The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is continuing to tighten the limits on what placement agents can do as part of their fundraising activities for private funds. Dodd-Frank created a new category of “municipal advisors” and placed them under the regulatory oversight of the MSRB. If your fund uses a placement agent and has government-sponsored investors … Read more »
Year: 2011
Egypt, Mubarak and Politically Exposed Persons
Egypt’s top prosecutor requested the freezing of the foreign assets of ousted president Hosni Mubarak and his family. I expect that is one step in trying to figure out how much of Mubarak’s fortune was derived from corruption. I’ve read reports that his assets could be worth $3 billion and upwards of $70 billion. That … Read more »
The SEC is Looking at Advisers’ Use of Social Media
According to a story in Investment News, the Securities and Exchange Commission began a sweep of investment advisers’ use of social media and social networking last month. The story hast a quote from Doug Flynn, an adviser at Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC, that is exactly on target for traditional investment advisers: “I’d love to … Read more »
Read a Free Book
I have an extra copy of All the Devils are Here by Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera. They put together an insightful look at the many factors that created the housing bubble and amplified the destruction when it popped. Pundits and purists have tried to pin the blame on a single element. It seems clear … Read more »
The Amish Madoff
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges against Monroe L. Beachy, a 77-year-old Amish man from Sugarcreek, Ohio. They found the Bernie Madoff of the Amish. Beachy targeted his fellow Amish in his alleged fraud. He raised more than $33 million from as early as 1986. Beachy enticed investors by promising interest rates that were … Read more »
Looking at the Residential Mortgage Crash
Matt Phillips at WSJ.com’s Market Beat put together some great charts showing the problems with the residential mortgage market: Fannie and Freddie: The Saga in Charts. The first one that caught my eye shows how Wall-Street took such a quick, big chunk of the market share of residential mortgage-backed securities during the housing boom. Fannie … Read more »
Are ETFs Reportable Securities?
As a compliance officer for a registered investment adviser, you need to verify transactions where the account has a “reportable security” to make sure your employees are not violating your insider trading policy. That means checking you employees’ securities accounts at least quarterly. You’re compelled by Rule 204A-1 (b)(2) to do this for access persons. … Read more »
Celebrate Valentine’s Day with a Regulatory Twist
As someone who stares at a lot of regulations, this Valentine’s Day message caught my eye. If you are a fan of NPR, they have several other ways to share Valentine’s Day with an NPR flavor. And don’t forget about the compliance issues you can run into. Dan Schwartz compiled a bunch of bungled romance … Read more »
Blogoversary and Why I Blog
Instead of substantive information, today’s post focuses on me and this website. Compliance Building went public on February 12, 2009. Since then, I have managed to publish a blog post every business day. Sometimes, more than one. I hope at least some of those 1250 posts were useful to you, whether you are a subscriber … Read more »
Compliance Bits and Pieces for February 11
Here are some recent compliance-related stories that caught my eye: FIFA, the World Cup Selection and the FCPA by Tom Fox I was very interested in the allegations of bribery and corruption leveled at FIFA during the selection process, known, these days, as the “world’s richest and most influential single-sport ruling body”. As has been … Read more »