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SLCG Research: Auction Rate Securities

SLCG released today 'Auction Rate Securities'.

Auction rate securities were first issued in the mid-1980s by corporations. Over the next two decades ARS were issued widely by institutions ranging from closed-end mutual funds, municipalities to student loan trusts. ARS were long-term floating rate securities whose coupon payments were determined at auctions that were typically held every 7 to 35 days. ARS were long-term securities with short-term floating rates.

Broker dealers marketed...

In the News: SEC Reviewing Sales of Structured Products

Bloomberg issued a news release today announcing that sales practices of banks and broker-dealers for structured products are being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for product overcharging and disclosure of conflicts of interest.

This is not a surprising new release: it is consistent with our findings in our paper on reverse convertibles, 'What TiVo and JP Morgan teach us about Reverse Convertibles.' In this paper, we find that brokerage firms consistently...

FINRA Regulatory Notice: Municipal Securities

FINRA Reminds Firms of Their Sales Practice and Due Diligence Obligations When Selling Municipal Securities in the Secondary Market

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) published Regulatory Notice 10-41 reminding broker dealers including municipal securities dealers to fully understand the municipal securities they sell in order to meet their disclosure, suitability and pricing obligations under the rules of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) and federal...

FINRA Press Release: Illicit Equities Trading Strategy

FINRA Sanctions Trillium Brokerage Services, LLC, Director of Trading, Chief Compliance Officer, and Nine Traders $2.26 Million for Illicit Equities Trading Strategy

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued a press release this week announcing that

it has censured and fined New York-based Trillium Brokerage Services, LLC, $1 million for using an illicit high frequency trading strategy and related supervisory failures. Trillium, through nine proprietary traders,...

FINRA Investor Alert: Equity-Indexed Annuities

Equity-Indexed Annuities - A Complex Choice

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) published an Investor Alert on the rewards and risks of equity-indexed annuities. An annuity makes periodic payments to the holder of the annuity. There are fixed annuities that make fixed payments and variable annuities that make variable payments. Equity-indexed annuities (EIA) are similar to both fixed and variable annuities. They pay an interest rate linked to an equity index and guarantee...

FINRA Press Release: Inverse Floating Rate CMOs

FINRA Fines HSBC $375,000 for Unsuitable Sales of Inverse Floating Rate CMOs to Retail Customers and Related Supervisory Failures

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued a press release today announcing that

"it has fined HSBC Securities (USA) Inc. $375,000 for recommending unsuitable sales of inverse floating rate Collateralized Mortgage Obligations (CMOs) to retail customers. HSBC failed to adequately supervise the suitability of the CMO sales and fully explain the...

FINRA Press Release: Unit Investment Trusts

Merrill Lynch to Pay More Than $2.5 Million Related to UIT Sales Charge Discount Failures

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued a press release today announcing that

it has fined Merrill Lynch $500,000 for failing to provide sales charge discounts to customers on eligible purchases of Unit Investment Trusts (UITs). FINRA also found that Merrill Lynch failed to have an adequate supervisory system in place to ensure customers received appropriate UIT discounts....

SLCG Research: Leveraged ETFs

SLCG released today 'Leveraged ETFs, Holding Periods and Investment Shortfalls'.

Exchange-Traded Funds is an investment fund that holds stocks, bonds, or commodities and typically tracks specific indices of such asset classes. Leveraged and inverse leveraged ETFs were first introduced to the market in June 2006 by ProFunds, which promiseds to return a multiple of the underlying index return by rebalancing their portfolios at the end of each day. The total market value of leveraged and...

In the News: Equity-Indexed Annuities

An annuity makes periodic payments to the holder of the annuity. Fixed annuities make fixed payments and variable annuities make variable payments. Equity-indexed annuities (EIAs) are similar to both fixed and variable annuities in that they pay an interest rate linked to an equity index and guarantee a minimum interest rate. EIAs are especially marketed to retirees by the insurance industry.

Forbes published an article on EIAs. The article evaluates the claims made by typical marketers...

In the News: Structured Notes

Structured Notes Are Wall Street's `Next Bubble,' Whalen Says

Bloomberg issued a news release today discussing the topic of a structured products bubble in Wall Street. According Christopher Whalen, managing director of Institutional Risk Analytics, the sale of structured products allows the selling firms to make bets on interest rates. Furthermore, they are illiquid products for which firms are not obligated to make markets and hence provide liquidity when these products might need them...

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