In what is now the country’s largest public bankruptcy, the city of Detroit has filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, who filed for the protection along with Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, said that that there was no other alternative. Investors who purchased securities issued by the city…
Entities of Highland Capital Management LLP are suing Credit Suisse Group AG (CS) for over $350M. The plaintiffs are Haygood LLC and Allenby LLC. They claim that the financial firm marketed loans for high-end residential communities using appraisals that were deceptive and not reasonable. The disagreement is related to dividend…
According to The New York Times, a number of insurance companies that sold variable annuities with healthy death or income benefits prior to the financials crisis are regretting this decision. One reason for this is that they are finding it hard to meet the obligations-payouts of at least 6% or…
Morgan Stanley Buys Smith Barney from Citigroup Morgan Stanley (MS) now owns Smith Barney, which it just bought from Citigroup (C) for $9.4 billion. Smith Barney’s new name is Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. Based on its new number of financial advisers, the deal makes Morgan Stanley the largest Wall Street…
Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) have joined forces to unveil the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act, which aims to create a definite divide between speculative activities and traditional banking. This is a modern day revision of the original Glass-Steagall legislation from the 1930’s, which placed definite limits on…
SLUSA Precludes JPMorgan Securities Allegations Involving Mutual Fund Sales As preempted by the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed what would have been a would-be state law class action against JPMorgan Securities LLC (JPM) and related entities over mutual-fund sales…
In Dallas, Chief Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas has thrown out the class action lawsuit filed by Verizon Communications (VZ) management retirees looking to stop their ex-employer from selling $8.4 billion of their pensions to Prudential Insurance Company of America…
According to a source with direct knowledge about the Office of Comptroller of the Currency’s findings, the agency had already warned JPMorgan Chase (JPM) last year that the investment bank had erred when it directed clients toward its in-house investment products. OCC examiners found that in late 2011 JPMorgan had…
William Galvin, the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, is subpoenaing 15 brokerage firms in its probe into complex products that were sold to older investors. Morgan Stanley (MS), LPL Financial (LPLA), Merrill Lynch (MER), UBS AG (UBS), Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Fidelity Investments, Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), Charles…
New York’s highest court has revived a declaratory judgment action against D & Liability insurers after finding that the Securities and Exchange Commission order mandating that Bear Stearns (BSC) pay $160M in disgorgement failed to establish in a conclusive manner that payment could not be insured. The securities lawsuit is…