FINRA's Market Data Center
(Aug 2013)
FINRA has a number of useful web-based tools on their website. We mention their BrokerCheck tool quite often, as it allows investors to check on the professional background and disciplinary history of any particular broker or firm registered with the agency. Another very useful tool is their Market Data Center, which provides a wide variety of market data for free.
Perhaps the most useful aspect of the Market Data Center is the the TRACE (Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine) database. TRACE...
FINRA Fines StateTrust for Charging Unfair Prices in Fraudulent Bond Transactions
(Jun 2013)
We've been discussing markups a lot on the blog recently -- including an entire week devoted to markups in municipal bonds. Yesterday FINRA announced that it fined StateTrust Investments and their head trader, Jose Luis Turnes, for charging excessive markups and markdowns on hundreds of corporate bond transactions.1 The letter of acceptance, waiver and consent (AWC) is available to view online.
According to FINRA, StateTrust charged prices customers much more, or paid them much less, than the...
Markup Calculation Methodology
(Jun 2013)
Our study looks at markups and markdowns implied by EMMA trade data. My colleagues have shown an example of how we calculate the markups, but I wanted to illustrate the methodology used to handle the more complex cases that arose when analyzing the trade data.
There were effectively four cases that we needed to address. The first case occurs when inter-dealer trades occur on the same business day as the customer trade. In that case we computed the volume weighted average price (VWAP) of the...
Alternative Ways to Gain Municipal Bond Exposure
(Jun 2013)
We've been covering municipal bonds, with a focus on markups, this week on the blog. So far we've discussed some basics, given an example of an excessive markup and introduced SLCG research on excessive markups in municipal bonds . Given that retail investors may be charged excessive markups when purchasing municipal bonds directly, it may make sense for them to purchase municipal bonds indirectly.
Jason Zweig has written a great follow-up to his coverage of the muni markups issue with a...
An Example of an Excessive Muni Markup
(Jun 2013)
This week we've been discussing excessive markups in the municipal bond market. Now that we've outlined what excessive markups are, you might be wondering what such markups actually look like in the EMMA data.
The following figure shows the October 6, 2009 EMMA trading activity in a $6.54 million State of California municipal bond issued in 2009. A customer purchased $1,000,000 of the issue at $113.80, paying $3.507 more than the average inter-dealer price for trades of similar size that...
Retail Investors and the Municipal Bond Market
(Jun 2013)
This week, we will be discussing the buying and selling of municipal bonds by brokers on behalf of retail investors. But to start, let's address some basic questions about the municipal bond market.
What are municipal bonds and how are they traded?
Municipal bonds are simply bonds issued by a state and local government or authorities. Municipal bonds can be general obligation bonds, meaning they are not used to fund specific projects, or they could be issued to finance a new highway, a public...
Welcome to Muni Markup Week on the SLCG Blog
(Jun 2013)
Today SLCG posted a new working paper titled "Using EMMA to Assess Municipal Bond Markups". In it, our colleagues Geng Deng and Craig McCann report a veritable pandemic of excessive markups charged to retail investors in the municipal bond market. This work has been highlighted in a recent Wall Street Journal article by Jason Zweig. Jason's looked at markups generically in the past and we're happy this story has caught his attention.
The primary findings of the paper are that:
Missouri Action Against Morgan Keegan Over Municipal Bond Issue Also Illustrates Markup Abuse
(May 2013)
On April 3, 2013 Missouri's Secretary of State of the State submitted a Petition for an Order to Cease and Desist and to Show Cause against Morgan Keegan over taxable municipal bonds Morgan underwrote for the City of Moberly in July 2010. The petition and the Offering Circular for the bonds are available to view online. The story has been picked up by The Bond Buyer and Law360.
Setting aside the Petition's allegations, the trading in this set of bonds highlights markup abuse we have found is...
Call Options on Hedge Funds: Double Markups and Detrimental Mispricing
(Feb 2013)
A recently settled FINRA Arbitration case was brought by an investor who was sold a $2M call option on a basket of hedge funds by a large investment bank. The case was notable for two reasons. First, the investment bank charged a 25 percent markup on the fair value of the option. This large amount was charged even though the investment bank -- call it Investment Bank 1 -- simultaneously laid off all of its risk by buying an equivalent call option from another investment bank -- call it...
