Month: May 2012

Banking News – Jon Rymer Named Interim Checker General
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2012-106

Washington, D.C., May 30, 2012 — The Securities and Chat Fee today announced that Jon T. Rymer will serve as Interim Checker General until the Fee hires a stable Checker General. Mr. Rymer, who now serves as Checker General of the Federal Deposit Indemnity Corporation, will take up again his duties at the FDIC’s Office of Checker General after early at the SEC on May 30.

Mr. Rymer is a Certified Domestic Auditor and a Certified Regime Auditing Certified. He now serves as the Chair of the Audit Group of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency and as Vice Chair of the Council of Inspectors General on Fiscal Administration. He also is a member of the Comptroller General’s Advisory Council on Regime Auditing Values.

From 1981 to 1992, Mr. Rymer was an executive at First American Inhabitant Bank of Tennessee. He was an executive at Boatmen’s Bank of Arkansas from 1992 to 1997. He joined the accounting firm of KPMG LLP in 1997 as a Boss and provided air force for banking clients on matters of process enhancement, pledge processes, and domestic auditing. His clients ranged from global banks to union banks, thrifts, and credit unions.

Mr. Rymer has served for more than 31 years in the active and reserve gears of the U.S. Army. His awards include the commendable service medal with oak leaf cluster and the kind service medal. He is a modify of the U.S. Army’s Checker General School.

Mr. Rymer is a modify of the Academe of Tennessee, where he expected a Single of Arts degree in Economics. He also earned a Master of Affair Handing out degree from the Academe of Arkansas at Small Rock.

Noelle Maloney, who has served as interim Checker General since January, will return to her before role as Deputy Checker General.

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SEC.gov Updates: Press Releases – http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2012/2012-106.htm

Banking News – SEC Charges Phoenix-Based Investment Adviser and Firm With Fraud
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2012-105

Washington, D.C., May 30, 2012 – The Securities and Chat Fee today charged a Phoenix-based investment adviser and his firm for recommending funds without telling clients about his private stake and exploiting a client who was buying an ownership share in the firm.

The SEC’s Enforcement Rift alleges that Walter J. Clarke advised clients at Oxford Investment Partners LLC to invest in two businesses without disclosing the conflicts of appeal that he co-owned one of them and had fiscal ties to the owners of the other. Both funds later failed. And when Clarke’s own fiscal harms prompted him to sell a stake in Oxford to a client, he illegally extravagant the value of his firm by at least $1.5 million to make the client overpay by at least $112,000.

“Investment advisers have a fiduciary duty to be in the offing with their clients and act in their best wellbeing,” said Marshall S. Sprung, Deputy Chief of the SEC Enforcement Rift’s Asset Management Unit. “Clarke breached that duty by with intent overvaluing the firm and staying mum on his private ties to the not compulsory funds.”

According to the SEC’s order instituting administrative proceedings against Clarke and Oxford, Clarke won over three clients in late 2007 and early 2008 to fund more than $300,000 in loans originated by Grounding Funding Group, a company co-owned by Clarke. But, the clients were never told that Clarke was a co-owner and would in person profit from fruitfully originated loans. Within months of the loans being funded, the underlying borrowers defaulted, causing the clients to lose their funds. In November 2008, Clarke won over four clients to invest approximately $40,000 in HotStix, a privately-held company. The clients were not well-informed that the owners of HotStix were also co-owners and paid consultants of Oxford. Shortly after the clients made these funds, HotStix sought insolvency safeguard and the clients lost their money.

The SEC’s investigation further found that amid fiscal woes, Clarke sold a client 7.5 percent of his ownership appeal in Oxford in March 2008. The client paid $750,000 based on Clarke’s appraisal of Oxford at $10 million. But, Clarke used several ploys to illegally inflate Oxford’s value. First, Clarke applied an unnecessary and unjustified manifold to Oxford’s 2007 annual revenue. Second, Clarke calculated Oxford’s 2007 revenue by quadrupling Oxford’s revenue in the fourth quarter of 2007 – its most profitable quarter that year – and ignoring Oxford’s lower revenue in the before three quarters. Third, Clarke added a unjustified $1 million “premium” to Oxford’s appraisal.

According to the SEC’s order, Oxford and Clarke on purpose debased Sections 206(1), 206(2) and 206(4) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and Rule 206(4)-8 thereunder.

The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Paris A. Wynn and Mr. Sprung, who work in the Los Angeles Regional Office and are members of the Enforcement Rift’s Asset Management Unit. Securities falling in line examiner Ryan Hinson conducted the related examination under the supervision of Daniel C. Jung. The SEC’s legal action will be led by Mr. Wynn and David Van Havermaat.

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SEC.gov Updates: Press Releases – http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2012/2012-105.htm

Banking News – Infographic: Retail Deposit Rates by Product Line
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Union Banking – http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/177_103/retail-deposit-rates-1049718-1.html

Banking News – State Bank & Trust in N.D. Switching to Less Generic Name
&nbspState Bank & Trust in Fargo, N.D., is varying its name to avoid mix-up with the dozens of banks in its markets that have similar names.
Union Banking – http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/177_103/Bell-State-name-change-1049713-1.html

Banking News – Trustmark Makes Huge Push Into Alabama
&nbspGerald Host, Trustmark’s CEO, articulated confidence in his company’s hold of BancTrust despite some analysts’ concerns about the seller’s weak deposit positions in key Alabama markets.
Union Banking – http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/177_103/Alabama-acquisition-Gulf-Coast-banctrust-1049711-1.html

Banking News – Legal Confrontation Likely After Washington Bank’s Proxy Battle
&nbspFirst Fiscal Northwest in Renton, Wash., and Stilwell Partners are both claiming victory later last week’s annual meeting. A expressive for the liberal shareholder has threatened a legal challenge if its nominee isn’t added to the board.
Union Banking – http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/177_103/proxy-battle-liberal-lawsuit-1049710-1.html