Stephen Kuhs

I enjoy leveraging my experience in brokerage operations, trading regulations, and vendor management to support our clients and achieve process improvements and efficiencies. I am proud to be a part of the Oyster team.

Stephen is a financial services leader with extensive brokerage experience, including streetside operations, clearing conversion, CAT/CAIS compliance and processing, and vendor relations. Prior to working for Oyster, Stephen served as Managing Director, Operations Division Manager with Truist Investment Services. In that role he managed the deconversion of BB&T Securities and was responsible for the streetside conversion of self-clearing BB&T Securities with Sun Trust Investment Services through NFS. Previously, Stephen served as Assistant Vice President with Wachovia Securities, where he created and rapidly implemented a new streamlined process for naked short sales, developed an automated system for daily settlements of government securities and led the position conversion for the Wachovia / A.G. Edwards merger.

Expertise

• Managed the deconversion and retirement of the brokerage firm BB&T Securities. Primary SME for all streetside relationships (OCC, DTC, MBSC, FICC, FINRA, MSRB).
• Responsible for the streetside conversion of the self-clearing BB&T Securities with the introducing broker-dealer Suntrust Investment Services clearing through National Financial Services.
• Responsible for compliance and processing of FINRA CAT/CAIS from the rule’s inception.
• Managed testing, process changes, and compliance with the industry move to T+2 settlement.
• Created processes and workflow to allow the firm to become an MBS netting member with MBSCC.
• Created and implemented new streamlined process for naked short sales (in response to a new SEC regulation Reg SHO 204) within a 24-hr period. Crafted communication plan for over 1,500 Financial Advisors and refined the new system over the next two weeks, resulting in zero audit findings.
• Developed automated system for daily settlements of government securities (Autocage) that reduced staffing by 25% and integrated with external and internal IT, and business partner BETA. Managed the full project lifecycle, including testing, tracking and reporting to Senior Management.
• Led the position conversion for the Wachovia / A.G. Edwards merger.
• Test Champion for the remediation of over 50 third-party programs across multiple departments. Coordinated a team of subject matter experts through UAT and helped to consolidate processes, reducing the number of programs by 50%. This reduction led to a corresponding decrease in licensing and maintenance costs to the firm.
• Created an MBS Allocation team. Recruited a subject matter expert and designed policies and procedures. This resulted in a group capable of handling the allocation and settlement of over a billion dollars monthly without errors.
• Worked with multiple vendors (Beta, CRC, BONY) to optimize the government securities settlement process.

Career Highlights

• Managing Director, Operations Division Manager – Truist Investment Services
• Assistant Vice President, Analyst Consultant – Wachovia Securities
• Consultant – Northwestern Mutual Investment Operations – KFORCE Inc
• Streetside Clearing Representative – BNY Clearing Services LLC