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Our experts frequently write blog posts about the findings of the research we are conducting.

Displaying 10 out of 74 results for "Structured Products".

This is why UBS paid the SEC $15 Million over Reverse Convertible Structured Products

(Sep 2016)

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced a $15 million settlement with UBS over structured products linked to high volatility stocks today. The SEC press release announcing the settlement and its Order Instituting Proceedings are available on the SEC website. This post explains the underlying notes and why UBS may have paid the SEC a substantial settlement over sales practices related to UBS's reverse convertible notes ("RCNs").

UBS sold thousands of structured notes to retail...

This is Why Merrill Lynch Paid the SEC and FINRA $15 million over Bank of America's VOL Index-linked Structured Products.

(Jun 2016)

The Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday announced a settlement with Merrill Lynch over structured products linked to Bank of America's proprietary investable volatility index based on VIX Future contracts ("VOL Index"). The SEC press release announcing the settlement and its Order Instituting Proceedings are available on the SEC website. The companion FINRA settlement press releaseand AWC are available on the FINRA website. Bank of America published its VOL Index in 2010 and shortly...

Smaller Brokerage Firms Are Even Worse!

(May 2016)

Last week we posted Have 1.3% or 7.3% of Stock Brokers Engaged in Misconduct? explaining that the competing estimates of broker misconduct differ because of differences in their definition of misconduct and the sample of brokers studied.

Firms with 400 to 999 Brokers Are Much Worse Than Larger Firms.

In last week's post, we listed the 100 highest risk brokerage firms with 400 or more registered brokers sorted by the percentage of their brokers associated with Investor Harm Events as of...

Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - January 16th, 2015

(Jan 2015)

SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS

SEC Charges Direct Edge Exchanges With Failing to Properly Describe Order Types
January 12, 2015 (Litigation Release No. 2)
In the first case focused on stock exchange order types, the SEC has settled with the EDGA and EDGX exchanges for $14 million over charges that they did not accurately describe their order types. These exchanges, formerly owned by Direct Edge Holdings before being acquired by BATS Global Markets, were found to have offered multiple "price...

Structured Product Based Variable Annuites are Riskier Than Advertised

(Feb 2014)

My colleagues and I have a paper in the current (Winter 2014) Journal of Retirement about structured product based variable annuities (spVAs), which are variable annuities with index-linked accounts that have a payoff similar to structured products. We have been following the market for spVAs since they were first introduced in 2010, and distributed our first working paper in 2011. Since then, three issuers have sold more than $3 billion worth of spVAs, according to a recent article in...

SLCG's Own Dr. Tim Dulaney to Join the SEC

(Feb 2014)

I am sad to report that one of SLCG Blog's commentators, Dr. Tim Dulaney, will be leaving us for an exciting opportunity at the Division of Investment Management at the Securities and Exchange Commission. While we will greatly miss his skills and camaraderie, we are glad that he will not be going far.

Dr. Dulaney has made enormous contributions to our research and advocacy work over the past two and a half years. He has co-authored eleven working papers and peer-reviewed publications (!),...

FINRA Regulatory Priorities 2014

(Jan 2014)

Early this month, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) released their 2014 regulatory and examination proirities . FINRA is continuing to focus on the suitability of recommendations made to retail investors. FINRA specifically mentions complex structured products (including leveraged ETFs), non-traded REITs, frontier funds, and interest rate sensitive instruments such as mortgage-backed securities and municipal bonds. At a recent conference, a FINRA representative added that...

Self-Indexing in Commodity-Linked Investments - Citi CUBES

(Dec 2013)

Over the past few weeks and months, we've noticed a pattern in the products coming across our desks: structured investments linked to esoteric proprietary indexes, created by the same bank that issued the product. We touched on this topic a bit when we discussed self-indexing in the context of structured certificates of deposit, but we thought we'd revisit the issue with a few of the examples that we've been looking into more recently. The examples we'll discuss each reference a proprietary...

SEC Scrutinizing Exchange Traded Notes

(Dec 2013)

Risk.net is reporting that the Office of Capital Markets Trends of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is looking into the details of exchange traded notes (ETNs). The office, headed by Amy Starr, is looking into the fees and the disclosure of risks and formulas used to determine ETN indicative values according to statements made by Starr at the Structured Products conference in Washington, DC on December 10.

ETNs have been a frequent subject on the blog and regulators have issued...

FINRA Action Against JP Turner for Unsuitable Leveraged ETF Sales

(Dec 2013)

Last Thursday, FINRA ordered JP Turner, an Atlanta-based broker-dealer, to pay restitution related to sales of leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and excessive mutual fund switching. The total restitution to 84 customers totaled over $700,000.

Leveraged and inverse ETFs are extremely complex investments, that are designed for professional traders and are generally considered unsuitable for buy-and-hold investors. One fundamental issue with leveraged and inverse ETFs is that...

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