The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and its implementation will be overseen by Congress on February 14 as senior US financial regulators are due to appear before the Senate committee to report on and discuss the progress made in enacting the law. The United States government takes consumer wellbeing very seriously indeed, and certainly this month there has been discussion within the online trading and financial sectors as to the proposed implementation of other aspects such as the NFA’s draconian plans to ban online deposit via credit card to forex companies. More in the Forex Magnates [...]
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Robert S. Khuzami took a step through Washington’s revolving door on Friday, departing his post as one of Wall Street’s top enforcers en route to the private sector, where he is expected to reap millions. A new report suggests that Mr. Khuzami, like other Securities and Exchange Commission officials who pass between Washington and Wall Street, will be well worth the pay. The Project on Government Oversight, or POGO, a nonprofit watchdog group long critical of the revolving door, is set to release a study on Monday highlighting a pattern of S.E.C. alumni going to bat for Wall Street firms — and winning. The report, similarly skeptical of Wall Street lawyers joining the S.E.C., cites recent enforcement cases and scuttled money market regulations to underscore its concerns. More in the New York Times [...] Banks and investment companies may face tougher scrutiny from regulators over how they safeguard clients’ assets in a bid to prevent any repeat of losses such as those caused by the bankruptcy of MF Global Holdings Ltd. Global regulators are seeking to address “risks to client assets” held by financial intermediaries and how they should be returned “in default, resolution or insolvency scenarios,” the International Organization of Securities Commissions, said in a statement on its website. The group, which brings together markets regulators from more than 100 nations, said it has issued guidance to authorities on how to enhance their supervision of so-called financial intermediaries that hold client assets. More on Bloomberg [...] Republican and Democratic campaign committees have returned $1.7 million in contributions convicted Texas financier R. Allen Stanford made from proceeds of his $7 billion investment fraud, his receiver said. Two Democratic committees and three Republican ones were ordered by a U.S. appellate court in October to return contributions Stanford made from 2000 to 2008 to his court- appointed receiver, who is marshaling assets to repay investors. More on Bloomberg Businessweek [...] NEW YORK – (Mealey’s) The brother of convicted Ponzi scheme mastermind Bernard L. Madoff has agreed to pay more than $90 million to settle claims that he participated in his brother’s massive Ponzi scheme but could escape any payment under a consent order filed Feb. 6 in a New York federal bankruptcy court (Irving H. Picard v. Peter B. Madoff, et al. [In re: Bernard L. Madoff], No. 09-1503, S.D. N.Y. Bkcy.; See October 2011, Page 8).Under the terms of the consent order, Peter B. Madoff agreed to pay $90,390,500 in money that he does not have, but Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC liquidation trustee Irving H. Picard has agreed to forbear from seeking to enforce the consent judgment as long as Peter Madoff “makes reasonable efforts to cooperate with the Trustee in the Trustee’s efforts to recover funds for the BLMIS Estate, including providing truthful information to the Trustee upon request.” More on Lexis Nexis Communities [...] An Austrian court has ruled against Bank Austria in a case brought by an investor over a fund linked to Bernard Madoff, the U.S. financier convicted of fraud. Format magazine said on Friday the unnamed investor had sought more than 60,000 euros ($80,300) for losses from investing in Herald Fund SPC, which was represented in Austria by Bank Austria, a unit of Italian lender UniCredit. More on Reuters [...] SANTA ANA – Prosecutors have charged a Minnesota man in connection with what they call a $200 million nationwide Ponzi scheme with at least 55 victims in Orange County. Gerard Frank Cellette, 48, of Anoka County, is charged with 116 felony counts, including 46 counts of selling unregistered securities and 43 counts of money laundering, plus sentencing enhancements and allegations. If convicted, he faces a possible 104 years in prison. Wall Street’s industry-funded watchdog is pulling back from a campaign to expand its powers so that it would oversee 11,000 registered investment advisers, leaving a regulatory hole that could be exploited by those intending to commit fraud, its head warned on Wednesday. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Chairman and CEO Richard Ketchum said there was no sign it can convince lawmakers in Washington to support a change in the way the advisers are regulated anytime soon. In particular it does not expect the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee to revisit the topic in the immediate future, given leadership changes following the 2012 elections, and that has led FINRA to change its strategy, he said. CME Group Inc. expects expenses to rise to $1.25 billion this year, as the exchange operator plans a public relations campaign to restore confidence in an industry battered by customer losses stemming from two high-profile brokerage failures. The rise in expenses, from $1.22 billion this year, also comes as the Chicago-based firm resumes hiring to handle new technology and regulatory needs, CME Group’s chief financial officer said on a conference call after release of financial results from the fourth quarter. More in the Chicago Tribune [...] This is another chapter in the ongoing saga of trying to get investor protection for those who need it most. More than a year ago, my father was pretty much swindled by a broker. Although he didn’t directly steal his money, the effect was the same: My father was put into a badly managed Oppenheimer bond mutual fund that lost money because it held mortgage derivatives. My father, who is 86 and a retired band director and music teacher, didn’t want a high-risk investment. All he wanted is a few more percentage points of yield on his income portfolio. A local banker had directed him to a young man who was a broker but had little or no interest in seeing that my father’s capital was protected. More in Forbes [...] |
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