Commodity Futures Trading Commission member Bart Chilton plans Wednesday to propose a transaction fee for derivatives markets, an idea that has been floated for years but has never gained traction in Congress. Chilton, a Democrat, says it’s an idea whose time has finally come. “Heck, who’da thunk five years ago that a hoax Twitter feed would lead to another market meltdown moment,” Chilton plans to say Wednesday, according to a prepared copy of his speech to the Energy Bar Association. A fee of $0.0006 per transaction could raise as much as $300 million a year, which would cover the CFTC’s budget and serve as a disincentive to high-speed traders, Chilton said. The fee wouldn’t apply to hedgers using the markets to lay-off commercial risk, he said. More in the Wall Street Journal [...]
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A Manhattan judge indicated Monday he was “troubled” by how the U.S. government applied a rarely used law in a suit against Bank of America Corp over the sale of toxic mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac . The hearing before U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff marked a challenge of the U.S. Department of Justice’s bid to bring fraud lawsuits against Wall Street banks under a powerful law enacted following the savings and loan scandals of the 1980s. Rakoff held off on a ruling, saying he would issue a decision by May 13 on whether to dismiss the lawsuit, which blames Bank of America for more than $1 billion in losses incurred by Fannie and Freddie. More on Reuters [...] The liquidator of Bernard Madoff’s firm asked a judge to approve $50 million of fees and expenses for his law firm’s work from July 1 through Nov. 30, according to a federal court filing in Manhattan. Irving Picard and his firm, Baker & Hostetler LLP, will have charged total fees and expenses of about $440 million since the confidence man’s December 2008 arrest, according to court filings. The Securities Investor Protection Corp., which runs an insurance fund to compensate investors for losses, pays the law firm’s bills. More on Bloomberg [...] Four years after Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty to running the largest Ponzi scheme in history, investors are still trying to get their money back. Thema International Fund Plc is seeking about $1.5 billion from HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) at a 14-week trial that started at the High Court in Dublin today. The case is one of dozens to focus on banks’ role as “custodians” to investment funds that deposited money with Madoff. HSBC, Europe’s largest bank, faces more than 50 complaints in Ireland over claims it failed to discover Madoff’s activities. The fraud hurt many investment vehicles like Dublin- based Thema, funds known as UCITS that target retail investors. At least three UCITS, which stands for Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities, were liquidated because of Madoff-related losses. More on Bloomberg [...] |
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