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Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then he gets discouraged. That's not the place to become discouraged.
Thomas Edison Categories
Tag Archives: SEC
How stock trading has changed since 9/11
In the decade since the Sept. 11 attacks, lower Manhattan has been transformed. Once the physical financial center of the country, the area has become largely an upscale residential neighborhood.
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What are municipal bonds?
Municipal bonds are debt securities issued by states, cities, counties and other governmental entities to finance capital projects, such as building schools, highways or sewer systems, and to fund day-to-day obligations. Investors who buy municipal bonds are in effect lending money to the bond issuer in exchange for a promise of regular interest payments, usually semi-annually, and the return of the original investment . . . read more Read More
Proposed rules for debt disclosure
CURTAINS FOR “WINDOW DRESSING?”: The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed new rules that could make it harder for public companies to disguise their level of debt . . . read more Read More
SEC chief says enforcement has increased
The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday, July 20, that the agency has been revamped and has stepped up enforcement since the financial crisis. Agency officials are also ready to write new rules for companies . . . read more Read More
SEC proposing uniform ‘audit trail’ for orders
Federal regulators moved Wednesday, May 26, toward requiring a uniform system for tracking all securities orders on U.S. exchanges, in hopes of making it easier to investigate market disruptions like the May 6 plunge.
Members of the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed, on a 5-0 vote, requiring exchanges to maintain an “audit trail” covering trading orders from start to routing to execution.
The regulators say that would make it easier to investigate market . . . read more Read More
Regulators, once deemed lax, get big say on rules
Banking regulators shared the blame for the financial crisis that buckled Wall Street. Now they’re the ones lawmakers are counting on to give final shape to the new overhaul of financial rules.
In section after section of the massive 1,560-page Senate bill, lawmakers leave much of the details for the regulators to figure out. These are the bank and market overseers — the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Securities and Exchange Commission — who took a beating for not overseeing Wall Street more strictly and for failing to see the danger before it struck in 2008.
When it comes to key decisions about how to rein in complex, previously unregulated securities, how to liquidate large, interconnected failing financial firms . . . read more Read More
SEC: Exchanges agree in principle to new rules
The leaders for major securities exchanges have agreed in principle to a uniform system of “circuit breakers” that would slow trading during periods of intense market volatility, Federal regulators said Monday.
The heads of the biggest exchanges “agreed on a structural framework, to be refined over the next day,” Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro said. . . . read more Read More
SEC seeks tighter rules on asset-backed securities
Federal regulators proposed new, stricter rules Wednesday for asset-backed securities, the bundles of loans that helped spark the market’s collapse in 2008 and nearly brought down the financial system.
The Securities and Exchange Commission voted 5-0 to propose that Wall Street firms that package and sell asset-backed securities be required in most cases to hold at least 5 percent of the packaged loans — mortgages, credit cards, auto loans — on their own books. . . . read more Read More
SEC reviews funds’ derivatives use
The Securities and Exchange Commission is reviewing the use of financial derivatives by mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and other investments to determine whether new protections are needed for investors.
The SEC said Thursday that while the review by its staff is ongoing, the agency won’t approve any new exchange-traded funds that would make “significant investments” in derivatives. Existing ETFs and other types of funds won’t be affected.
Derivatives, the complex instruments traded in a $600 trillion global market and blamed for playing a role in the financial crisis . . . read more Read More
Low fee 401(k) option, benefits and downsides
Collective investment trusts are increasingly popular in 401(k) plans. Some 70 percent of plans with more than 1,000 employees offer them either as an option or as their sole investment. Their popularity is growing rapidly. More than 770 collective trusts have been started since 2000. Although exact numbers are hard to come by, estimates are that there are about 2,000 CITs in 401(k) plans.
CITs are similar to mutual funds in their investment goals but are regulated by banking rules not securities regulations. . . . read more Read More
Rethinking: Banks, Bailouts, and Taxes
Since the latter part of 2007, the financial world has been in one of the worst crises of the last half century. Just a cursory look at news headlines around the world reveals a telling and stress-inducing story.
With these articles, the spotlight remains squarely on financial institutions as we are continually reminded of failing and nearly failing banks needing “bailouts”. Unfortunately, we are too often only exposed to part of the story. Read More
Regulatory Reform
The bloodletting on Wall Street is still in full swing, yet we’ve already begun to hear calls for greater regulation of the financial services industry. Given the magnitude of the crisis, it is likely some regulatory reform will occur. As we go through this process, it’s critical that we keep our wits about us and make decisions based on fact and not emotion. Read More
