President and CEO Dennis Kelleher’s presentation at Brookings event: Are there structural issues in U.S. bond markets?
“WASHINGTON — Federal regulators on Monday said they now had a deeper understanding of one of the strangest market moves in recent Wall Street history.” *** “On the other side, supporters of the overhaul of the financial system have taken up the report as evidence that Wall Street overstepped in using one market move to […]
“SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Look out, China. The Big Board on Wednesday suspended trading in all stocks. OK. Bad jokes aside, the sudden and unexplained halt in trading Wednesday at the New York Stock Exchange should alarm investors. Even if the NYSE is not the victim of cyber terrorism and is simply experiencing a regular […]
Joe Saluzzi and Sal Arnuk are helping lead the fight for fair, well-regulated markets and against the industry’s misinformation and half-truths. As two of the most knowledgeable market participants around, they’ve been on the forefront of the discussion for years. They’ve been an especially strong voice in debunking the industry’s arguments on high frequency trading through strong fact-based research. […]
Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, issued this statement on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) claw back rule proposed today: “The prospect of hundreds of billions of dollars in bonuses incentivized pervasive reckless, illegal and criminal conduct all across Wall Street in the years before the 2008 crash. For too […]
“The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed rules directing national securities exchanges and associations to establish listing standards requiring companies to adopt policies that require executive officers to pay back incentive-based compensation that they were awarded erroneously.” *** “Dennis Kelleher of Better Markets, a frequent critic of the SEC, gave the SEC rule a […]
Hiring a Goldman Sachs Executive as the SEC’s chief of staff further undermines the trust and confidence of the American people & gives Wall Street more influence: The American people are sick and tired – indeed, disgusted – of seeing Wall Street’s too-big-to-fail banks welcomed with open arms in Washington, DC even though they crashed the […]
“They say everything comes full circle in due time, and that is certainly the case with the career of Andrew “Buddy” Donohue. In a revolving door redux, Donohue announced on Thursday that he will be resigning his position at Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) to return the SEC where he previously served as head of investment management regulation from […]
“The Securities and Exchange Commission confirmed Thursday that it hired a managing director of Wall Street titan Goldman Sachs Inc. to serve as chief of staff, prompting critics to decry a revolving door that links the corridors of finance and power. “Chairman Mary Jo White has hired Andrew “Buddy” Donohue, the SEC said in a news […]
“The top lawyer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s asset management unit is leaving the bank to become the top aide to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White, the agency said Thursday. “Andrew “Buddy” Donohue returns from Wall Street to the agency where he previously served as head of investment management regulation from […]
“The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Thursday that Andrew J. “Buddy” Donohue, former director of the agency’s Division of Investment Management, will rejoin the agency as its chief of staff to help craft its fiduciary rule. “Donohue replaces Lona Nallengara, who will leave the agency in June. As chief of staff, Donohue will be a […]
Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, issued the following statement in response to the SEC naming a Goldman Sachs executive as the agency’s new chief of staff: “The American people are sick and tired of seeing Wall Street’s too-big-to-fail banks welcomed with open arms in Washington, DC even though they crashed […]
“In most professions, it would take only one or two acts of egregious conduct before troubled employees were shown the door. In the case of one stockbroker who has repeatedly had complaints from investors, it took 69 customer disputes filed over the last 13 years before he was barred from the business. “The stockbroker, Jerry A. Cicolani […]
Whenever the big banks on Wall Street have to cut a sweetheart deal for illegal conduct that they just can’t avoid, they run to the SEC asking for a special waiver so they can still conduct business as usual, as though their wrongdoing never even happened and had no consequences. All too often, the SEC […]
“Today is the 5th Anniversary of the Flash Crash (above is a Bloomberg screenshot from that day). Over the past few days, we’ve been asked often if the Flash Crash could happen again. The short answer is yes. While regulators have addressed a few issues to reduce the risk of another Flash Crash, another crash […]
“Former Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-Del., and Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of Better Markets, are urging Congress to create an independent commission to investigate the “Flash Crash,” which caused the market to lose nearly $1 trillion in value five years ago. “In their letter to Senate and House leaders, Kaufman and Kelleher write that on May 6, […]
“Former Senator Ted Kaufman (D-Delaware) and President and CEO of Better Markets Dennis Kelleher today are calling on Congress to create an independent commission to investigate the so-called “Flash Crash.” “May 6th marks the fifth anniversary of that historic stock market crash. “Five years ago on May 6th, in just 36 dizzying minutes, the US stock market […]
Listen to the Corporate Crime Reporter Morning Minute for May 6, 2015 on the fifth Anniversary of the “Flash Crash” by Russel Mokhiber here.
“In a letter to Congressional leadership, former Senator Ted Kaufman (D-Dela.) and President and CEO of Better Markets Dennis Kelleher today called on Congress to create an independent commission to investigate the so-called ‘Flash Crash.’ May 6th marks the fifth anniversary of that historic stock market crash. … “‘While many investigations were done years ago into […]
Read this article on the Huffington Post here. This is a joint column from former Senator Ted Kaufman (D-DE) and Better Markets President and CEO Dennis Kelleher Wednesday, May 6th marks the fifth anniversary of the historic stock market crash innocuously referred to as the “Flash Crash,” where the stock market lost close to $1 trillion […]
Demand answers for the American people on the fifth anniversary of the historic stock market crash Washington, D.C. – In a letter to Congressional leadership, former Senator Ted Kaufman (D-DE) and President and CEO of Better Markets Dennis Kelleher today called on Congress to create an independent commission to investigate the so-called “Flash Crash.” May 6th […]
If you think investors’ shattered confidence in the markets is about a single trader who may have ignited the 2010 “flash crash” by “spoofing,” you may be Wall Street’s perfect customer. And no, that’s not something to be proud of. *** Poll after poll shows market trust in the dumps. Last summer, Better Markets found […]
WASHINGTON — If the Financial Stability Oversight Council was hoping for any kind of consensus on whether and how it should regulate asset management companies, the feedback it has received on its request for comment is likely disappointing. *** Better Markets agreed with the asset management industry that any designation would have to be “extensive, […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Susan Bernardo trusted her stockbroker. She wound up losing a fortune. Her broker, David Harris, advised her to sell $400,000 worth of relatively safe municipal bonds, she says, and sink the proceeds into real estate and energy partnerships in hopes of earning more income. She had received the cash from a […]
For the past two years, 3.50pm in Hong Kong has been a golden moment in the soaring fortunes of Hanergy Thin Film Power Group, the $35.5bn solar company that has transformed its owner into China’s richest man. *** Read the full Financial Times article by Miles Johnson and Gavin Jackson here.
NEW YORK (Reuters) – In 2007, a Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc employee emailed his boss with his view of a sample of mortgages underlying a bond that the bank was underwriting: “This one is crap.” *** Read the full Reuters story by Nate Raymond here.
“Midway into a three-and-a-half-hour congressional hearing this week featuring Mary Jo White, the chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, none of the legislators had bothered to ask if or when her agency would require that corporations disclose their political spending. “The bipartisan silence testified to the growing importance to both parties of anonymous campaign […]
Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, and Benoît Lallemand, Head of Strategic Development for Finance Watch, issued this joint statement following the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposal to require high frequency traders (HFT) to register with a national securities association: “Predatory high frequency trading is not only damaging our markets, […]
Andrew Ceresney, the enforcement chief at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), went before the House Financial Services Committee today, laid out his program and put on the table the SEC’s budget request — including hiring 93 additional staff for the enforcement division. All the hires in the world won’t make a difference unless the […]
Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, issued the following statement ahead of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Enforcement Director Andrew Ceresney’s testimony before the Capital Markets Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee tomorrow morning: “Even after the financial crisis hurt so many American families who lost their homes, jobs and […]
It’s a question often asked but never answered: Who’s to blame for the subprime mortgage crisis? The American public will get a rare window into what went wrong when government-sponsored home loan giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac square off with Japanese bank Nomura in a first-of-its-kind trial over the sale of soured mortgage-backed securities. […]
Flash Boys, the author’s best-selling exposé of high-speed trading, made some of Wall Street’s richest people very angry. Dissecting the reaction, he argues that the furor has obscured his book’s real news. When I sat down to write Flash Boys, in 2013, I didn’t intend to see just how angry I could make the richest […]
To: Interested Parties From: Jeff Gohringer, Communications Director, Better Markets Re: The Truth about the Chamber’s Call to Roll Back Financial Reform Safeguards Date: Wednesday, March 4, 2015 The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness released its 2015 agenda yesterday […]
“President Obama is backing up his tough words for the financial sector with beefed-up budget requests for the government agencies that regulate Wall Street. “The president’s fiscal 2016 budget request includes his highest-ever funding requests for a pair of financial regulators. And he wants to help cover those costs and others in his budget by […]
“Their legal careers, and by extension their marriage, are the stuff of lore. Mary Jo White leads the Securities and Exchange Commission; her husband, John, practices law at an old-guard firm as elite as the corporations it represents. Together, they are a legal power couple that straddles Wall Street and Washington like few others. “Their […]
“The White House wants to beef up the investigative and enforcement staffs at two key Wall Street regulators, part of the latest move by the Obama administration to tighten federal oversight of U.S. financial firms. “President Barack Obama’s fiscal year 2016 budget calls for $1.72 billion for the Securities and Exchange Commission and $322 million […]
“North Carolina will receive $21.5 million as part of a settlement with Standard & Poor’s to resolve claims that the credit-rating agency knowingly inflated its ratings of risky mortgage bonds that helped create the financial crisis. “The settlement is part of a $1.38 billion accord announced Tuesday between the U.S. Justice Department and Standard & […]
“Credit ratings firm Standard & Poor’s has reached a nearly $1.4 billion settlement with the Justice Department and several states over allegations the company misled investors in the lead-up to the 2008 financial crisis by giving risky mortgage bonds its highest rating. “Under the terms of the deal, S&P will pay $687.5 million to the […]
“Two Justice Department lawyers leading an effort to hold financial firms accountable for the mortgage-fed debacle that fueled the Great Recession stopped in to talk strategy in mid-2009 with Jerry Brown, then California’s attorney general. “What are we going to do about the ratings agencies? What about them?” Brown asked the pair, Tony West and […]
“The Justice Department barely finished announcing its $1.4 billion settlement with ratings agency Standard & Poor Financial Services Tuesday before critics blasted the deal as insufficient to safeguard against another bubble. “S&P agreed to end the government’s lawsuit, brought in 2011, alleging it inflated ratings of mortgage-backed securities during the housing boom, thus fueling the […]
Washington, D.C., February 3, 2015 – Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, issued the following statement in response to the settlement reportedly reached between the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Standard & Poor’s (S&P) regarding the credit rating agency’s ratings of securities leading to the financial crisis: “Today’s reported settlement between DOJ […]
Washington, D.C., February 02, 2015 – Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, issued the following statement in response to the release of President Obama’s FY16 Budget proposal for the SEC and the CFTC: “President Obama should be applauded for his proposal to increase funding for the SEC and CFTC. The President’s proposal to […]
Better Markets President Dennis Kelleher joined Al Jazeera New’s Darren Jordon to discuss JP Morgan Chase’s $1.7 billion fine for enabling Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme. Watch the interview here.
“Despite a White House veto threat, House lawmakers on Wednesday approved a package of 11 measures, including provisions seeking to encourage initial public offerings, and providing large and mid-sized financial institutions holding private equity-related debt some relief from the Volcker Rule. “The legislation passed 271 to 154. The package’s most controversial provision seeks to delay […]
And some swaps reporting. “The Securities and Exchange Commission announced new rules “that will require security-based swap data repositories (SDRs) to register with the SEC and prescribe reporting and public dissemination requirements for security-based swap transaction data.” The public reporting deadline is “within 24 hours,” which is somewhat controversial: “Dennis Kelleher, chief executive officer of Better Markets, which advocates […]
Democrats at the SEC have scored a victory to strengthen financial reform rules for the small, niche industry that stores information about derivatives, according to two sources familiar with the matter. On Wednesday, the agency’s five commissioners will vote on rules for security-based swaps, which are mandated by the 2010 Dodd-Frank law. The SEC is […]
When Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2010, its intention was to create a raft of stronger financial regulations, all with the lofty aim of avoiding another painful financial crisis. But some of those reforms may soon be weakened, thanks to a Republican-backed bill in the House that would […]
With new Republican majorities in Congress, the Obama administration and Democrats are being tested on just how much change they will allow to the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law. Before December, Republicans had few opportunities to change anything about the overhaul of financial regulations, one of President Obama’s most significant first-term legislative achievements. But in […]
“WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve Board’s recent delay of the Volcker Rule compliance deadline is sparking concern among critics that the move sets the stage for yet another congressional battle to weaken the Dodd-Frank Act. “The central bank announced last month that institutions — challenged by the difficulty of divesting holdings in time — will […]
The Republicans have been quick and shameless in using their control of both houses to try to crank up the financial services pork machine into overtime operation. The Democrats at least try to meter out their give-aways over time. Their plan, as outlined in an important post by Simon Johnson, is to take apart Dodd […]
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