The mystery of the Federal Reserve leaves people wondering if it’s controlled by the mysterious Illuminati, corrupt politicians, or fat cat bankers. And it leaves people wondering what exactly it does, or not care and demand an audit. If you believe any of the foregoing then Bluff by Anjum Hoda is not the book for you. … Read more »
Compliance Bricks and Mortar for July 22
These are some of the compliance-related stories that recently caught my attention. World’s 20 biggest banks rack up £252bn ‘conduct costs’ in five years by Sean Farrell in the Guardian The cost of fines, legal bills and customer compensation racked up by the world’s 20 biggest banks over the five years to the end of … Read more »
Vice Presidents and the Pay to Play Rule
The Securities and Exchange Commission limits the ability of investment advisers and fund managers from contributing to certain politicians that can influence investment decisions for state pension funds. Under Rule 206(4)-5, you can contribute up to $150 to any candidate or up to $350 if you can vote for the candidate. Mike Pence is the … Read more »
SEC Exam Results
Securities and Exchange Commission Examiners are beefing up their staff and are more likely than ever to show up on your doorstep. So what are the likely outcomes? The SEC recently announced that it’s shifting resources from the broker-dealer side over to the investment adviser side. It’s leaving the broker dealers for FINRA and putting … Read more »
Share Class Initiative
If your firm receives revenue from the sale of funds, be sure you have procedures in place to avoid placing clients in a more expensive share class when a cheaper one is available. The SEC announced a new Share Class Initiative for 2016. There are two main areas where an adviser will have conflict in … Read more »
Tesla, Self-Driving Cars and Compliance
Tesla Motors is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for failure to disclose that one if its car crashed while in self-driving mode. The question is whether whether Tesla should have disclosed the accident as a “material” event: a development a reasonable investor would consider important. That opens a bigger question about the … Read more »
Crash!
I had my first cycling crash of the season this weekend. My fault. No cars involved. I was complying with traffic laws. I just made a mistake. We all make mistakes. This one left me on the tarmac. I spent the weekend dropping off The Girl at sleep-away camp in the Berkshires. (Her first time … Read more »
Compliance Bricks and Mortar for July 8
These are some of the compliance-related stories that recently caught my attention. One Thought on Blockchain in Money Compliance Blockchain could make AML obsolete, in theory. Blockchain is the decentralized database system that allows for recordkeeping of transactions nearly impossible to fake. And because of it, it sort of creates a world that is zero … Read more »
The Wild West of Wyoming
I run across compliance stories that make me scratch my head when I find something odd. I just came across another that made me remember one of the quirks of registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission as an investment adviser. The SEC was after Timothy Sexton and his advisory firm, Bantry Bay Capital. Examiners showed … Read more »
Brexit and the Real Estate Markets
I don’t know and don’t pretend to know what the long term effects of the UK leaving the European Union will be. We saw in the short term that it sent the financial markets into turmoil and send the British pound to the lowest levels in years. The U.K property market looks like it is … Read more »