The SIFMA Podcast

SIFMA President and CEO Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr. and SIFMA Managing Director Justin Sok discuss the proposed New Jersey financial transaction tax (FTT) and the negative impact FTTs have on investors and savers.

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The financial industry's response to the global coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) and the search for a 'new normal'In the face of a global pandemic, the financial industry has relied upon its robust business continuity planning efforts. Ken Bentsen, president and CEO of SIFMA, sat down with Ron Lefferts, global leader of technology consulting at Protiviti, and Tom Price, managing dire...

Following up on a pair of blogs published over the last two weeks, our latest podcast dives into the 2020 CCAR stress testing and additional considerations related to COVID-19.Joe Seidel, Chief Operating Officer at SIFMA sat down with Coryann Stefansson, Managing Director and head of prudential capital and liquidity policy and Carter McDowell, Managing Director, Associate General Counsel, and head...

SIFMA recently conducted a survey and released a report assessing how member firms are communicating with their financial advisors (FAs) and how, in turn, FAs are communicating with their clients during this period of unprecedented physical, emotional, and financial challenge. In our latest podcast, SIFMA CEO Ken Bentsen sat down to discuss the findings with our Ken Cella who leads the Edward Jone...

The global pandemic COVID-19 has caused extreme shocks to our economy and financial markets. A symbol of these unprecedented times, on March 23, the New York Stock Exchange closed its physical floor and moved to fully electronic trading. Ken Bentsen, SIFMA president and CEO, sat down with Ellen Greene, SIFMA's Managing Director of Equity and Options Market Structure and Katie Kolchin, CFA and...

The emergence of COVID-19 in the first quarter of 2020 caused severe shocks to the economy and capital markets. Volatility, as measured by the CBOE Volatility Index, or the VIX, has reached historic highs. The VIX has started to come down, but remains elevated. In this discussion, we ask: is the worst of the market rout behind us? Transcript and more:https://www.sifma.org/resources/news/podcast-vi...

The latest edition of SIFMA’s podcast series covers a recent development related to the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) – the major regulatory initiative by the SEC and 24 self-regulatory organizations (SROs) aimed at enhancing regulators’ ability to monitor and analyze trading activity. SIFMA and its members are supportive of the CAT and its regulatory intent but remain concerned regarding the ris...

The Federal Reserve, the Department of the Treasury and Congress have undertaken unprecedented actions to buy financial assets, unclog the pipes of the financial system and increase its capacity. Congress has also taken swift action, passing three phases of stimulus packages as of the time of this discussion. In the third and final segment of our series on how COVID-19 is impacting the financial m...

Congress has passed three stimulus packages to combat the severe effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic. In the second of a three-part series on how COVID-19 is impacting the financial markets, we explain each of the three phases of the stimulus, what matters most for the financial markets, and what might lie ahead. Transcript and more:https://www.sifma.org/resources/news/podcast-explaining-the-c...

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is front and center in the United States and across the world. In this podcast, Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr., SIFMA's President and CEO, and Thomas F. Price, SIFMA Managing Director, Technology, Operations and Business Continuity, discuss BCP efforts to protect industry personnel and maintain operational resiliency during the COVID-19 pandemic. SIFMA’s Business Con...

In this podcast, we discuss the long-standing system of arbitration for dispute resolution, and the rather confounding animus toward it by some policymakers. We also talk more specifically about the FINRA arbitration forum, and the securities industry’s experience in that forum.

A discussion about the Federal Reserve's 2020 Supervisory Scenarios for the Annual Stress Test, in particular about what changes were made around the Global Market Shock element but also where there is remains room for improvement.

With a sustained commitment to addressing the risk of money laundering and financial crime through securities firms, as well as strong collaboration between firms and with the regulatory community, much has been achieved by our industry in helping to make our financial system safer and more secure. With that understanding, however, comes the knowledge there will be much more change to come. In thi...

In a speech delivered on Friday January 16, Vice Chairman for Supervision of the Federal Reserve Randal Quarles laid out a suite of changes he intends to make to the central Bank’s oversight of financial institutions, particularly around transparency, accountability, and fairness. In this podcast, we discuss his proposed changes and what they could mean for U.S. capital markets.

The Dodd-Frank Act requires large financial institutions to submit resolution plans. In this podcast, SIFMA's Joe Seidel and Carter McDowell discuss significant milestones achieved and what they mean for the U.S. capital markets.

The passage of bipartisan legislation, the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement – better known as the SECURE Act - marks the biggest legislative change to America’s retirement system in more than a dozen years. In this podcast, SIFMA president and CEO Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr. and SIFMA managing director and associate general counsel, Lisa Bleier, explain what the SECURE Act means f...

Under the Consolidated Audit Trail, or CAT, broker-dealers will be required to report every equity and options transaction, as well as certain personal information of retail and institutional clients, to a database operated by 24 SROs. SIFMA and its members are supportive of the CAT and its regulatory intent – however, we have repeatedly expressed strong concerns regarding the risks to customer in...

Welcome to SIFMA’s podcast from our annual State of the Industry media briefing. In this segment, our leadership discusses the state of the capital markets and priority issues for the financial services industry in 2019. Please welcome the Chair of our Board of Directors, Joseph E. Sweeney, President of Advice & Wealth Management, Products and Service Delivery for Ameriprise Financial and SIFM...

SIFMA's survey of chief U.S. economists forecasts that the U.S. economy will grow by 2.2% in 2019, with a decrease to 1.8% in 2020. U.S. trade policy, business confidence in the U.S., and private credit market conditions were among the most important considerations in the forecast change. Ellen Zentner, Managing Director and Chief U.S. Economist for Morgan Stanley and Chair of SIFMA's Ec...

Quantum Dawn V, a global cybersecurity exercise coordinated by SIFMA, was completed on November 7, 2019. What scenario did participants respond to? In this podcast, SIFMA president and CEO, Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr. is joined by Tom Price, SIFMA Managing Director, Operations, Technology & BCP and Tom Wagner, SIFMA Managing Director, Financial Services Operations and Technology. Together, they de...

The FTT or financial transaction tax—a tax on trades of stocks, bonds, and derivatives—is a tax on investors. The imposition of an FTT would increase costs and lower returns for Americans saving for retirement, college, homes, and other investment ideals. FTTs have never lived up to expectations, but instead have only served to increase volatility, harm capital markets, increase costs, and hurt ec...

On October 8, the five federal financial regulatory agencies responsible for the Volcker rule announced they finalized revisions to simplify its compliance requirements. While the revisions do not in any way negate the statutory prohibition on proprietary trading by banks, they do provide market participants with much-needed clarity on compliance issues. In this podcast, SIFMA president and CEO, K...

The U.S. housing market is a critical piece of the general economy. It represents one-fifth of U.S. GDP and 35% of all private, non-financial debt in the country. The U.S. Treasury Department just announced that Fannie and Freddie will retain their earnings, a step in moving the companies out of conservatorship and back into the private sector. In this podcast, SIFMA president and CEO, Kenneth E....

Money market funds are investment vehicles that invest in debt securities with short maturities and minimal credit risk. They are a significant source of cash for the repo markets, where a money market fund or other asset manager lends cash to a broker-dealer or hedge fund in exchange for securities, often Treasury notes. Last week, a confluence of events negatively affected liquidity in the repo...