JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), Credit Suisse (CS), and fourteen other big banks have agreed to changes that will be made to swaps contracts. The modifications are designed to assist in the unwinding of firms that have failed. Under the plan,…
The SEC Investor Advisory Committee (IAC) is recommending that the agency to make substantial revision to who should be considered a sophisticated investor. This could change who can get involved in private placements as investors. Currently, there are about 8.5 million accredited investors. The Dodd-Frank Act obligates the SEC to…
Former Ameriprise Adviser Ordered to Jail, Must Pay $3M Restitution Oscar Donald Overbey Jr., an ex-Ameriprise Financial Services (AMP) financial adviser, must pay back the $3 million he allegedly stole from investors while operating a Ponzi scam. The 47-year-old has been sentenced to three and a half years behind bars.…
According to The Wall Street Journal, the operating partners of private equity firms, are coming under closer scrutiny. These professionals are typically retained when acquiring a company with the intention of enhancing its operations. These operating partners are usually listed with full-time employees. Regulators are worried that buyout firms are…
In London, Rabobank Groep NV (RABN.UL) has suspended two senior currencies traders in the wake of an internal probe into the bank’s forex business. Chris Twort and Gary Andrews were placed on leave of absence after their names were discovered in chat rooms along with a currencies trader from another…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has barred Jo Ellen Fischer, an Raymond James independent financial advisor, for purportedly stealing nearly $1 million from a 95-year-old client. At the time, Fisher worked for Peoples Bancorp. According to the self-regulatory organization, from July to December 2013, the Raymond James advisor converted $924,750…
The SEC is charging Dennis Wright, an ex-Axa Advisors broker, with operating a Ponzi scam for 14 years and bilking customers of $1.5 million. According to the regulator, from 1998 and into 2012, Wright allegedly persuaded at least 28 customers to take money out of Axa variable annuity accounts under…
A judge has ordered Citigroup Inc. (C) to give over certain internal records to the Oklahoma Firefighters Pension and Retirement System related to the bank’s Banamex unit. The pension fund is a Citigroup shareholder. Earlier this year, Citigroup revealed that its retail bank in Mexico City had been deceived in…
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. proposal to up the pay for arbitrators. The rule change will increase how much it will cost to file securities arbitration claims, as well as processing fees, surcharge, and hearing session fees for bigger cases. The…
The trial over whether the U.S. government unlawfully seized a majority stake in American International Group Inc. (AIG) during the bailout has started. The securities case was brought by Starr International Co., which is the charitable and investment firm helmed by former AIG CEO Maurice R. Greenberg. Starr was the…