Bid To Break Up Bank Of America Clears SEC Hurdle

The Securities and Exchange Commission is giving the go-ahead to a shareholder proposal that seeks to break up the mighty Bank of America. Bartlett Naylor, the financial policy adviser for the consumer-rights advocacy group Public Citizen who filed the proposal, said it could be a matter “of galactic proportions for the bank.” The nonbinding referendum is…

SEC Official’s Flattery Of Private Equity Firms Raises Eyebrows

Andrew Bowden, director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s examinations office, has drawn scrutiny over comments he made March 5 at a conference for private equity firms and other investors. “This is the greatest business you could possibly be in,” he said in an enthused response to a question about regulatory burdens. He went further, suggesting…

If You’re Reading This, It’s Probably Due To An Algorithm

AUSTIN, Texas — You may never see this article because a computer didn’t think it was relevant to you, and that’s a matter of great concern to two researchers who led a debate Sunday scrutinizing the growing influence of algorithms, and the cultural biases — both subtle and overt — they sometimes reflect. “It’s a scary…

Christie Shifted NJ Pension Cash To Donor’s Foreign Firm

Two years ago, as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie pursued re-election, his administration found itself mulling investment options for the state’s $80 billion pension fund. In one deal in May 2013, officials settled on a subsidiary of U.K.-based foreign financial conglomerate Prudential plc. With little fanfare, state pension overseers quickly endorsed the deal. Weeks later, a…

Oxford University Mulls Pulling Investments In Oil Companies

The University of Oxford is expected to decide on Monday whether to pull out its investments in publicly-traded fossil fuel companies, according to media reports. The university, which is the second richest in the U.K., has collective endowment assets of over $5 billion. According to a report by BBC, the university has, in the past, received…

GM Shareholder Activist Victory Invites Concerns

In the years since General Motors went bankrupt and took a massive taxpayer bailout, the company has maintained a “fortress balance sheet,” heavy on shock-absorbing cash. After a monthlong siege, however, that fortress has proved permeable, as activist shareholders managed to wrangle billions out of the company’s keep. GM announced Monday that it would repurchase $5…

Weird, Edgy Hedge Fund Strategies

Hedge funds aren’t exactly known for moderation. Free from the regulatory burdens of banking, hedge funds have free rein to experiment with investors’ money. In return for the big investments they demand, hedge funds promise (and occasionally deliver) big returns. As investors pile about $3 trillion into hedge funds this year, fleeing a tepid bond market…

Christie Appears At Event Hosted By Exxon-Funded Advocacy Group

On Thursday, Gov. Chris Christie’s administration announced it was settling New Jersey’s $8.9 billion lawsuit against ExxonMobil for just $225 million. Just hours later, amid outraged calls for a federal probe of the deal as far too lenient, Christie attended a secretive conference in Georgia organized by an think tank that has been funded by ExxonMobil.…

Whistleblower: HSBC Execs Knew

The whistleblower who carried out the largest banking leak in history told Bloomberg he can prove that HSBC executives knew about alleged schemes to help wealthy clients avoid taxes at HSBC’s private Swiss bank. The leaker, Herve Falciani, said he can provide “logical proof” that top brass at British-based HSBC was aware of the problems that…

Feds Querying Banks Over Tax-Avoidance Trades: WSJ

Financial regulators are heightening their focus on banks involved in complex international trades designed to skirt taxes, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission sent letters to five firms reportedly involved in the exotic transactions, which have already drawn scrutiny from the Federal Reserve and international authorities. Banks defend the so-called dividend-arbitrage trades,…

The Shareholder Revolution

Why do companies take on debt? The conventional answer is that they need to invest: to hire more workers, upgrade facilities or invent new widgets. But fresh research shows that in the past three decades corporations increasingly borrow simply to reward shareholders. “Something is really operating differently in the world of corporate finance now,” says J.W.…

Wall Street: Land Of The Fee

Fran Schuber was 83 years old when insurance agent Glenn Neasham knocked on her door. Schuber wanted to diversify her retirement savings portfolio, and Neasham had just the investment for her: an indexed annuity. The upside: The product offered tax-deferred earnings and a nice return. The downside: Schuber couldn’t withdraw the funds for 10 years without…

Banks In Metals Price-Fixing Probe: Wall Street Journal

It’s called the London gold fix: the widely followed daily process by which a handful of financial giants set prices of precious metals for global markets. Now, some of the biggest banks in the world have come under scrutiny for allegedly tainting the process. Price-rigging probes from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and U.S.…

When Wall Street Wins, The Economy Loses

Mainstream political thinking holds that a nation’s economic fortitude relies on an ever-expanding financial sector. But new research disputes the notion. In a new paper titled “Why does financial sector growth crowd out real economic growth?” authors Stephen Cecchetti and Enisse Kharroubi show that when banking blossoms, the “real” economy withers. To see the way the…

Wall Street Bonuses In Regulators’ Sights

Federal regulators plan to finalize rules governing employee compensation on Wall Street, potentially concluding one of the most divisive outstanding issues in financial reform. The rules, mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010, would include a clawback provision to discourage bankers from the kind of short-term profit-seeking that pads paychecks but heightens risks. According to the…

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Bid To Break Up Bank Of America Clears SEC Hurdle

Bid To Break Up Bank Of America Clears SEC Hurdle