Deutsche Bank, a German lender agreed to plead guilty and pay $2.5 billion to settle with regulators in the United States and the United Kingdom in connection with criminal charges that it rigged and manipulated the London interbank offered rate ("Libor"). Regulators announced the settlement Thursday, April 23, 2015. According to the regulators Libor is a benchmark for interest rates that apply to trillions of dollars of financial contracts. (Eyk Henning, "Deutsche Bank to Pay $2.5 billion to Settle Libor Investigation With U.S., U.K. Authorities," Wall Street Journal (April 23 ...
The "boomer bulge" in the US aging demographic, combined with a persistent low-interest-rate environment, leads regulators to renew their warnings about retail sales of complex investment products to older investors. SEC Commissioner Aguilar told an April 14 meeting of state securities regulators that the two agencies should work together to increase disclosure regulations and enforcement actions targeting retail sales of structured notes and other complex products. The structured notes market is a $45 Billion market, of which about 99% is sold to retail investors, said ...
The MSRB filed its Municipal-Advisor conduct rule proposal with the SEC on April 15. The Rule G-42 proposal has been around the block twice, since the Board first floated it in January last year (Reg. Notice 2014-01). The Revised Draft was issued last July (Reg. Notice 2014-12). I discussed them in our July 30, 2014 and January 23, 2014 blogs. As proposed for adoption by the SEC, the Rule broadly imposes:
A fiduciary duty to Municipal Entities, but only of care to Obligated Persons;
An "engagement letter" disclosure regime requiring conflicts and disciplinary disclosures ...
We've all done it: Read the docket description in the notice of electronic filing ("NEF") and have your paralegal download the order and add it to the pleadings file. But you have to read the order: The clerk's mis-description in an NEF could cost your client its appeal. Three of the four post-verdict JMOLs in the patent litigation were confidential, so were filed with motions for leave to seal them. The fourth JMOL wasn't. The first three NEF's read "Order granting motion for leave to file sealed documents" (referring only to the Doc. No. of the motion to seal). Then the court docketed ...
FINRA recently issued Regulatory Notice 15-06 requesting comments on the proposal that would require the registration of associated persons involved in the design, development or modification of algorithmic trading strategies. As automation continues to evolve, firms are relying more on automated systems to trade securities. With the use of pre-programmed trading instructions, or algorithmic trading strategies, firms can input various variables in order to achieve the required trading activity. If an individual, as opposed to an automated system, performed the trade ...
Not April Fool's for one public-company registrant, as the SEC filed its first settled action today over corporate confidentiality provisions that run afoul of Dodd-Frank whistleblower protections. The clause in question was part of the company's standard internal-investigation script and required investigation interviewees to sign an acknowledgement that they couldn't discuss the investigation or its subject matter without prior approval of the Law Department. The company paid a $130,000 fine, changed its provision to allow whistleblower reporting to SEC and DOJ, and ...
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced on March 25, 2015 a proposal to amend Rule 15b9-1 under the Exchange Act to require broker-dealers who trade in off-exchange venues to become members of a national securities association. According to the SEC's press release, "the amendments would enhance regulatory oversight of active proprietary trading firms, such as high frequency traders." Under this proposal, such broker-dealers would be regulated not only by the SEC, but also the industry's self-regulatory agency, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ...
SEC Chair Mary Jo White said yesterday that the SEC needs to move forward on a uniform fiduciary standard for the financial industry, including brokers. Addressing the annual meeting of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, White said it's high time to act since the agency has studied the issue for years, "decades really." And while she welcomes input from the Department of Labor, the SEC is the agency to adopt the rule, because it is the primary regulator with the greatest depth of knowledge about the industry - a sentiment echoed Monday by FINRA Chairman Rick ...
Addressing the annual meeting of the Compliance & Legal Division of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara stressed the importance of industry compliance and legal personnel as gatekeepers in risk avoidance and loss prevention. Bharara started with a nod to the "necessity and importance" of corporate prosecutions as drivers of change for persistent and systemic problems. Noting the CommerzBank deferred prosecution agreement among other recent cases, he repeated his now-annual refrain that corporate ...
On February 20, 2015, the Alabama Supreme Court affirmed the order of the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Alabama dismissing claims asserted by Walter Energy, Inc. against investor Julian A. Treger, his firm Audley Capital Advisors, LLP and other associated investment entities related to a purported "pump and dump" scheme executed by the Audley defendants related to Walter Energy stock. In late 2010, Walter Energy purchased Western Coal Corporation. Walter Energy alleged in the trial court that the Audley defendants initiated a "pump and dump" scheme on July 17, 2011, when ...
We use cookies and other tracking mechanisms to improve your website experience, provide additional security, and remember you when you return to the website. This website does not respond to "Do Not Track" signals. By clicking "Accept," you agree to our use of cookies. By using our website, you agree to ourPrivacy Policy.
Cookie Preference Center
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. These cookies may only be disabled by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.
Analytical Cookies
Analytical cookies help us improve our website by collecting and reporting information on its usage. We access and process information from these cookies at an aggregate level.
