The 75 percent number represents the votes needed by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America for a candidate to granted entry to baseball’s Hall of Fame. There were 569 ballots cast. On Wednesday, the BWAA announced that one of the greatest hitters and one of the greatest hitters in the history of baseball were denied … Read more »
Sometimes It Pays to Be Corrupt
Maxim Mironov of the IE Business School in Spain, has some research showing that corruption can lead to success. At least it appears to be successful in Russia. Mironov devised a method for measuring a Muscovite’s “propensity to corrupt” using data on traffic accidents and traffic violations from 1997 to 2007. He then used this … Read more »
Suspicious Activity Reports and Private Funds
Over the years, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has required banks, brokers, and other financial entities to officially report suspicious activities of its customers. Investment advisers and private fund managers have managed to sty outside the requirements. In large part, that’s because a fund’s custodial accounts are already subject to the self-policing. since the … Read more »
Updated List of Other Blogs I Read
In starting off the new year I thought I would update my blogroll, that list of other sites that I read on a regular basis. There is a link to it in the top menu bar of the website. Rather than make you have to chase back to the website, I have also included the … Read more »
Compliance Bricks and Mortar for January 4
These are some of the compliance related stories that caught my attention during this first week of 2013 and last week of 2012. Khuzami Posts Blog Comment Defending SEC’s Record, Policies by Bruce Carton in Compliance Week In a December 27 post, Johnson wrote that as Robert Khuzami will reportedly soon step down as Director … Read more »
What I Read in 2012
The Goal One of my recurring annual goals is to finish reading at least 26 books for the year. In 2012, I managed to finish 36. Although, 6 of those were lighter reads. So maybe I should discount those and bring it down to 30. In any event, I exceeded my goal. The full list … Read more »
Is a General Partnership Interest a Security?
When the SEC announced an asset freeze against Western Financial Planning Corporation and its principal Louis Schooler, I was a bit troubled by the structure of the investments in question. The firm had structured the real estate investment vehicles as general partnerships. The presumption is that a general partnership interest is not a security. So … Read more »
Happy New Year’s Eve
Center of town. Woodstock, Vermont. “Snowy night” (1940) by Marion Post Wolcott Published by the Library of Congress Read more »
Compliance Bricks and Mortar for the End of 2012
It’s been a slow week in compliance. The highways and trains have been near empty during my commute. It seems there are more seagulls than people in the Financial District. But a few compliance-related stories caught my attention. Why a Popular Subsidy for Banks Died in the Senate by John Carney in CNBC’s NetNet The … Read more »
The Physics of Wall Street and its Failures
Warren Buffett famously warned, “beware of geeks bearing formulas.” After the Great Panic of 2008, many pundits placed the blame on derivatives and other “complex financial instruments.” That would lead one to believe that the blame lies with the physicists and mathematicians who dreamed them up. James Owen Weatherall decided to look behind that blame … Read more »