Throughout his career as a broker-dealer, Anthony Gerard Manaia has been fired twice. He’s been the subject of 18 complaints by disgruntled investors, most of whom accused him of putting their money in risky investments without their knowledge. He’s currently under investigation for his role in a scandal around offerings by a medical financing company that a federal agency has accused of misappropriating investor funds.
In July 2010 Manaia gave up his broker-dealer registration. Five months later, in January 2011, he hung out his shingle as an investment adviser. His website targets “high net worth individuals” and says ...
Good investor data are hard to find
In a recent report to Congress, mandated by the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul law, the SEC maintained that "because selecting a broker-dealer or investment adviser is one of the most important decisions that investors face, information to help them make this choice should be easy to find, easy to use, and easy to understand."
But if you do a simple google search for the name of your broker or investment adviser and “disciplinary action” or “fine” you are unlikely to come up with much. While the information on broker-dealers and investment advisers is all a matter of public record, you need ...
Continue readingBankers critical of Dodd-Frank meet with Geithner
The same day Jamie Dimon, chief executive and president of JPMorgan Chase & Company, publicly bashed the new Dodd-Frank financial law he and the company's top lobbyist, Peter Scher, had a meeting with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
In his public statements reported on April 5, Dimon had harsh words for nearly every aspect of the new law, from derivatives oversight to regulation of interchange fees to the establishment of a new federal office, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) to oversee the stability of the financial system.
Dimon was also part of a larger meeting the following day with the ...
Continue readingPowerful financial council could deny or delay public information
A newly created powerful federal financial council will have broad latitude to deny or delay Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests if it adopts proposed rules, charges a financial watchdog group.
Under the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, the new Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), is explicity made subject to the Freedom of Information Act. The Council, whose members are representatives of major financial agencies, has authority to collect wide-ranging information about financial institutions, such as internal company documents, in its mission to ensure the stability of the financial system. In late March, the Council published proposed rules on how the ...
Continue readingMajor banks use one lobbyist to team up on Dodd-Frank
The international law firm, Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton LLP, is lobbying Congress on behalf of three of the world’s biggest financial institutions regarding the derivatives market -- one of the major issues tackled by the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation, according to disclosure forms filed this year.
A lawyer with the firm, Edward Rosen is lobbying Congress on behalf of Credit Suisse, BNP Paribas and Wells Fargo regarding the Commodity Futures Trade Commission’s (CFTC) proposal to regulate swaps dealers, increase transparency in the derivatives market and force standardized derivatives into a clearinghouse to ultimately lower the risk incurred from ...
Continue readingFreshman lawmaker works to repeal transparency effort in Dodd-Frank
Last week members of the Capital Markets Subcommittee forwarded legislation to repeal a portion of Dodd-Frank that requires big banks to disclose income information for all of its employees onto the full Committee on Financial Services for consideration.
The Burdensome Data Collection Relief Act, H.R. 1062 was introduced in March, 2011 and has a long way to go. But if the Act passes it will repeal Section 953 b of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which is meant to increase transparency by forcing banks to disclose the median income for its employees.
According to members ...
Continue readingFinancial regulation deadlines missed
In April, federal financial agencies missed every single rulemaking deadline--26 of them--mandated by the massive Dodd-Frank financial overhaul law, according to a recent report by the law firm Davis, Polk & Wardell.
And with the year anniversary of the law's passage coming in July, a huge number of deadlines--108--are coming up this summer, many of which agencies are also likely to miss because of the huge workload. Most of these deal with the regulation of the risky derivatives market, and fall under the responsibility of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
"It has ...
Continue readingMerchants, Retailers Employ Revolving Door Lobbyists In Regulatory Fight
Merchants, retailers, and their trade associations have arrayed a team of former government officials turned lobbyists in one of 2011’s... View Article
Continue readingWall Street revolver takes regulatory insight to Bank of America
One Wall Street revolver will continue a very successful post-regulatory agency career with a newly created position at Bank of America, the nation's largest bank.
Gary Lynch, who was the head of enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission in the 1980’s, most recently left Morgan Stanley where he was the financial giant’s vice chairman and before that an executive vice president and chief legal officer for the firm. Prior to his time at Morgan Stanley he was the chief legal counsel for Credit Suisse – an international financial services company.
Lynch will now be the global chief ...
Continue readingFinancial Industry Showers House Financial Services Chairman With Contributions
Last year House Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., stated his philosophy on how the relationship between Washington and... View Article
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