The FCA focuses on market abuse surveillance at small and medium sized firms In its latest Market Watch newsletter (Market Watch 69) the FCA has outlined its observations regarding market abuse surveillance arrangements at small and medium sized firms. These observations are a continuation of FCA’s reminders, particularly through Market Watch newsletters, of the requirements […]
Important Observations from FCA Market Watch 69 Read More »
txtsmarter, based in Silicon Valley, California, is an award-winning Communications Surveillance Service for private messaging applications, platforms, and services – incl. Apple iMessage, Android SMS/MMS, WhatsApp, and others – capturing, verifying, encrypting, & archiving previously inaccessible data in real-time, mitigating compliance and communication data leaks, preventing sanctions and fines, and protecting company’s brand reputations in
GRSS are delighted to add txtsmarter to our best-in-class Partners Read More »
GRSS partners with leading surveillance technology vendors In response to the increasing need for effective supervisory oversight, GRSS has partnered with a range of best-in-class market abuse surveillance vendors, including: SteelEye Fingerprint eflow ISS LiquidMetrix MCO The regulatory landscape is increasingly complex. Regulatory change is escalating. The pressure on regulates firms to improve their supervisory
GRSS partners with leading surveillance technology vendors Read More »
In common with other financial services firms, private equity managers have been forced to face the challenge of how to adhere to electronic communications (“eComms”) policies and record keeping during the pandemic. Initially, these were temporary concerns around business continuity but latterly have shifted to an apparently more permanent revision of normal working practice. Deciding
The value of communications surveillance for Private Equity Firms Read More »
During the last quarter of the year, the, UK, US and European regulators have been active on the market abuse front. The FCA have been working on increasing criminal market abuse penalties and in the EU, we saw the publication of the review of all national competent authorities (NCAs) market abuse sanctions in 2020 by
Quarter End Insights Read More »
FCA is still concerned about firms’ market abuse surveillance as required by MAR In its latest Market Watch newsletter, the FCA made clear its concern that “….. requirements for market abuse surveillance are still not being fully met, 5 years after the introduction of the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) in 2016.” And even when surveillance
Important observations from FCA Market Watch 68 Read More »
The record-keeping obligations applicable to regulated firms undoubtedly became more onerous with the arrival of MiFID II, which extended the rules to include other forms of media and markets and removed the ability of buy-side firms to rely on broker recording. The expectations of regulators towards tackling market abuse have at the same time been
E-Comms Surveillance: Why archiving your records is not enough Read More »
The past few weeks have been eventful for regulators on both sides of the Atlantic. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), BaFin and the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen) have taken measures against traders for claims of market abuse pertaining to inside information as well as market manipulation. Also, the FCA has announced a renewed
The management team of Global Regulatory Surveillance Services (known as GRSS) are delighted to launch their managed surveillance service today. GRSS, led by Joe Vittoria and Sarah Donnelly includes an expert team of compliance and risk professionals that have worked together for many years, formerly all of ACA Mirabella. GRSS will offer its experienced compliance monitoring specialists to provide assistance to
Industry-first Managed Surveillance Service launches in London. Read More »
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Nicholai previously held the position of Senior Risk Officer at ACA Mirabella, where he was responsible for on-boarding clients, managing relationships and reviewing clients’ investment processes, risk management processes, strategy complexity, and operational arrangements. He was also responsible for compiling and submitting data for Regulatory Reporting.
After graduating with a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Physics, he transitioned to finance, by completing a post graduate certificate in the Mechanics of Risk Management. He followed this up by sitting for the FRM and became a Certified Financial Risk Manager.
An awardee of the Marie Curie Actions scholarship, Elizabeth built up her data crunching and analytical skills in theoretical motor neuroscience where she investigated brain mechanisms in action initiation at the Institute of Neurology, University College London.
She transferred her skillset to financial services in 2017, where she formed part of a formidable risk team at the regulatory hosting platform, ACA Mirabella. There she held the position of Senior Risk Associate, where she concentrated on risk management for funds with model-based strategies, focusing primarily on insurance-linked security investments. As part of the same role, Elizabeth worked with a subsection of the team on consolidating and improving the surveillance framework for potential market abuse of the platform’s diverse clientele, promoting an evidence-based approach in the set-up of the framework.
Having also previously had the opportunity to study and work at various neuro-research institutions, including Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm and Radboud UMC, Nijmegen, Elizabeth brings multi-faceted experience in breaking down complex problems to facilitate custom solutions.
Ryan most recently held the position of Senior Risk Associate at ACA Mirabella, where he was responsible for reviewing clients’ investment processes, risk management processes, strategy complexity, and operational arrangements. He was responsible for monitoring clients’ trading activities daily, including risk/trading limits. Ryan was also involved with the creation of the Governance Risk Compliance Operations Unit within the company.
After graduating with a Bachelors’ Degree in Commerce, a Post Graduate Certificate in Finance, and a Master’s Degree in Investment and Finance, Ryan spent over two years at APS Bank in Risk Management and Finance.
For the last five years, Tim held the position of Senior Compliance Consultant at ACA Mirabella overseeing a wide range of complex and large firms on the hosted platform.
Tim began his career at Price Waterhouse in 1986, where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Following qualification, Tim transferred to Hong Kong, where he spent 5 years specialising in the audit of multinational trading and finance entities. Tim spent 18 months on secondment at the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission developing an inspection regime for asset managers and advisers.
On returning to the UK, Tim spent 3 years at IMRO, a predecessor to the FCA, specialising in asset management supervision. Tim subsequently undertook several senior in-house compliance and finance roles across a range of start-up and large asset managers specialising in open-ended funds and, subsequently, private equity. Tim then moved into compliance consulting with Cordium and more recently spent 5 years working at ACA Mirabella overseeing a wide range of hosted clients.
Paul held the position of Senior Compliance Consultant at ACA Mirabella, where he was responsible for monitoring some of the largest clients and most complex served by Mirabella. He is a compliance professional with 25+ years of regulatory experience.
At ACA Mirabella, as well as implementing a compliance infrastructure at each client and conducting ongoing compliance reviews, Paul’s role encompassed oversight and review of clients’ electronic communications (employing Fingerprint) and their staff members’ personal compliance interactions (utilising Compliance ELF).
Paul spent 5 years at the FCA (then the FSA) as the Manager of a Corporate Authorisation team, followed by approximately 20 years of compliance experience in the financial services industry. He has worked in-house and held the Compliance Officer and Money Laundering Reporting Officer roles for approximately 12 years, firstly at a broking firm which he joined at start-up, and then a hedge fund manager. Paul also spent over 3 years working at a leading compliance consultancy, providing compliance support to clients (including full-scope and sub-threshold AIFMs, investment managers and advisers). He is a qualified Chartered Accountant.
George worked at ACA Mirabella for the past six years as Head of Risk Operations and managed the Malta-based Risk Team responsible for all the Firm’s risk monitoring and regulatory reporting.
He holds an MSc in Financial Mathematics from the University of Leeds, focusing on quantitative risk management, and a BSc in Mathematics and Physics from the University of Malta. He has also taken several short courses, including the Oxford Private Markets Certificate at the Saїd Business School.
In his free time, George volunteers for non-governmental organisations within the cultural sector in Malta, having an interest in the arts, classical music, and opera.
Sarah recently left ACA Mirabella, where she held the role of Head of Sales. In this role, she was focused on the company’s growth, from targeting new business opportunities to nurturing existing client relationships.
Sarah is working towards the CIPD Foundation Certificate in People Practice.
Joe was most recently the CEO and Founder of the Mirabella Group. During the eight years that Joe grew the Mirabella business, it became the recognised leader in regulatory hosting in the UK. As its CEO and an experienced Compliance Officer, he was responsible for ensuring regulatory compliance of Mirabella and its appointed representative clients. During his tenure at Mirabella, the firm fully and successfully complied with its regulatory obligations, which included the FCA (UK), MFSA (Malta), and the NFA/ CFTC (USA).
Mirabella conducted a thorough surveillance process across all its clients’ activities, which included over $19bn in assets under management, across over 50 investment mandates, managed by over 200 portfolio managers and traders. The investment strategies it hosted ranged from Private Equity and Real Estate to complex credit and derivative processes, with the majority in long/short equity.
Apart from his experience at Mirabella, Joe has acted as COO to other investment management firms, which included quant, debt and credit strategies. Before starting in the alternative investment management industry in 1998, Joe worked at Salomon Brothers which he joined in 1985, after graduating from Yale with a BA in Economics.
