Ex-VW-Chairman Ferdinand Piech has thrown a wrench in the automaker’s official narrative of the emissions cheating scandal by suggesting, in sworn testimony, that the company knew of the cheating months before it was...more
2/10/2017
/ Airlines ,
Anthem Insurance ,
Appeals ,
Banking Sector ,
CIGNA ,
Corruption ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Environmental Violations ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Financial Institutions ,
Health Insurance ,
Insurance Industry ,
Investment ,
Investment Adviser ,
Ireland ,
Merger Controls ,
National Emissions Standards ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Snapchat ,
Student Loans ,
Volkswagen ,
White Collar Crimes
Measuring growth according to GDP. It’s how we’ve always done it, but here’s an interesting argument that the transition to an online services-based economy may mean that we’re underestimating growth by as much as 2 percent...more
2/7/2017
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disney ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Financial Institutions ,
GDP ,
Investment Adviser ,
Pay Gap ,
Private Equity ,
Retirement Plan ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Succession Planning ,
Uber ,
Wages
RBS has agreed to pay $85 million to the CFTC to resolve allegations that its traders “manipulated the ISDAfix benchmark rate over a period of five years to benefit the bank’s derivatives positions”....more
2/6/2017
/ Banking Sector ,
Benchmarks ,
CFTC ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Derivatives ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
ETFs ,
EU ,
Facebook ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Market Manipulation ,
Member State ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
RBS ,
Referendums ,
Retirement ,
Retirement Plan ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media ,
The Brexit Appeal ,
Trading Platforms ,
Trump Administration ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
UK Parliament
Snap Inc. filed its first public prospectus yesterday in advance of its fast-approaching offering date, playing up the strength of its ad revenue in just two short years as part of its pitch for big-time value....more
2/3/2017
/ Banking Sector ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Economic Development ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
FinTech ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Interest Rates ,
Job Creation ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media ,
Social Networks ,
Startups ,
Trump Administration
The CFPB has ordered UniRush (purveyor of the RushCard prepaid debit card) and its payment processor, MasterCard, to fork over $13 million in fines after a breakdown last year that blocked thousands of customers from...more
2/2/2017
/ Automotive Industry ,
Banking Sector ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Cross-Selling ,
Financial Institutions ,
Fines ,
Fraud ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Lehman Brothers ,
MasterCard ,
National Emissions Standards ,
Online Marketplace Lending ,
Prepaid Payment Products ,
Volkswagen ,
White Collar Crimes
The Deal Professor thinks that Alibaba’s play for MoneyGram (via its Ant Financial arm) could tell us a lot about how the new administration will handle Chinese investment in the US....more
2/1/2017
/ Aircraft Equipment ,
Alibaba ,
China ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
DaimlerChrysler ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Foreign Investment ,
Portugal ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Silicon Valley ,
Technology Sector ,
Uber ,
UK Brexit
Unfortunately enough for Deutsche Bank, 2017 isn’t starting off much better than the previous year. The German banking giant has agreed to pay a $425 million fine to NY state authorities (and another $204 million to the UK’s...more
1/31/2017
/ Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Bonds ,
Capital Requirements ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Elon Musk ,
Energy Storage ,
Facebook ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Institutions ,
Investors ,
Microsoft ,
Money Laundering ,
Renewable Energy ,
Russia ,
Stress Tests ,
Tesla ,
Trump Administration
Turns out the Fed’s plate isn’t just full of decisions surrounding interest rates. It’s got a massive portfolio of mortgage and Treasury securities that needs some serious tending, too....more
1/30/2017
/ Bonds ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Distressed Assets ,
Federal Reserve ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Financial Institutions ,
Globalization ,
IKEA ,
Imports ,
Manufacturers ,
Mexico ,
Mortgages ,
RMBS ,
Securities ,
Securities Fraud ,
Silicon Valley ,
Trade Relations ,
U.S. Treasury ,
UBS ,
US Trade Policies
Some solid non-search-engine growth helped Alphabet post pretty solid Q4 numbers (with profit missing estimates but revenue surging past them)....more
1/27/2017
/ Alibaba ,
Banks ,
Barclays ,
Charter Communications ,
EU ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Google ,
Importers ,
Imports ,
Mergers ,
Mexico ,
Telecommunications ,
Trade Relations ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
US Trade Policies ,
Verizon
The Journal reported yesterday that more than 6,000 Wells Fargo branches were routinely tipped off to inspections by internal risk monitors, a practice that allowed the bank’s sham-account scandal to go undetected for years....more
1/25/2017
/ Activist Investors ,
Alibaba ,
Banks ,
Capital Raising ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Fannie Mae ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Housing Market ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Investment Firms ,
Mortgages ,
Real Estate Market ,
Rental Property ,
RMBS ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media ,
Trust Indenture Act ,
Wells Fargo
Judge John Bates of the US District Court for DC has blocked a proposed $37 billion mega-health-care-merger between Aetna and Humana, one of 2 major deals before the courts opposed by the Obama-era DOJ over antitrust...more
1/24/2017
/ Aetna ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Automotive Industry ,
Automotive Loans ,
Citigroup ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Data Breach ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EU ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinTech ,
Ford Motor ,
Healthcare ,
Humana ,
Investment Banks ,
Loans ,
Member State ,
Mergers ,
Money Market Funds ,
Mortgage Servicers ,
Mortgages ,
Online Marketplace Lending ,
Referendums ,
Search Engines ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Technology ,
Telecommunications ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
Verizon ,
Yahoo!
JPMorgan and other asset managers are pushing hard for a new type of ETF that “mimics active strategies but keeps its investments secret.” The concept hasn’t yet been embraced by the SEC, though the heavy-hitters looking to...more
1/23/2017
/ Acquisitions ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Data Breach ,
EFTs ,
Federal Student Loans ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Investment ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Loans ,
Mergers ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgages ,
Navient ,
Quicken Loans ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Search Engines ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media ,
Telecommunications ,
Verizon ,
Yahoo!
We learned about Navient and its allegedly trouble-filled student-loan servicing practices yesterday. Turns out the issues are not only long-standing, but they bear similarities to the mortgage-lending issues that were at...more
1/20/2017
/ CFTC ,
China ,
Citigroup ,
Economic Development ,
Federal Student Loans ,
Financial Crisis ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Junk Bonds ,
Loans ,
Navient ,
Rating Agencies ,
RMBS ,
Securities ,
Spoofing ,
Stock Markets ,
Stocks ,
Wall Street
On the heels of Deutsche Bank’s $7.2 billion deal, Credit Suisse has finalized the terms of its own MBS-related settlement. The Swiss bank will pay $5.3 billion to resolve claims that it misled investors about the standards...more
1/19/2017
/ Banks ,
Bonds ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Credit Suisse ,
Debt Collection ,
Discrimination ,
Discriminatory Lending Practices ,
FHA Loans ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Loans ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgage Servicers ,
Mortgages ,
Race Discrimination ,
RMBS ,
Samsung ,
Securities Violations ,
Student Loans ,
Trump Administration
Deutsche Bank and the DOJ have put the finishing touches on the deal to resolve the investigation into DB’s role in its sale of toxic RMBS. The bank will fork over $7.2 billion in total, including a $3.1 billion civil penalty...more
1/18/2017
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Banks ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
FinTech ,
Fintech Charter ,
Member State ,
OCC ,
Online Marketplace Lending ,
Qualcomm ,
Referendums ,
Retail Market ,
Retailers ,
RMBS ,
Sears ,
Securities Fraud ,
Technology ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
US Bank ,
Wireless Technology
Ratings Agency Moody’s Corp. has agreed to pay roughly $864 million to resolve federal and state claims that it gave juiced ratings to risky MBS in the run-up to the financial crisis. Half of the total will end up in DOJ...more
1/17/2017
/ 401k ,
Automotive Industry ,
Bitcoin ,
Bribery ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Currency ,
Employee Benefits ,
EU ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
High Frequency Trading ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investment Management ,
Mergers ,
Moody's ,
Rating Agencies ,
Retirement Plan ,
RMBS ,
Rolls-Royce ,
Samsung ,
Technology ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
Virtual Currency ,
White Collar Crimes
The emissions cheating scandal that recently cost VW $4.3 billion and a mess of criminal indictments isn’t, it seems, confined to the Germans. We heard months ago about a similar probe into Mitsubishi, and yesterday we...more
1/13/2017
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Automotive Industry ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Citigroup ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Environmental Violations ,
Exchange-Traded Products ,
Federal Reserve ,
Fiat ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Forex ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Job Creation ,
Market Manipulation ,
Mitsubishi ,
Money Market Funds ,
Mutual Funds ,
National Emissions Standards ,
No-Action Letters ,
Retail Market ,
Robots ,
Sales Commissions ,
SEC Examination Priorities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Software ,
Volkswagen ,
White Collar Crimes
The headline a few days ago was the arrest of VW exec Oliver Schmidt during an ill-advised trip to Miami last week. But the DOJ also indicted five other top executives over their role in VW’s emissions cheating scandal. No...more
1/12/2017
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Automotive Industry ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Credit Cards ,
Credit Suisse ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Foreign Currency ,
Mexico ,
Morgan Stanley ,
Mutual Funds ,
National Emissions Standards ,
RMBS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Volkswagen ,
White Collar Crimes
Some early signs of the focus of SoftBank’s “hugely ambitious” $100 billion investment fund are beginning to emerge, and at first blush, it appears a majority of the cash will land in private and public markets rather than...more
1/11/2017
/ Automotive Industry ,
Banks ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Foreign Currency ,
Forex ,
Investment Funds ,
Market Manipulation ,
National Emissions Standards ,
Solar Energy ,
Solar Panels ,
Startups ,
Valeant ,
Volkswagen ,
Wells Fargo ,
White Collar Crimes
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation—the company that “serves as the back end for much Wall Street trading”—has announced a big step forward in the embrace of blockchain technology to track and report transactions. IBM...more
1/10/2017
/ Banks ,
Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Digital Currency ,
Economic Development ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
HSBC ,
Mortgage Servicers ,
Mortgages ,
OCC ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Virtual Currency ,
Wall Street ,
White Collar Crimes ,
Yahoo!
By volume, December wasn’t an incredible month for US jobs. But the report did help cap a year that saw average hourly earnings rise 2.9%—the best since 2009 and a “turning point for the overall economy,” according to one...more
1/9/2017
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Apple ,
Automotive Industry ,
Big Data ,
Bond Markets ,
China ,
Corporate Bonds ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Cybersecurity ,
Cybersecurity Framework ,
Economic Development ,
Environmental Violations ,
Facebook ,
FBI ,
Federal Register ,
Financial Institutions ,
Germany ,
Google ,
Insurance Industry ,
Job Creation ,
Liquidity ,
Microsoft ,
National Emissions Standards ,
NYDFS ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Volkswagen ,
White Collar Crimes
Former NJ Senator and Governor Jon Corzine has reached a $5 million settlement with regulators over the collapse of his MF Global firm, which filed bankruptcy in 2011 and lost more than $1 billion in customer investments....more
1/6/2017
/ Airlines ,
Bitcoin ,
Black & Decker ,
CFTC ,
China ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Customer Funds Protection ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Digital Currency ,
Employees ,
Financial Institutions ,
Foreign Currency ,
Futures ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Job Creation ,
MF Global ,
Sears ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Traders ,
Segregated Funds ,
Virtual Currency ,
Wells Fargo
The Fed’s anticipating faster growth in the coming year and rate increases to go with it. That and a whole lot of uncertainty about the incoming administration are the big takeaways from the Fed’s December meeting minutes....more
1/5/2017
/ Amazon ,
Apple ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Facebook ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Foreign Exchanges ,
Forex ,
Google ,
Hedge Funds ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Market Manipulation ,
Microsoft ,
Mortgages ,
Private Equity ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Technology Sector
The December 22 announcement that Deutsche Bank had settled with the DOJ over long-standing RMBS-related claims and investigations for a reported $7.2 billion prompted this Times long-read that traced the Icarus-like rise and...more
1/3/2017
/ 401k ,
Credit Suisse ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Disney ,
Employee Benefits ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Financial Institutions ,
General Electric ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Internet Streaming ,
Investment Management ,
Netflix ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Retirement Plan ,
RMBS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Valeant
Rupert Murdoch and 21st Century Fox have fulfilled a mission derailed five years ago by a UK phone hacking scandal and have taken full control of British satellite TV giant Sky. Fox paid just shy of $15 billion to acquire the...more
12/16/2016
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Generic Drugs ,
Mylan Pharmaceuticals ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Price-Fixing ,
Rupert Murdoch ,
Solar Energy ,
Solar Panels ,
Stocks ,
Television Service Providers ,
Teva Pharmaceuticals ,
Twentieth Century Fox ,
UK ,
Yahoo!