RSS Feed
Twitter
Facebook
Email
HomeSEC Commissioner Stein Tells FINRA To Toughen Up
Posted by Larry Doyle on June 10th, 2014 9:38 AM |
“Speak softly but carry a big stick.”
Real leaders and financial cops very much appreciate that principle. Those playing politics and crony capitalism circa 2014 find it to be anathema.
Why is it that bad practices on Wall Street (e.g high frequency trading, abusive sales practices, market manipulation) are too often tolerated in Washington while costing ordinary Americans untold sums? Very simply, when the punishments do not fit the crimes the practices will perpetuate. The penalties become little more than a cost of doing business. Those ‘writing the tickets’ are little more than meter maids.
Those engaged in regulatory oversight might not appreciate these assertions but these realities are part and parcel of the self-regulatory model on Wall Street. To think otherwise is simply to be willfully blind. SEC commissioner Kara Stein recently told the folks at FINRA to take off their blinders. (more…)
FINRA Enforcement Chief Brad Bennett on HFT, “Better To Be Silent and Thought a Fool . . .”
Posted by Larry Doyle on April 28th, 2014 9:27 AM |
In today’s version of “You Can’t Make This Stuff Up,” we hear from Brad Bennett, the Head of Enforcement at Wall Street’s self-regulatory organization FINRA. Bennett and others spoke on a panel this past Friday at a conference sponsored by the Practicing Law Institute.
On the hot button topic of high frequency trading, Bennett weighed in with a comparison that is so dismissive as to defy credulity. Let’s navigate as the folks at Wealth Management were there to cover and reported:
Benefiting from faster access to the markets is akin to buying a first-class plane ticket, and doesn’t sound unfair, said the top cop at Wall Street regulator FINRA. (more…)
Hank Paulson: The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Posted by Larry Doyle on April 9th, 2013 10:07 AM |
Have you ever encountered an individual who seems to be so ingratiating that you are immediately attracted to him and desire to learn more of what he has to offer?
I would imagine that many who frequent this blog have been in meetings or other situations where a strong willed, dynamic leader lays out a host of propositions that would have everybody in attendance salivating for more; however, once having set the table so to speak, the leader quickly and surreptitiously delivers a powerful message incorporating proposed enormous changes so as to leave all in attendance wondering “what just happened here.” This scenario is often compared to the children’s fable The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing.
As I continue to navigate back through the annals of Wall Street while working on my book (In Bed with Wall Street to be released in early 2014 by Palgrave/MacMillan…sorry for the shameless plug) I recently came across testimony from then Goldman Sachs CEO Hank Paulson that struck me as a quintessential example of this aforementioned simple story of deceit. (more…)
Wall Street Regulation: Different Day, Same Dog$hit
Posted by Larry Doyle on October 3rd, 2012 9:05 AM |
Despite a wealth of political bluster that Wall Street has been reformed, we awake this morning to see that very little has really changed on this front. Financial regulatory reform? Not today, folks.
The simple fact is when it comes to Wall Street regulation, investors, consumers, and the American public at large are being fed the same helping of dog$hit.
We need look no further than a meeting held just yesterday of industry executives and securities regulators to see exactly this. (more…)
FINRA “Meter Maids” Top 25 Fines: “Ain’t No Party”
Posted by Larry Doyle on August 2nd, 2012 9:09 AM |
Wall Street’s self-regulator FINRA just celebrated its 5 year anniversary. Congratulations to them. Sympathies and condolences to the rest of us.
The Securities Technology Monitor highlights FINRA’s birthday with a grandiose slideshow presentation entitled, The First Five Years; FINRA’s Top 25 Enforcement Cases. While those at FINRA might be celebrating the anniversary with cookies, cupcakes, and lemonade, let’s take a more critical review of Wall Street’s industry-funded private police detail. (more…)
Sense on Cents Interview in The Register
Posted by Larry Doyle on June 7th, 2012 8:06 AM |
I was recently interviewed by the International Association of Registered Financial Consultants (IARFC) for its June publication of The Register.
As a taste of what I have to say in this hard hitting interview, I offer:
I strongly believe that a self-regulatory organization possessing absolute immunity but without total transparency and real independent oversight is little more than a license to steal. (more…)
New Banking Rules Have Not Hurt Jamie Dimon
Posted by Larry Doyle on June 8th, 2011 12:20 PM |
When do you know that somebody is tone deaf?
Those with any measure of ‘sense on cents’ know when an individual is tone deaf. How so?
When said individual racks up compensation in the multiple tens of millions of dollars from an industry that was bailed out by taxpayer funds and then complains about changes in regulatory oversight, you know that individual is tone deaf.
To whom do I refer? Welcome to the world of JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon. (more…)
Matt Taibbi Presents ‘The People vs. Goldman Sachs’
Posted by Larry Doyle on May 13th, 2011 8:58 AM |
(This is a long commentary, but if you have any interest whatsoever in Wall Street, our markets, our economy, and our national character it is a MUST READ. Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi lays out in voluminous detail why I have aggressively questioned the validity of a self-regulatory model for Wall Street and whether under that construct Wall Street violated the Racketeering Act. Read it and weep. Then for our national interest, please share this with your friends and colleagues. I thank the loyal Sense on Cents supporter who brought this story to my attention. LD)
On March 2, 2010, I was invited on CNBC’s Street Signs to discuss Goldman Sachs. I pulled no punches that day in cautioning people interested in Goldman Sachs that the greatest risk with Goldman was its’ ‘reputational risk’. For those who care to view that 4 minute Media Appearance on CNBC, my specific comments about GS’ reputation come in at about the 3-minute mark.
Over the last fourteen plus months, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is higher by approximately 20% and Goldman Sachs’ stock is lower by approximately 10%. (more…)
Goldman Action Highlights FINRA Facade
Posted by Larry Doyle on May 6th, 2010 12:57 PM |
FINRA is supposed to be the Wall Street cop, right? Is the cop a real cop or more of a facade? Well, when the Wall Street banks which FINRA is charged to oversee do not observe the most basic of FINRA rules and regulations, in my opinion, FINRA is exposed as nothing more than a facade.
Evidence of this was on display just yesterday as Bloomberg highlighted in reporting, Goldman Sachs Said to Be Late to Report SEC Probe to FINRA:
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was late in notifying the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority that trader Fabrice Tourre might be sued for fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to people familiar with the matter. (more…)
Is FINRA’s Future in Doubt?
Posted by Larry Doyle on February 23rd, 2010 2:04 PM |
Are the days of Wall Street’s self-regulatory organization known as FINRA numbered?
In the opinion of the very credible Project on Government Oversight, they should be. Why? Significant failures, massive conflicts of interest, and more. POGO’s comprehensive and scathing letter to four separate House and Senate committees touches upon every failing within FINRA, with the exception of the integrity of the proxy statement used in the formation of the organization itself. Strong allegations in a current lawsuit against FINRA make the case that Mary Schapiro lied verbally during roadshows and in the proxy statement. (For details on this lawsuit read here.)
Despite not addressing the issues embedded in that lawsuit, POGO touches all the other bases and covers all the other issues surrounding this organization. (more…)
