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 »
Parking and Compliance
Do you pull into a parking space or back in? Does it matter? Do you need a rule? The other day I pulled into a parking lot and saw one of these “head in parking only” signs. It bothered me. Why does it matter whether I parked with my headlights in or my taillights in? … Read more »
SEC Is Serious About Expert Networks and Gets a New Logo
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged a hedge fund and four hedge fund portfolio managers and analysts with illegally traded on confidential information obtained from technology company employees moonlighting as expert network consultants. Even bigger news is that the SEC came up with this fancy new logo to brand its expert network investigations and prosecutions. … Read more »
Complying with Regulations and Ethics
If you are running a compliance program you spend a lot of time reading regulations and trying to figure out how they apply to your company. Some are very clear and make it easy to understand what you need to do. Unfortunately, many are not. Are there corruption and ethical issues tied to your interpretation? … Read more »