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

Displaying 431-440 out of 441 results for "Mutual Fund".

FINRA Press Release: HSBC Securities

(Apr 2010)

FINRA Fines HSBC Securities (USA) $1.5 million, US Bancorp $275,000 for Auction Rate Securities Violations

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

"it has settled charges with two additional firms relating to the sale of auction rate securities (ARS) that became illiquid when auctions froze in February 2008 - HSBC Securities (USA) and US Bancorp Investments, Inc."

The settlement is detailed in the FINRA AWC No. 20080130571...

FINRA Press Release: Morgan Keegan

(Apr 2010)

FINRA Files Complaint Against Morgan Keegan & Company for Misleading Customers Regarding Risks of Bond Funds and Advertising, Other Violations

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

"it has filed a complaint against Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc., charging the firm with marketing and selling seven affiliated bond funds to investors using false and misleading sales materials - costing investors well over $1 billion. In addition...

SLCG Research: Mutual Fund's Term

(Apr 2010)

SLCG released today 'What Does a Mutual Fund's Term Tell Investors?'

Bond mutual funds are classified by Morningstar as ultra short, short, intermediate or long-term. Bond mutual funds have found a way to hold long-term bonds while being classified as ultra-short or short.

In this paper, we demonstrate how the losses suffered by these funds in 2008 can be explained by the increasing credit risks of holding long-term bonds. Furthermore, we find that the classification of these funds as...

FINRA Press Release: Provident Asset Management

(Mar 2010)

Dallas-based Provident Asset Management Expelled for Marketing Fraudulent Private Placements Offered by Affiliate in Massive Ponzi Scheme

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

"it has expelled Provident Asset Management, LLC, a Dallas-based broker-dealer, for marketing a series of fraudulent private placements offered by its affiliate, Provident Royalties, LLC, in a massive Ponzi scheme."

A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent scheme...

FINRA Investor Alert: Leveraged and Inverse ETFs

(Aug 2009)

Leveraged and Inverse ETFs: Specialized Products with Extra Risks for Buy-and-Hold Investors

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued an Investor Alert to help investors understand the performance objectives of leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds.

Exchange-Traded Funds is an investment fund that holds stocks, bonds, or commodities and typically tracks specific indices representing such asset classes. Introduced in 1993 by State Street Global Advisors, ETFs...

SLCG Research: Charles Schwab YieldPlus

(Jul 2009)

SLCG released today 'Charles Schwab YieldPlus Risk'

This paper reports on the Charles Schwab YieldPlus, a bond fund. YieldPlus returned -31.7% between June 2007 and June 2008. Though it told investors that it was an ultra short bond fund, it was in fact an ultra long bond fund. It held securities backed by illiquid long-term private label mortgages, violating concentration and liquidity limits stated in its prospectus. Up until 2007, these securities helped YieldPlus generate...

FINRA Investor Alert: Municipal Bonds

(Jun 2009)

Municipal Bonds-Staying on the Safe Side of the Street in Rough Times

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) published an Investor Alert on municipal bonds. This provides a thorough background on municipal bonds and advice on investing.

There are certain risks in investing in municipal bonds. For example, the municipality issuing the municipal bonds can default, leading to the loss of some (if not all) interest and principal to the investor. This is called default risk....

SLCG Research: Abuse of Structured Finance

(Jan 2009)

SLCG released today 'Regions Morgan Keegan: The Abuse of Structured Finance'.

Six Regions Morgan Keegan (RMK) bond funds lost $2 billion in 2007. In the paper, we argue that the loss was not due to 'flight to quality' or 'mortgage meltdown' but to RMK's portfolio concentration in subordinated tranches of asset-backed securities.

We also find that RMK misrepresented to investors and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in several ways. Firstly, RMK did not disclose to the SEC...

FINRA Investor Alert: Auction Rate Securities

(Nov 2008)

Auction Rate Securities: What Happens When Auctions Fail

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) published an Investor Alert on auction rate securities (ARS). This provides quite a thorough background on ARS, their auction mechanism and risks of failure, alternatives to ARS, and redemption and liquidity issues.

ARS are issued widely by institutions ranging from closed-end mutual funds, municipalities to student loan trusts. ARS are long-term floating rate securities whose...

SLCG Research: Collateralized Mortgage Obligations

(Jun 2007)

SLCG released today 'A CMO Primer: the law of Conservation of Structured Securities Risk'.

Recently, the finance industry witnessed the bailout of two Bears Sterns hedge funds and the collapse of Brookstreet Securities. Both had portfolio holdings of collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs) and suffered huge losses thereof. We have seen such CMO losses before, when in 1994 interest rates rose, CMOs fell in value and bond mutual funds suffered unexpected losses.

In this paper, Dr....

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