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Last Entry: March 31, 2011 at 16:18:26

SEC Investor Advisory Committee Will Discuss Mandatory Arbitration

Posted on May 10, 2010
Here's the agenda for the May 17 meeting of the SEC's Investor Advisory Committee. I'm pleased to say that I will be speaking on the experts panel on mandatory securities arbitration (item vi) along with Professor Jennifer Johnson (Lewis &...

Reiffen & Robe on Demutualization of Exchanges

Posted on May 09, 2010
Demutualization and Customer Protection at Self-Regulatory Financial Exchanges, by David Reiffen, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and Michel A. Robe, American University - Kogod School of Business, was recently posted on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In the past...

Bondi on Arbitrating Securities Class Actions

Posted on May 09, 2010
Facilitating Economic Recovery and Sustainable Growth Through Reform of the Securities Class-Action System: Exploring Arbitration as an Alternative to Litigation, by Bradley J. Bondi, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); Georgetown University Law Center; George Mason University - School of Law,...

SEC and CFTC Statement on Unusual Trading Activity

Posted on May 08, 2010
Yesterday the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released the following statement: ?We are continuing to review the unusual trading activity that took place briefly yesterday afternoon to pinpoint its cause and contributing factors. ?Since yesterday, we have been...

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Schapiro Addresses Transparency in Muni Markets at ICI Meeting

Posted on May 07, 2010
SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro gave a speech today (as delivered by Andrew J. Donohue, Director, Division of Investment Management) on increasing transparency in the municipal markets at Investment Company Institute 2010 General Membership Meeting.

SEC-CFTC Statement on Yesterday's Market Conditions

Posted on May 07, 2010
Here is a brief joint statement from SEC and CFTC released yesterday on the volatile trading conditions: ?The SEC and CFTC are working closely with the other financial regulators, as well as the exchanges, to review the unusual trading activity...

FINRA Head Addresses Market Reg Issues at SIFMA Seminar

Posted on May 07, 2010
Richard G. Ketchum, FINRA Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, spoke today at the SIFMA Compliance & Legal Division's Annual Seminar in Washington, DC. According to his prepared remarks, he spoke about market regulation and audit trails, product reviews, modifications to...

Schapiro Speaks at SIFMA Compliance & Legal Society

Posted on May 06, 2010
SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro, Keynote Address at the Compliance and Legal Society of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association 2010 Annual Seminar, Harbor Place, Maryland, May 6, 2010

FINRA Fines Westpark Capital for Supervisory Failures in Long Island Branches

Posted on May 06, 2010
FINRA has ordered Los Angeles-based Westpark Capital, Inc. to pay a total of $400,000 for supervisory system failures and has suspended two officers for failing to supervise brokers in two now-closed Long Island branches who churned customer accounts and engaged...

GAO Releases Report on Leverage at Financial Institutions

Posted on May 06, 2010
Excerpt from GAO, Financial Crisis Highlights Need to Improve Oversight of Leverage at Financial Institutions and across System: In 2009 GAO conducted a study on the role of leverage in the recent financial crisis and federal oversight of leverage, as...

FCIC Conducts Hearings on Shadow Banking

Posted on May 05, 2010
The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission is holding two days of hearings on the Shadow Banking System. Today's witnesses include a number of former Bear Stearns people, including former CEO James Cayne, as well as SEC folks, including former Chairs Cox...

Dodd Announces Agreement to Drop Industry Liquidation Fund

Posted on May 05, 2010
Senator Dodd announced that he and Senator Shelby have reached agreement to drop the provision calling for an industry-paid fund for future liquidations of financial services firms and, in his words, "With this agreement there can be no doubt that...

Criminalizing Breaches of Fiduciary Duty?

Posted on May 05, 2010
In the aftermath of the SEC's complaint against Goldman Sachs and the recent Congressional hearing, there is talk of imposing a fiduciary standard on broker-dealers, not only in their dealings with retail customers, but in their dealings with institutional investors...

Amendment to Harmonize Broker-Dealer/Investment Adviser Regulation Will be Introduced in the Senate

Posted on May 04, 2010
Senators Menendez and Akaka plan to introduce an amendment (Download Menendez amendment) to the Senate's version of the financial reform legislation that will require the SEC to enact rules to provide that broker-dealers that offer personalized investment advice about securities...

Goldman Sachs Settles SEC Charges Relating to Short Sales

Posted on May 04, 2010
The SEC and Goldman Sachs settled administrative charges alleging that Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing LLC (GSEC) willfully violated Rule 204T of Regulation SHO by failing to deliver certain securities or immediately purchase or borrow securities to close out the...

FINRA Will Take Over NYSE Reg Surveillance and Enforcement Functions

Posted on May 04, 2010
NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) today announced that they have agreed that FINRA will assume responsibility for performing the market surveillance and enforcement functions currently conducted by NYSE Regulation...

Fiduciary Duty and Sophisticated Investors

Posted on May 04, 2010
The Goldman hearings raised, front and center, the question whether broker-dealers should owe fiduciary duties to sophisticated investors. In his talk to Berkshire Hathaway over the weekend, Warren Buffett gave a robust defense of Goldman Sachs and expressed his own...

Choi et alia on Judicial Ability and Securities Class Actions

Posted on May 01, 2010
Judicial Ability and Securities Class Actions, by Stephen J. Choi, New York University - School of Law; G. Mitu Gulati, Duke University - School of Law; and Eric A. Posner, University of Chicago - Law School, was recently posted on...

Bai on Credit Rating Agencies

Posted on May 01, 2010
On Regulating Conflict of Interests in the Credit Rating Industry, by Lynn Bai, University of Cincinnati - College of Law, was recently posted on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This paper discusses issues giving rise to conflict of interest concerns...

Orthodontists and Financial Reform

Posted on April 30, 2010
This is what the debate over financial reform legislation has come down to: is an orthodontist a "significant financial player"? You decide -- read the statements by Richard Shelby and Chris Dodd on this critical issue. Shelby: yes Dodd: are...

DOJ Started Investigating Goldman Before SEC Action Filed

Posted on April 30, 2010
According to the Washington Post, the Justice Dept. opened a criminal investigation into possible securities fraud violations involving mortgage trading at Goldman Sachs prior to the SEC's filing of its civil action. It has been widely reported that the SEC...

FINRA Proposes to Increase Number of Arbitrators Available for Selection

Posted on April 30, 2010
FINRA announced that it intends to increase the number of arbitrators available for selection when parties pick arbitration panels, to 10 from the current eight, for each type of arbitrator on a three-member panel ? public chair-qualified, public and non-public...

Fomrer Tobacco Company Execs Settle FCPA Charges

Posted on April 29, 2010
On April 28, 2010, the SEC brought another FCPA complaint, this time charging four former employees of Dimon, Inc., now Alliance One International, Inc. All four defendants agreed to settle the Commission's charges against them. According to the complaint, during...

FINRA Bans Former Compliance Officer for Cheating Customers

Posted on April 29, 2010
FINRA announced today that it has permanently barred Tod Bretton, former Chief Compliance Officer and Head Trader for Prestige Financial, Inc., of New York, for engaging in a fraudulent trading scheme that generated approximately $1.3 million in profits for him...

Second Circuit Rejects Extending Private Rule 10b-5 Liability to Attorneys Who "Created" the Fraud

Posted on April 28, 2010
In Pacific Investment Management Co. v. Mayer Brown (2d Cir. Apr. 27, 2010)(Download MayerBrownopinion), the Second Circuit affirms the district court's dismissal of investors' complaint against the law firm Mayer Brown and its partner Joseph Collins for their role in...

Beating up on Goldman

Posted on April 27, 2010
I'm missing the theater that's going on at the Senate, as Senators take delight at expressing umbrage at Goldman Sachs banker for "shorting the residential housing market," which has become the current dirty phrase. Far be it for me to...

Merck Majority Says Actual or Constructive Knowledge Required to Start Limitations Period for Securities Fraud

Posted on April 27, 2010
Today, in Merck & Co., Inc. v. Reynolds(Download Merckopinion), a majority of the Justices held that the statute of limitations for securities fraud begins to run once the plaintiff actually discovered, or a reasonably diligent plaintiff would have discovered, the...

Treasury Launches Redesigned Financial Literacy Website

Posted on April 27, 2010
I personally am skeptical about the value of financial literacy websites, but the Treasury Dept. has announced the launch of its redesigned financial literacy education website, www.MyMoney.gov. Treasury says the new site has "enhanced interactive features and utility to provide...

SEC Reports on Administrative Proceedings

Posted on April 27, 2010
The SEC's Report on Administrative Proceedings For Period October 1, 2009 through March 31, 2010, required by Rule 900 of the Commission?s Rule of Practice, is posted on the SEC's website.

Former Maxim Integrated Produdcts CFO Liable for Backdating Stock Options

Posted on April 27, 2010
On April 23, 2010, a federal district court jury found Carl W. Jasper, former Chief Financial Officer of Maxim Integrated Products, liable for securities fraud and other charges in connection with a scheme to backdate stock option grants to company...

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