Displaying items by tag: regulators
Regulators Push to Limit Pay as Part of Dodd-Frank
(Washington)
One of the most contested parts of the 2010 Dodd-Frank legislation was the legal mandate the act gave to regulators to create pay caps for Wall Street. The industry has fought tooth and nail to block their imposition, successfully curbing any changes for nine years. The last major push to cap pay was in 2016, but nothing has happened since then. Now a consortium of regulators, including the Fed, FDIC, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Reserve are coming together to create new rules. The most likely target are high ranking executives, but talks in the past have extended to rank and file employees.
FINSUM: Caps for top executives will be anathema to some, but restrictions for regular employees are a whole other issue that will cause a major uproar.
Beware Fake Firms and Phony Regulators
(New York)
Be careful of sketchy deal solicitations that are floating around the market right now. Apparently there are fake securities firms, either posing as real ones or using aliases, who are soliciting deal interest in the advisor market. Many times the fake deals will cite endorsement from the SEC or other regulators, often fictitious ones (e.g. The Bureau of Financial & Protection Services). The SEC itself issued the warning to investors about the phony deals.
FINSUM: Any advisor will know these are fake and that the SEC does not endorse deals, but many clients could fall for these scams.
Bitcoin Continues to Plunge
(New York)
While all the focus is understandably on stocks, Bitcoin is continuing to see a huge exodus of buyers. The market is now down to around $6,000, or about 70% from its peak of near $20,000. Bitcoin, and crypt currencies generally, have been brutalized by a number of regulatory announcements which seek to reign in the currencies. These include in South Korea—one of cryptocurrencies’ biggest markets, as well as by the SEC in the US, where chairman Jay Clayton has become a staunch enforcer.
FINSUM: We have been saying for months that there was simply too much regulatory risk to sustain the high valuations. That prediction has certainly proved right and we think it has further to run.