantum Dawn VIII resilience exercise conducted in November 2025.  The exercise simulated multiple distinct events which simultaneously impacted the sector, including a Category 5 hurricane, a transatlantic cable cut, a Financial Market Infrastructure (FMI) outage, and a zero-day cybersecurity attack attributed to a state actor. The overlapping nature of these events created a complex environment where resources were stretched thin and information sharing and decision-making was critical for maintaining operational integrity. SIFMA’s Quantum Dawn VIII exercise engaged nearly 1,000 participants from more than 100 public and private sector institutions around the globe, including financial firms, regulatory bodies, central banks, law enforcement, government agencies, trade associations, and information-sharing organizations. “Overall, the global Quantum Dawn VIII exercise demonstrated the sector’s confidence in its ability to respond to disruption,” said Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr., SIFMA president and CEO.  “A clear takeaway from the exercise is the importance of a robust partnership between the industry and government grounded in information sharing.  No single actor – not the government, nor any individual firm – has the resources to protect markets from the full spectrum of threats on their own, nor do incidents necessarily restrict themselves to one geographic region.  SIFMA and its member firms are deeply committed to regularly testing and enhancing the financial services sector’s resiliency and working with government partners to protect the broader economy going forward.” Along with SIFMA, global consulting firm Protiviti developed and oversaw the simulation.  Following the exercise, SIFMA and Protiviti concluded that the industry has embraced polycrisis planning and the public-private collaboration imperative. The sector shows healthy self-confidence in response capability, with the exercise helping to identify steps the sector could take to strengthen its resilience even further, including: Developing a successor to the Corporate Emergency Access System (CEAS) program, with robust verification and integration into emergency response protocols, to improve coordination during physical disruptions. Expanding the use of AI for threat detection and continuity planning, alongside promoting employee personal preparedness and geographic dispersion, to further enhance resilience. Integrating infrastructure status, FMI posture, anonymized firm signals, and coordinated communications, to help establish a joint operating picture that reduces response variance and accelerates consensus on the ground without diminishing firm autonomy. Participating in more regular, realistic exercises to help close the gap between planning and execution. Looking at the next steps, SIFMA will work to support members in these areas by: Supporting efforts to better understand telecommunications, cloud, and other third-party and fourth-party interdependencies. Socializing and encouraging adoption of reconnection protocols. Facilitating good AI governance practices for financial institutions. Exploring post-CEAS credentialing options. Building and maintaining a global directory and/or emergency notification capability. Sponsoring exercises. The full report is available at the following link: https://www.sifma.org/resources/readiness-exercises/cybersecurity-exercise-quantum-dawn-viii

The Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) today announced a one-year, coordinated fee approach with the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) in response to certain fee changes and to keep fees net neutral for Alberta-resident individual registrants in 2026. In 2025, several Canadian securities regulators, including the ASC, delegated certain registration functions and powers to CIRO for investment dealers, mutual fund dealers and their representatives. To address the increased cost for CIRO to provide these registration services, CIRO will be implementing an increase to the fees for Approved Persons that are part of the annual Dealer Member Fee Model, as of April 1, 2026. The ASC’s 2026 registration fees were collected on December 31, 2025, before CIRO finalized the annual Approved Person fee component of its Dealer Member Fee Model. As such, the ASC and CIRO have agreed on a coordinated, one year approach for 2026 to make the overall cost of registration for Alberta resident Approved Persons net neutral, while enabling CIRO to recover costs associated with its expanded registration responsibilities. Details of the 2026 fee approach, including how the coordination will be applied, are available in ASC Staff Notice 31-702 ASC Registration Fees and CIRO Approved Person Fees for Alberta Resident Individual Registrants. The ASC is the regulatory agency responsible for administering the province’s securities laws. It is entrusted with fostering a fair and efficient capital market in Alberta and with protecting investors. As a member of the Canadian Securities Administrators, the ASC works to improve, coordinate and harmonize the regulation of Canada’s capital markets.

We are going ahead with a scheme to compensate motor finance customers who were treated unfairly. Courts have found that firms broke the law by failing to disclose important information to customers. An industry-wide scheme is the quickest and most cost effective way to deliver fair compensation. We had over 1,000 consultation responses and engaged extensively with consumer groups, professional representatives, firms, manufacturers, investors and industry bodies. While most respondents supported a scheme, we received much conflicting feedback on its details. We have listened and made several changes, set out in detail below, to design a final scheme which strikes the balance between sometimes competing principles such as simplicity and cost effectiveness, comprehensiveness and fairness. Our final approach is fair for consumers and proportionate for firms. We have tightened eligibility so only those treated unfairly receive compensation. Agreements involving minimal commission or zero APRs will not receive redress. Where a lender can prove there were visible links with a manufacturer and dealer, a contractual tie alone will not trigger compensation. The threshold for high commission cases has been modestly raised. These and other changes mean 12.1m agreements are now eligible for compensation, down from 14.2m at consultation. We have adjusted how compensation is calculated to better reflect greater loss between 2007-2014. We have also ensured that consumers are not put back in a better position than they would have been had they been treated fairly, so in around 1 in 3 cases compensation will be capped. Firms are expected to pay out around £7.5 billion in redress, down from £8.2 billion at consultation. We have also streamlined the scheme so consumers are compensated quickly and it is cost effective for firms to deliver. Millions of consumers will be compensated this year, most of the rest by the end of 2027. Lenders will only need to contact complainants or those due compensation and recorded delivery will not be required, helping to cut the cost to firms of delivering the scheme by over 40%. The estimated total bill to firms is down from £11 billion to £9.1 billion. We want to provide certainty for consumers and finality for firms and investors, supporting the ongoing availability of competitively priced motor finance. Our approach is the best way to resolve this issue in the interests of consumers, firms, investors and the market. We estimate the cost of dealing with complaints would be over £6bn more without a scheme. We expect everyone to get behind the scheme, and lenders to put things right promptly for their customers. We need to draw a line under the past and support a healthy motor finance market for the future. Scope Motor finance agreements taken out between 6 April 2007 and 1 November 2024 where commission was payable by the lender to the broker will be considered for compensation. Firms owe liabilities from 2007. If complaints from that date were not covered they would need to be dealt with individually by firms, the Financial Ombudsman Service and through the courts, resulting in higher costs, lengthy delays and greater uncertainty. We have the powers to include agreements before 2014. However, this was questioned by some consultation respondents. So, we will implement two schemes, one covering 6 April 2007 - 31 March 2014 and one from 1 April 2014 - 1 November 2024. If the earlier period is subject to legal challenge on these grounds, redress for consumers with agreements from April 2014 shouldn’t be delayed. Eligibility Consumers will only be considered for compensation if they weren’t told details of at least one of 3 arrangements between the lender and the broker (usually the dealer): A discretionary commission arrangement (DCA), which allowed the broker to adjust the interest rate the customer would pay to obtain a higher commission. A high commission arrangement (at least 39% of the total cost of credit and 10% of the loan). Contractual ties that gave a lender exclusivity or a right of first refusal, except where the lender can prove there were visible links with the manufacturer and dealer. There will be some exceptions, with cases considered fair, if: The commission was £120 or less for agreements beginning before 1 April 2014 and £150 or less from that date. Commission amounts below those levels are unlikely to have influenced the consumer’s decision or broker’s behaviour. The borrower wasn’t charged interest. The DCA wasn’t used to earn discretionary commission. The lender can prove, in certain limited circumstances, it was fair not to disclose one of the arrangements above or that the consumer did not suffer any loss. This includes if a tie wasn’t operated in practice or no better deal was available. Consumers who have successfully complained to the Financial Ombudsman, had their claim determined by a court or accepted redress will be excluded from the scheme. Claims for high value loans - higher than 99.5% of other loans that year - are also excluded, as they are not suitable for a mass-market redress scheme. These consumers can still complain to their lender and the Financial Ombudsman. Consumers generally have 6 years to bring a claim, but that may be extended where information about commission or a tie was deliberately concealed. We do not expect lenders to routinely find that cases are out of time to be considered for the scheme, given how poor disclosure was. However, firms can exclude cases only involving high commission and ending before 26 March 2020 if they can show that the fact commission was payable was clearly and prominently disclosed. If firms rule consumers out of the scheme on this basis, they must inform them and explain why. The consumer will have the right to challenge this with the Financial Ombudsman. Consumers whose arrangement is deemed fair under the scheme can ask the Financial Ombudsman to review whether the scheme rules were followed. They could still make a claim in court. Calculating redress Approximately 90,000 consumers whose cases align closely with the Johnson case considered by the Supreme Court will receive redress of all commission plus interest. We define these as cases involving an undisclosed contractual tie and/or DCA and very high commission of at least 50% of the total cost of credit and 22.5% of the loan. For all other cases, consumers will receive the average of estimated loss and the commission paid, plus interest (the hybrid remedy). The estimated loss is based on economic analysis that shows there was a difference in the APR on DCA loans compared to those with flat fee arrangements. Following feedback, we have enhanced our analysis, incorporating more agreement data and covering a longer period of 2017-2021. We estimate average loss to be equivalent to an APR adjustment of 17% for this period and apply it to agreements from 1 April 2014. Firms have advised that the availability of pre-2014 data is limited. Collecting such data risks delaying compensation for consumers and certainty for firms with no guarantee it would materially improve any estimate of loss. Feedback and supporting evidence from respondents indicate that more harmful forms of DCA were more prevalent in earlier years. Differences between average DCA and non-DCA APRs were also larger during this period, indicating greater financial loss. To reflect that, we have set an APR adjustment of 21% for pre 2014 cases. This sits at the mid-point between a 17% and 26% APR adjustment. The latter figure is, on average, equivalent to being repaid commission, which is the remedy reserved for those who suffered the most unfairness. The difference between APR-17% and APR-21% results in an increase to average redress of £31 for pre 2014 cases. We are also using these APR adjustments for the relatively small number of cases that didn’t involve a DCA, but involved high commission or a tie. Consumers should not be compensated more than if they had been treated fairly or than those who suffered the most unfairness. So in around 1 in 3 cases receiving the hybrid remedy, compensation will be capped at the lowest of: 90% of commission plus interest. The total cost of credit, adjusted to account for a minimal cost offered to only 5% of the market at the time, excluding 0% APR deals. The actual total cost of credit, calculated on a simpler basis. This may be the lower figure if the adjusted cost of credit can’t be accurately calculated, for example, if the lender doesn’t have the payment schedule. This means that about 64,000 agreements, where the APR was in the lowest 5% offered in the market at the time, excluding 0% deals, will not get compensation. Simple interest will be paid on compensation, based on the annual average Bank of England base rate per year plus 1% from the date of overpayment to the date compensation is paid. We have introduced a floor so the minimum interest rate consumers will receive for any year is 3%. Consumers will no longer be able to challenge the rate they get. How the scheme will operate There will be a short implementation period so firms can prepare. This will be up to: 30 June 2026 for loans taken out from 1 April 2014. 31 August 2026 for those agreed earlier. People who have already complained or complain before the end of the relevant implementation period will be compensated sooner. Lenders will have 3 months from the end of the implementation period to let complainants know whether they’re owed compensation and how much. Firms will only have to contact people who haven’t complained if they are potentially owed money or those who are timed out of the scheme, avoiding unnecessary and costly communication with customers who are not owed redress. Firms have 6 months from the end of the relevant implementation period to do so. Consumers must respond within 6 months if they wish to join the scheme. Consumers who are not contacted can still complain to their firm by 31 August 2027. Lenders can use a range of communication channels that best meet consumers’ needs, with appropriate safeguards to prevent fraud. Cost of redress Based on further analysis, we now estimate 75% of eligible consumers will take part, resulting in firms paying redress of £7.5 billion. Non redress costs are estimated to be £1.6 billion, taking the likely total bill to firms to £9.1 billion. Our consultation set out indicative cost estimates. We have since refined our methodology to fully align with our consultation proposals and incorporated further lender data into our modelling. We have updated estimated redress liabilities and non redress costs under our proposals, compared to under our final rules, below.  Consultation proposals Consultation proposals, updated Final policy  Redress at estimated uptake £8.2bn (85% uptake)* £9.3bn (75% uptake) £7.5bn (75% uptake) Non redress costs £2.8bn £2.5bn £1.6bn TOTAL (at estimated uptake) £11bn £11.8bn £9.1bn Redress liabilities (100% uptake) £9.7bn £12.5bn £10bn Eligible agreements 14.2m 16.8m 12.1m Average redress per agreement £695 £775 £829 *At 75% uptake this would have been £7.3bn. Ensuring compliance with the scheme We have established a dedicated supervisory team, led by a Director. We will supervise firms closely to make sure they follow the rules, including assessing whether any exclusions of agreements have been applied appropriately. Firms’ senior managers will be required to attest to responsibility for their firm’s overall oversight and delivery of the scheme. We will intervene if firms fail to comply, including using enforcement powers if necessary. Firms will have to report regularly so we can closely monitor compliance, and we will publish updates on the scheme’s progress. We have set up a taskforce with the Solicitors Regulation Authority, Advertising Standards Authority and the Information Commissioner’s Office to tackle the poor handling of motor finance claims by some claims management companies (CMCs) and law firms. Market impact The motor finance market has continued to attract investment and function well since we announced our intention to introduce a compensation scheme. Share prices of affected UK listed lenders increased by a range of 2.1% to 29.7% in the two weeks following the Supreme Court judgment and continued to rise steadily until the recent conflict in the Middle East. There have been 5 public securitisations of UK automotive loans since September 2025. New car sales in February reached a 22-year high and a record £41bn was lent on motor finance in 2025, 6% up on 2024. We have updated our analysis of the scheme’s potential market impact. We conclude there will be limited impact on the new car finance market. Changes we have made to how the scheme operates, such as removing the need to write to all customers, will benefit sub-prime and smaller lenders by ensuring the scheme is cost-effective to deliver. While there may be some short-term effects in the used and subprime segments, these are expected to be modest, with any affected lending volumes replaced over time. Overall, we anticipate continued availability of motor finance and strong competition between lenders. Without a scheme, the impact on access to motor finance and prices for consumers could be significantly higher with uncertainty continuing for many more years.

Millions of motor finance customers will receive compensation this year under an FCA scheme for those treated unfairly by firms who broke the law by failing to disclose important information. Consumers were denied the chance to seek a better deal and, in some instances, paid more for their loan. The FCA has made several changes to the free to use scheme in response to conflicting feedback from consumers, their representatives, firms, manufacturers and industry bodies. This ensures it is fair for consumers and proportionate for firms. The eligibility criteria have been tightened, average compensation increased for older agreements and a minimum 3% compensatory interest rate per annum added. Payouts will be capped in around 1 in 3 cases to ensure no one is put in a better position than had they been treated fairly. 12.1 million agreements made between 2007 and 2024 are now eligible for compensation, fewer than under the FCA’s original proposals. The average payout has increased to around £830 per agreement. The FCA estimates that 75% of eligible consumers will make a claim. If so, total redress paid would be £7.5bn. Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the FCA, said: 'We’ve listened to feedback to make sure the scheme is fair for consumers and proportionate for firms. It will put £7.5 billion back into people’s pockets. 'Now we need everyone to get behind it and ensure millions get their money this year. Payouts should not be delayed any longer, especially as household bills come under greater pressure. Delivering compensation promptly also gives lenders the chance to rebuild trust, and means we can draw a line under the past and support a healthy motor finance market for the future.' An industry-wide scheme is the most efficient way of compensating affected consumers while supporting the ongoing availability of competitively priced motor finance for millions who rely on it. Without such a scheme, the cost to lenders of dealing with complaints through the Ombudsman or courts is estimated to be over £6bn higher. How the scheme will work Motor finance loans taken out between 6 April 2007 to 1 November 2024 are covered. There will be a short implementation period so firms can prepare. This will be up to: 30 June 2026 for loans taken out from 1 April 2014. 31 August 2026 for those agreed earlier. Lenders will have 3 months from the end of the implementation period to inform complainants whether they’re owed compensation and how much. This means that people who have already complained or who complain before the end of the relevant implementation period will be compensated sooner. Lenders will only contact people who haven’t complained if they are likely to be owed money. They have 6 months from the end of the relevant implementation period to do so. This avoids unnecessary and potentially confusing communication with people who won’t get compensation. Anyone not contacted has until 31 August 2027 to make a claim. Claims for high value loans – amounts higher than 99.5% of other loans that year – are not covered by the scheme, which is designed for the mass market. These consumers can still complain to firms and the Financial Ombudsman Service. People will only be compensated if they were not told clearly that either: Their dealer or broker set the interest rate to earn more commission (using a discretionary commission arrangement – DCA). The commission was high – at least 39% of the total cost of credit and 10% of the loan. The dealer or broker was using one lender or gave one lender the right of first refusal, (a so-called tied arrangement), except where lenders can evidence that there were visible links with a manufacturer and franchised dealer. For example, where they shared a common or similar name. There will be some exceptions, with cases considered fair, if: The commission was £120 or less for agreements beginning before 1 April 2014 and £150 or less from that date. Commission amounts below those levels are unlikely to have influenced the broker’s behaviour or consumer’s decision. The borrower wasn’t charged interest. The DCA wasn’t used to earn discretionary commission. The lender can prove, in certain limited circumstances, it was fair not to disclose one of the arrangements above or that the consumer did not suffer any loss. For example, if no better deal was available. Where the commission was very high (50% of the total cost of credit and 22.5% of the loan) and another relevant factor of unfairness existed, consumers will receive the commission paid. For most people compensation will be made up of 2 parts, the average of: The commission paid; and The estimated loss, based on a percentage discount of the interest (APR) they paid – 17% for cases from April 2014 and 21% for earlier agreements, to reflect greater loss then. Consumers should not be put back in a better position than they would have been had they been treated fairly or than those who suffered the most unfairness, so in around 1 in 3 cases, compensation will be capped. Interest will be paid on compensation, based on the annual average Bank of England base rate per year plus 1%, at a minimum of 3% in any year. The FCA has established a dedicated supervisory team, led by a Director, to monitor if firms are meeting the scheme's rules and act if they’re not. If people disagree with their firm's decision, the Financial Ombudsman will be able to assess whether the scheme rules have been followed. The FCA has also joined with the Solicitors Regulation Authority, Information Commissioner’s Office and Advertising Standards Authority to launch a taskforce to tackle poor handling of motor finance claims by some claims management companies (CMCs) and law firms. The taskforce is the latest measure by regulators to improve standards. The FCA has already removed or amended 800 misleading adverts, over 28,000 consumers have been able to exit contracts free of charge, and 3 CMCs reduced their high fees, protecting over 500,000 consumers. Consumers can choose not to take part in the FCA's compensation scheme and instead go to court, where they may get more or less compensation, based on the facts of their case. However, the outcome of a court claim is uncertain and accounting for legal fees they may pay, many consumers could end up with less. The FCA's scheme is also likely to be faster and simpler. Advice for motor finance customers If you are concerned you were treated unfairly, make a complaint. People who complain before the relevant implementation period ends will be compensated sooner. There is information on how to complain for free on the FCA website. There is no need to use a claims management company or law firm. If you do, you could lose over 30% of any money you get. If you don’t complain and are owed money, your lender should contact you by end 2026 for post 1 April 2014 agreements and end February 2027 for agreements started between 6 April 2007 and 31 March 2014. Watch out for scams. You can check you are dealing with your genuine lender using the contact details listed on the FCA website or through the FCA’s new motor finance scams helpline. You shouldn’t pay a fee to access compensation, or share sensitive details such as your PIN or online banking details. Backkground Policy statement (PS26/3): Motor finance consumer redress scheme Graphic of key numbers. Statement to the market includes updated redress liabilities and non redress costs estimates for our consultation proposals following further modelling.

The MIAX Options Exchange interface specifications have been updated to support the following enhancements. MEI Interface Specification v2.11, AIS Interface Specification v2.6, and FOI Interface Specification v2.7: Selective Liquidity Auto Purge (SLAP) Functionality This optional feature enhances the Mass Cancellation functionality by providing members the ability to remove a subset of its quotes in the system atomically.  With the introduction of a new field “SLAP Codes” in the Simple Bulk Quote Message, members can specify custom SLAP codes on some or all of its liquidity, providing more granular control of the Mass Liquidity Cancel Request when attempting to “Selectively Purge” specific targeted liquidity. Aggregate Risk Manager (ARM) Origin Multiplier Functionality This optional feature allows members to configure “ARM Origin Multiplier” for each contra-side origin type. The multiplier will be applied to each ARM-eligible trade size based on the contra-side origin type, allowing members to set up an ARM profile for which trades against certain origin types are weighted differently than others in the ARM Trade Percentage Calculation. Note that for firms using old application protocols, their current settings will extend to all contra-types at 100% weightings by default. Quote Width Relief Notification Functionality This optional feature allows members to subscribe to the “Free Trading Quote Width Relief Notification” to receive a real-time notification in the event MIAX grants relief to the valid quote width parameters during trading hours. Note that this relief is only applicable for the current trading day. Mass Cancel Trigger Reason on Line Disconnect This optional feature allows members to receive a mass cancel trigger reason specific to Line Disconnect. Liquidity Origin Information Functionality This optional feature allows members to get the Origin of the liquidity that initiated a Liquidity Seeking Event (LSE). Note a blank Origin will be sent in the event an LSE is initiated by multiple liquidities with different origin types. Market Maker on PRIME/cPRIME Contra Functionality This optional feature allows members to have a Market Maker (MM) on the contra side of PRIME and cPRIME. Updates to the MEI Interface Specification are as follows: SLAP Functionality New field “SLAP Codes” in the Simple Bulk Quote Message and Mass Liquidity Cancel Request New field “SLAP Codes” and new Mass Cancel Scope in the Mass Liquidity Cancel Request Enhanced Liquidity Protection Reset Request message that includes new field “SLAP Codes”. New SLAP Protection Trigger Notification New cancel reason due to SLAP in Cancel Notification New status codes subject to SLAP in the following response messages: Simple Bulk Quote Response Mass Liquidity Cancel Response Liquidity Protection Reset Response ARM Origin Multiplier Functionality ARM Origin Multiplier related fields added, and “Message Type” change to RS in Simple ARM Settings Update Request ARM Origin Multiplier related fields added in ARM Simple Settings Update Response ARM Origin Multiplier related fields added, and “Message Type” change to RN in Simple ARM Protection Settings Notification Quote Width Relief Notification Functionality Introduction of New Free Trading Quote Width Relief Notification Quote Width Relief Notification renamed as Opening Quote Width Relief Notification Mass Cancel Trigger Reason on Line Disconnect New “Trigger Reason” value to indicate Line Disconnect in Simple Quote Protection Trigger Notification message. New “Trigger Reason” value to indicate Line Disconnect in Complex Liquidity Protection Trigger Notification message. Updates to the AIS Interface Specification are as follows: Liquidity Origin Information Functionality Enhanced Simple Liquidity Seeking Event Notification that includes a new field “Origin” to indicate the origin of the liquidity initiating the Liquidity Seeking Event. Enhanced Complex Liquidity Seeking Event Notification that includes a new field “Origin” to indicate the origin of the liquidity initiating the Liquidity Seeking Event. Updates to the FOI Interface Specification are as follows: Market Maker on PRIME/cPRIME Contra Functionality Enhanced New Order Cross message to have Market Maker (MM) as a valid “CustomerOrFirm” value. Enhanced New Order Cross – Multileg message to have Market Maker (MM) as a valid “CustomerOrFirm” value.  Additional Details: These new features are pending SEC approval and an activation schedule for each will be announced in a future alert. These changes will be available in the MIAX Options Exchange's Firm Test Bed (FTB2) environment in June. Visit MIAX Options Interface Specifications for additional details. Please contact MIAX Trading Operations at TradingOperations@miaxglobal.com or (609) 897-7302 to discuss any specific issues, update configurations and to arrange interface testing.

A new taskforce will tackle poor handling of motor finance claims by some claims management companies (CMCs) and law firms, after the FCA, Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) agreed to join up their efforts. The announcement comes as the FCA prepares to set out its final compensation scheme for motor finance customers. The regulators will step up efforts to share intelligence and continue to take co-ordinated and targeted actions using the full extent of their powers to mitigate harm to consumers. It will take swift action to tackle issues with unsolicited and misleading advertising, meritless claims, multiple representation, and unfair exit fees. Alison Walters, director of consumer finance and FCA taskforce lead, said: 'Our scheme will be free and people don’t need to use a CMC or law firm. Should they decide to do so, it’s important that they can trust CMCs and law firms to act in their best interests. This taskforce will ensure we deal with problems quickly and decisively.' Deb Jones, executive director of transformation and the SRA’s taskforce lead, said: 'We want consumers to have confidence in the system. The taskforce is a great example of how we as regulators can use our collective expertise and powers to not only take action, but also to improve consumers’ awareness of the standards they can expect from law firms and CMCs.' Miles Lockwood, director of complaints and investigations at the ASA, said: 'It’s vital that ads promoting motor finance redress services are clear about the commitments and costs of engaging with a CMC or law firm. The ASA will take robust and proactive action to tackle misleading advertising of such services, working in partnership with other regulators as part of this taskforce.' Andy Curry, head of investigations at the ICO, said: 'The law is long-standing, clear and simple – do not send unsolicited direct marketing without consent. We provide advice and support to help companies to comply, but where we see unlawful practices causing harm to the public, we will take action to the fullest extent. This is a serious issue, and we will work alongside our taskforce partners, pooling our expertise, knowledge and powers to address it.' Advice for consumers The FCA’s motor finance redress scheme will be free to use. Consumers do not need to use a CMC or a law firm, and those who do may lose up to 30% of any compensation. If you decide to go through the courts, this may cost you more. Don’t sign up to multiple CMCs or law firms to represent you. Doing so may lead to multiple fees. Be cautious of potential scammers who may try to contact you via cold calls, texts or emails, claiming you are owed motor finance commission compensation or offering to check eligibility. Report nuisance calls and texts to the ICOLink is external and report misleading advertising to the ASALink is external.  If a CMC is authorised by the FCA and you're unhappy with how it's handled your case, find out how to complain. If the firm is regulated by the SRA, find out how and where to complainLink is external. Complaints for poor service or excessive fees should first be directed to the law firm, and can then be raised to the Legal Ombudsman. Background The FCA will announce details of a motor finance redress scheme shortly after markets close on Monday 30 March. More FCA information for consumers, including how to deal with unwanted car finance emails. The SRA's website includes expectations for law firmsLink is external with regards to motor finance commission claims, and a guide for consumers who are represented by a law firm for a claimLink is external. Research commissioned by the FCA shows that 79% of motor finance customers are aware that they may be owed compensation and 61% of a possible compensation scheme. However, 41% of those aware they may be owed compensation didn’t know they would not need to use a CMC or law firm if a redress scheme is introduced. The taskforce is the latest measure by the regulators to improve standards. The FCA has already removed or amended 800 misleading adverts, in excess of 28,000 consumers have been able to exit contracts free of charge, and 3 CMCs reduced their unreasonable fees protecting over 500,000 consumers. Formal investigations are also under way, with 1 announced by the FCA. The SRA regulates more than 9,000 law firms in England and Wales. At 31 January 2026, it had 89 open investigations relating to 71 firms that manage high-volume consumer claims. It has also closed 7 firms working in this area. Previous joint statements: FCA and SRA issue joint warning to firms representing motor finance commission claims. Regulators join forces to tackle poor claims management practices. SRA and FCA warn law firms and claims management companies over poor practices in motor finance commission claimsLink is external.

This notice confirms that Mr David Warren has been made an Honorary Member of the LME in recognition of his service to LME Group. Download notice

ACER has published its Recommendation to the European Commission on measures to speed up the effective implementation of EU electricity market rules. Background The EU electricity market is grounded in a comprehensive legal and regulatory framework. This includes EU-wide network codes and guidelines and the adoption of detailed rules (e.g. terms and conditions or methodologies (TCMs)), designed to ensure that the market operates efficiently. Delays in implementing these rules hinder the proper functioning of Europe’s electricity system, resulting in economic costs for market participants and consumers. Why an ACER Recommendation to the European Commission? ACER’s (2024) monitoring found major delays in implementing the TCMs, both at EU and regional level, affecting key areas such as electricity balancing, system operation and forward capacity. This ACER Recommendation responds to the European Commission’s (2024) request for advice on how to strengthen the regulatory framework to reduce such delays. What are ACER’s findings and recommendations?  ACER’s Recommendation identifies challenges in three main areas: Implementation timelines: deadlines are often unclear or lack sufficient justification. Non-compliance: the decision-making process for addressing non-compliance by the European Union Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) and regional coordination centres (RCCs) has room for improvement. Collective non-compliance: while the enforcement of individual obligations of transmission system operators (TSOs) and nominated electricity market operators (NEMOs) poses no problem, current enforcement processes could fall short when tackling delayed implementation or failure to comply in cases where, across Union obligations, all TSOs or all NEMOs are tasked with jointly carrying out an obligation and collectively fail. ACER recommends that the European Commission: Improve implementation and monitoring through clearer deadlines and reporting requirements. Strengthen the enforcement framework in the ACER Regulation to ensure non-compliance by ENTSO-E and RCCs is addressed consistently and effectively. Assess how to further improve enforcement for collective obligations (i.e. all TSOs and all NEMOs obligations). Read more.

Stability Matters Latest news from the FSB March 2026 FSB Annual Report 2025 2025 it has been a year shaped by profound shifts in the global landscape, underscoring the critical importance of the FSB’s work.   FSB Chair’s foreword to the FSB Annual Report 2025 In presenting the Report, FSB Chair Andrew Bailey reflects on current challenges to multilateralism and how the FSB will remain fit for purpose. Workshop on nonbank financial intermediation (NBFI) In March, we hosted a senior workshop for FSB members to discuss and share insights on addressing financial stability risks associated with leverage in NBFI. Reforming Cross-border payments Keynote speech by Andrew Bailey, Chair of the Financial Stability Board, at the FSB Payments Summit, Bank of England, 12 March 2026.   FSB Cross-border Payments Summit At its third Cross-border Payments Summit, the FSB kicked off a new implementation phase to enhance cross-border payments through public-private partnership. Recap Vulnerabilities in Government Bond-backed Repo Markets Upcoming   13 April: FSB Chair’s letter to the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors 22 April: Final guidance on insurers subject to resolution planning End-April: Report on vulnerabilities in private credit Meet the FSB Secretariat Karen Gallagher-Teske Senior Financial Market Analyst Hello! I’m Karen and I rejoined the FSB Secretariat in December 2025, having previously worked as an associate from 2018 to 2019. It’s a privilege to return to an organisation that plays a critical role in promoting global financial stability and fostering international cooperation. Since my earlier time at the FSB, I pursued further studies in economics and worked at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), an independent bureau of the US Treasury Department. There, I deepened my understanding of financial regulation, economic research, and policy analysis. At the FSB Secretariat, my work focuses on supporting members’ assessments of vulnerabilities in the global financial system, particularly in the rapidly evolving crypto-asset space, as well as assessing the effectiveness of recommendations and implementation monitoring. I’m excited to be back in Basel to keep learning about the global financial system across a broad range of topics, collaborate with colleagues and members from around the world, and tackle complex challenges together.