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HomeHedge Fund Survey: “Findings Are Troubling”
Posted by Larry Doyle on May 7th, 2013 8:03 AM |
Early last year, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, in alluding to activities within the hedge fund community asserted that insider trading was rampant and routine. Strong words.
Fast forward a year and a recent survey of those within the hedge fund world unsurprisingly shows that a host of issues remain, and that the “findings are troubling.” Let’s navigate and review the results of this recent survey: (more…)
“Stevie Boy” Cohen: Too Big to Prosecute?
Posted by Larry Doyle on March 18th, 2013 11:52 AM |
News released late Friday afternoon that the SEC has agreed to a settlement of $616 million with entities connected to SAC Capital is viewed as another indication that our financial police are playing hardball, right?
I mean $616 million is a lot of money, correct? Yes and no. Money is relative and playing hardball is in the eye of the beholder.
Did SAC and its founder Steven A. Cohen, aka “Stevie Boy” Cohen, just enter the realm of Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and the other heavyweights on Wall Street who have been defined as “too big to fail, to regulate, and to prosecute?” (more…)
Gaining the Edge
Posted by Larry Doyle on December 17th, 2010 7:20 AM |
What competitive individual worth his salt does not want to ‘gain the edge’? Have you ever come across successful individuals–success being a very relative term–who did not want to ‘gain an edge’ and then widen the gap with the competition? I haven’t.
I had fully intended on writing this morning about the ongoing developments in the insider trading scandal sweeping across Wall Street. ‘Gaining the edge’ is very much the common thread that runs through this story. The lengths to which selected individuals would go to ‘gain that edge’ make for interesting reading. The wearing of wiretaps by informants adds to the intrigue. Where will the story lead? Which hedge funds may be implicated? What ‘masters of the universe’ may fall while pursuing their untold riches and accompanying success?
Then I thought, why would I want to take readers into this seamy world and give attention to those who may break the rules to ‘gain that edge.’ I don’t. At least not today. (more…)
Illinois and Loan Sharks
Posted by Larry Doyle on December 13th, 2010 7:10 AM |
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Those strapped for cash will go to great lengths to buy time and seek relief. This reality is not pleasant but it is reality. In a world awash in a sea of debt, the debtors will continually be faced with the prospects of devaluing, defaulting, or restructuring their debts. Prior to defaulting or restructuring, debtors will often resort to “unique strategies” to postpone the day of reckoning.
This reality very often plays out at the individual level or the small business level. When large corporate entities are forced to “unique strategies” to continue operations, that typically is not a very good sign. But what about municipalities? What does it mean when a city, state, or town is forced to a “unique strategy” in order to continue operations? Not a very good sign either, right? Right.
Well, indications are that the state of Illinois is resorting to a “unique strategy” and “paying up” in order to get short term financing. (more…)
Fooling Some of the People All of the Time
Posted by Larry Doyle on December 7th, 2010 9:21 AM |
Who is willing to stand up and call out the companies, the financial regulators, and others who both enabled and embodied the practices which brought about our financial crisis?
There have been and will continue to be many well written books highlighting some of the finer points from this economic period. Will there be any books written which truly take off the gloves and call out the individuals and institutions deeply involved in the ‘Wall Street-Washington incest’ central to our economic demise? One book I plan to read seems to address this very theme. I thank a regular reader of Sense on Cents for bringing David Einhorn’s Fooling Some of the People All of the Time to my attention.
To those involved in the financial industry, Einhorn needs no introduction. To those in the general public, let me inform you that David Einhorn–more than any other individual– publicly called out Lehman Bros. as a disaster waiting to happen, and well in advance of anybody saying the same. What does Einhorn have to say now? What does he address in this book? Let’s navigate. (more…)
SEC Probe of Money Managers Should Also Include FINRA
Posted by Larry Doyle on September 13th, 2010 10:11 AM |
In reading a Bloomberg commentary this morning, I could not help but think that policy implementations the SEC would like to impose upon money managers also need to be imposed in retrospect upon its regulatory kin at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Let’s navigate. Bloomberg writes, SEC Probes Money Managers for Conflicts in Choosing Hedge Funds:
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, stepping up its oversight of investment advisers, is examining whether asset managers that channel money to hedge funds are acting in investors’ best interest.
The agency asked money managers for information about their “due diligence” in selecting alternative investments such as hedge funds, private equity and venture-capital funds, according to a letter from the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations obtained by Bloomberg News.
Longtime readers of Sense on Cents are well aware that in my reading and review of FINRA’s 2007 Annual Report (embedded in this link), I asked for information and disclosures regarding FINRA’s own internal investment portfolio. (more…)
Hedge Fund Collusion to Pound Euro?
Posted by Larry Doyle on March 3rd, 2010 12:35 PM |
Meeting industry friends and colleagues for dinner, drinks, and market talk is standard fare. In fact, I would say it is good business as it is important to develop relationships within the industry.
That said, the development of these professional relationships and the interaction amongst the professionals should never come at the expense of professional ethics and integrity. I did witness more than a handful of times individuals from different shops on both the buy-side and the sell-side of the industry push the envelope very close and sometimes over that ethical line.
Not always, but very often, the ethical shortcomings involved hedge funds. Why? The revenue model for hedge funds (typically 2% asset management fee and 20% of profits derived) serves as a huge incentive for traders at hedge funds to gain an edge and act upon it as much as possible. The fact that the hedge fund traders and managers have a direct stake and an accompanying vested interest in the profits fuels this crowd like nothing else. (more…)
Volcker Rule Gains Support of Former Treasury Secretaries
Posted by Larry Doyle on February 22nd, 2010 3:59 PM |
Score major points for former Fed Chair Paul Volcker in his pursuit to restructure Wall Street. How so?
A letter in this morning’s Wall Street Journal from five former Treasury Secretaries endorses Volcker’s proposal to limit proprietary trading activities in our largest banks. The letter reads,
We who have served as secretary of the Treasury in both Republican and Democratic administrations write in support of the proposed legislation to prohibit certain proprietary activities of commercial banking organizations—the so-called Volcker rule, as part of needed financial reform (“It’s Time for Financial Reform Plan C,” by Alan Blinder, op-ed, Feb. 16).
The principle can be simply stated. Banks benefiting from public support by means of access to the Federal Reserve and FDIC insurance should not engage in essentially speculative activity unrelated to essential bank services. (more…)
The Problem Is Not the Market, The Problem is You
Posted by Larry Doyle on November 19th, 2009 12:14 PM |
Trading on Wall Street is fascinating. Picture yourself surrounded by individuals within three to four feet on every side, a manager at the end of the trading row, and salespeople screaming to get your attention. In what may appear to be bedlam, one must be able to properly manage significant levels of risk.
What are the key character traits necessary to manage risk? The ability to calculate quickly while maintaining exceptional levels of poise, focus, and discipline. Why do so many competitive athletes make their way to Wall Street? These trading floors are the equivalent of locker rooms and athletic fields.
As with any athletic atmosphere, there are also some very healthy egos on Wall Street trading desks. The very nature of the enterprise attracts those who have strong belief in their own abilities. Competition promotes ego. That said, throughout my career I witnessed varied levels of success inflate individual egos to the point where the ego became unmanageable, the risk outsized, and the subsequent losses fatal. That scenario repeated itself at every shop on Wall Street.
Having witnessed it, I kept a short cutout from a trader’s magazine. The magazine item addressed the topic of losses. I wish that I saved this clip, but I distinctly recall its message. In so many words, it said ‘the problem is not the market, the problem is you, the trader. You need to accept that the market and its participants are not wrong, but that you and your ego are not willing to accept initial losses so they grow to the point where the losses become fatal.’ (more…)
Wiretaps on Wall Street
Posted by Larry Doyle on October 26th, 2009 11:11 AM |
“Leave the gun, take the cannoli.”
The world of organized crime evokes thoughts of payoffs, extortion, racketeering, and wiretaps. Are regulators now utilizing tools previously relegated to infiltrating the backroom dealings of the underworld to discover illegal activities on Wall Street? Yes, they are.
The news that regulators are now employing wiretaps to investigate financial frauds on Wall Street is sending a chill through Wall Street in general and hedge funds in particular. Why do regulators feel the need to utilize wiretaps?
Recall from the SEC’s and FINRA’s own internal reviews of their handlings of the Madoff and Stanford frauds that the regulators were woefully deficient in tracking and stopping these frauds. One of the greatest regulatory deficiencies highlighted is the use of technology.
Many hedge funds have spent millions upon millions of dollars on technology. These tools allow these funds to move with cat-like quickness in allocating capital and seizing investment opportunities. As we are learning, not all of these movements would seem to have been executed in a legal and ethical fashion.
How quickly can the regulators move to develop the necessary technical capabilities to track hedge fund activities? Don’t hold your breath.
Jules Kroll addressed the capabilities of the regulators relative to the tools employed by hedge funds on a Bloomberg interview this morning. Prior to my sharing Mr. Kroll’s assessment of the regulators’ capabilities, who is Jules Kroll? He recently founded a new firm, K2 Global Partners, which will look to “provide specialized risk services and solutions” to a wide array of global clients. (more…)
