The SIFMA Podcast

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 Jones Client Strategies Group, Kent Christian, President of Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, and Evamarie Schoenborn, President and CEO of Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company.Transcript and more:https://www.sifma.org/resources/news/podcast-financial-firms-outreach-to-clients-amid-covid-19/

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 Director of SIFMA Research, walk us through an analysis by SIFMA Insights to find out whether the closure of NYSE's physical floor has impacted its market share.Transcript and more:https://www.sifma.org/resources/news/podcast-what-the-nyse-floor-closure-means/

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-vix-and-the-virus/

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 risks of sensitive customer information being compiled in one government-mandated database, and the liability that comes with that risk. Last week, SIFMA acted to formally challenge the CAT Reporter Agreement industry members are required to sign by SROs to gain access to the database.In this podcast, Ken Bentsen, SIFMA President and CEO sits down with Ira Hammerman, SIFMA Executive Vice President and General Counsel and Ellen Greene, Managing Director of Equity and Options Market Structure to talk more about the risks associated with CAT and the reasoning behind the challenge.Transcript and more:https://www.sifma.org/resources/news/podcast-they-who-hold-the-data-should-bear-the-liability/

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 markets, Ken Bentsen, SIFMA President and CEO sits down with Rob Toomey, head of SIFMA’s capital markets practice, and Coryann Stefansson, head of prudential capital and liquidity policy for an overview of the Fed and Treasury’s actions so far, as well as those of the Congress, the market’s response, and what might be ahead.SIFMA’s team continues to closely monitor the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and its impact on our industry and the markets; guidance and resources for the industry are available at www.sifma.org/bcp.Transcript and more:https://www.sifma.org/resources/news/podcast-extraordinary-actions-the-fed-treasury-congress-versus-covid19/

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-covid-19-stimulus-packages/

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 Continuity Planning team continues to closely monitor the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and its impact on our industry and the markets; guidance and resources for the industry are available at www.sifma.org/bcp.For a transcript, please visit www.sifma.org/resources/news/podcast-covid19-and-operational-resiliency/Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr. is president and CEO of SIFMA, the voice of the nation’s securities industry. Thomas F. Price is Managing Director, Technology, Operations and Business Continuity at SIFMA.

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 this podcast, SIFMA President and CEO, Kenneth E. Bentsen Jr., is joined by Steve Shine, Chief Regulatory Counsel at Prudential Financial Inc, and Cathy LaFalce, Managing Director and Global Head of AML Compliance Risk Management, Markets and Banking at Citi, to talk about the history of efforts to counter money laundering and other financial crimes in the securities industry and what the future may bring in this space.Learn more about this issue at www.sifma.org.