“Understanding the needs of investors is critical to carrying out the Commission’s investor protection mission,” said SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro. Section 917 of Dodd-Frank required the SEC to study the existing level of financial literacy among retail investors. The study was recently released and paints an ugly picture. Here’s a key quote: These studies … Read more »
Tag: Felix Salmon
Am I a Man or a Muppet?
From Felix Salmon: Two Goldman Sachs “clients” take a look at themselves after Greg Smith’s New York Times op-ed in this musical puppet number. A parody of the Oscar-winning song “Man or Muppet” rewritten by author and law professor Frank Partnoy. Read more »
The Risk Management Formula That Killed Wall Street
Felix Salmon published a great article in Wired that looks at the Recipe for Disaster: The Formula That Killed Wall Street. The article looks at the widespread use of the Gaussian copula function. In assessing the risks in mortgage backed securities. The theory behind Gaussian copula function tries to overcome the difficulty in assessing the … Read more »
The Stanford Fraud
Yesterday, the SEC filed a complaint against R. Allen Stanford and three of his companies: Antiguan-based Stanford International Bank, Houston-based broker-dealer and investment adviser Stanford Group Company, and investment adviser Stanford Capital Management. Tuesday morning, the Wall Street Journal reported on Stanford Depositors head to Antigua or Redemptions. Word had gotten out that the authorities … Read more »