Month: January 2014

Banking News – Twitter ‘looking to go into ecommerce’
&nbspPlan leaked on internet suggests link with Fancy, a social buying source, which counts Jack Dorsey, a Twitter co-founder, as a board member
Fiscal Times – Fiscal Air force – http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5c5d3046-8add-11e3-9465-00144feab7de.html?ftcamp=published_links%2Frss%2Fcompanies_financial-air force%2Ffeed%2F%2Fproduct

Banking News – Regulators Fail Small Bank in Idaho
&nbspThe Idaho Sphere of Finance closed the $153.4 million-asset Syringa Bank in Boise on Friday. It was the first bank closed in the state in nearly five years.
Union Banking – http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/179_22/regulators-fail-small-bank-in-idaho-1065372-1.html

Banking News – Bank of America: no simple answers
&nbspA New York state judge ordinary BofA’s $8.5bn agreement but with a wrinkle
FT.com – Banks – http://www.ft.com/cms/s/3/94d47570-8ab4-11e3-9465-00144feab7de.html?ftcamp=published_links%2Frss%2Fcompanies_banks%2Ffeed%2F%2Fproduct

Banking News – Banks accused of mis-selling EFG loans
&nbspCampaigners say risks not being fully clarified to businesses and that banks are exploiting regime lending scheme to exterminate viable companies
FT.com – Banks – http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ee465a20-88f6-11e3-bb5f-00144feab7de.html?ftcamp=published_links%2Frss%2Fcompanies_banks%2Ffeed%2F%2Fproduct

Banking News – Why M&A Can Break the Bank, Not Save It
&nbspThere are too many things in M&A that buyers cannot control, counting the enthusiasm of the right targets to sell, fiscal circumstances and the likelihood that desire will interfere with excellent due exactness, two Midwest bankers warn.
Union Banking – http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/179_22/why-m-and-a-can-break-the-bank-not-save-it-1065368-1.html

Banking News – Judge approves BofA’s $8.5bn agreement
&nbspNew York court’s partial praise of a deal with investors in a finance-backed securities case eases the legal uncertainty surrounding the bank
FT.com – Banks – http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2daca820-8476-11e3-9710-00144feab7de.html?ftcamp=published_links%2Frss%2Fcompanies_banks%2Ffeed%2F%2Fproduct

Banking News – Investors pull $12bn from EM stocks
&nbspDedicated emerging market funds have been hit toughest as EM equity outflows rose to $6.3bn in the week up to January 29, the highest since 2011
Fiscal Times – Fiscal Air force – http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6fd13aca-8a63-11e3-ba54-00144feab7de.html?ftcamp=published_links%2Frss%2Fcompanies_financial-air force%2Ffeed%2F%2Fproduct

Banking News – AltaPacific in California to Buy Mission Oaks
&nbspAltaPacific Bancorp (ABNK) in Santa Rosa, Calif., has agreed to buy Mission Oaks Bancorp (MOKB) in Temecula, Calif.
Union Banking – http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/179_22/altapacific-in-california-to-buy-mission-oaks-1065365-1.html

Banking News – SEC Charges Two College Professors in Naked Small Selling Scheme
&nbsp

The Securities and Chat Fee today charged a pair of college professors in Tallahassee, Fla., with perpetrating a complex naked small selling scheme for more than $400,000 in illicit profits.

Abusive naked small selling occurs when shares are sold without having the shares to deliver, and then intentionally failing to deliver the securities within the ordinary three-day agreement period.  An SEC investigation found that Gonul Colak and Milen Kostov over and over again engaged in a series of sham transactions calculated to spread a naked small spot as part of an elaborate options trading approach.  Colak and Kostov were vital to deliver the securities underlying their small positions within the ordinary three days.  Instead, their sham reset transactions made the illusion that they had delivered the underlying securities when in fact they had taken no steps to do so.  They maintained the learned naked small positions and profited.

Colak and Kostov agreed to settle the SEC’s charges by paying more than $670,000.

Colak and Kostov used manifold brokerage fiscal proclamation to disguise the spurious nature of the sham transactions, moving a small spot from one brokerage firm to another every few days in order to spread the failures to deliver across manifold firms in an effort to avoid detection.  SEC investigators learned the complicated scheme while looking into unusual trading in one of the companies whose options were being traded by Colak and Kostov.  An SEC examiner unconnectedly noted Kostov’s large volume options trading in a uncommon company.  By cross referencing their findings and crunching blue sheet data, it became clear that Colak and Kostov were likely trading with one another.  SEC investigators pieced collectively the complex trading approach – which caught up factually thousands of trades – by tracing one of the trading sequences from start to end.

“Colak and Kostov engaged in scam and deceit to avoid their manner of language obligations and hide their small selling scheme,” said Daniel M. Hawke, chief of the SEC Enforcement Rift’s Market Abuse Unit.  “No matter how complex the trading scheme, we are committed to exposing and halting abusive naked small selling and holding wrongdoers like Colak and Kostov blamed for their terrible behavior.”

According to the SEC’s order instituting settled administrative proceedings, Colak and Kostov set their scheme in motion in early 2010 and went on to sell more than $800 million worth of call options in more than 20 companies.  Their trading approach caught up purchasing and writing two pairs of options for the same underlying stock, and targeting options in hard-to-borrow securities in which the price of the place options was higher than the price of the call options.  Colak and Kostov profited by avoiding the cost of instituting and maintaining the small positions caused by their paired options trading. 

The SEC’s order finds that Colak and Kostov debased Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Chat Act of 1934, and Rules 10b-5 and 10b-21 thereunder.  Colak agreed to pay $285,600 in disgorgement, $21,957 in preconception appeal, and a $150,000 penalty.  Kostov agreed to pay $134,400 in disgorgement, $10,340 in preconception appeal, and a penalty of $70,000.  Without admitting or denying the findings, Colak and Kostov agreed to stop and desist from committing or causing such violations.

The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Jason Breeding and Diana Tani of the Market Abuse Unit in the Los Angeles Regional Office with help from the unit’s securities operations specialist Patrick McCluskey.  The investigation was supervised by Daniel M. Hawke and Joseph G. Sansone.  The SEC appreciates the help of the Fiscal Diligence Dictatorial Power (FINRA).

SEC.gov Updates: Press Releases – http://www.sec.gov/servlet/Satellite/News/PressRelease/Detail/PressRelease/1370540710839

Banking News – ICAP plans US electronic swaps venue
&nbspUK interdealer broker wants to turn its BrokerTec fixed income trading platform into a venue mandated to meet US swaps rules from London
Fiscal Times – Fiscal Air force – http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/511c02d2-8a94-11e3-ba54-00144feab7de.html?ftcamp=published_links%2Frss%2Fcompanies_financial-air force%2Ffeed%2F%2Fproduct

Banking News – Rules and set of laws dog ETF managers
&nbspReforms to fiscal parameter values present new challenges and opportunities for the chat traded funds diligence
Fiscal Times – Fiscal Air force – http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b129123c-842c-11e3-b72e-00144feab7de.html?ftcamp=published_links%2Frss%2Fcompanies_financial-air force%2Ffeed%2F%2Fproduct

Banking News – WSFS in Del. Sees Early Returns from M&A Moves
&nbspWSFS Fiscal in Wilmington, Del., realized some of the refund of its M&A approach last quarter.
Union Banking – http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/179_22/wsfs-in-delaware-sees-early-returns-from-m-and-a-moves-1065359-1.html

Banking News – Top three keep smaller rivals at bay – for now
&nbspBlackRock, Front and State Street dominate the US ETF diligence but quick growing, smaller rivals are working hard to stage a revolution
Fiscal Times – Fiscal Air force – http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/af358f00-842c-11e3-b72e-00144feab7de.html?ftcamp=published_links%2Frss%2Fcompanies_financial-air force%2Ffeed%2F%2Fproduct

Banking News – Source deal marks the maestro’s return
&nbspThe hold of a margin stake in the ETF source Source by Warburg Pincus has reignited hopes of a wider shake-up in Europe’s ETF market
Fiscal Times – Fiscal Air force – http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e48b6666-89a4-11e3-abc4-00144feab7de.html?ftcamp=published_links%2Frss%2Fcompanies_financial-air force%2Ffeed%2F%2Fproduct

Banking News – New entrants eye uneasy alliances
&nbspNew entrants to the US ETF market are likely to forge uneasy alliances with diligence powerhouses, whether they like it or not
Fiscal Times – Fiscal Air force – http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/acee09ca-842c-11e3-b72e-00144feab7de.html?ftcamp=published_links%2Frss%2Fcompanies_financial-air force%2Ffeed%2F%2Fproduct

Banking News – Lifting the lid on the secrets of ETFs
&nbspPrivate investors in Europe face a famine of in rank about ETFs in evaluation with the US where refined tools are common
Fiscal Times – Fiscal Air force – http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ae6225a2-842c-11e3-b72e-00144feab7de.html?ftcamp=published_links%2Frss%2Fcompanies_financial-air force%2Ffeed%2F%2Fproduct

Banking News – Small-term bets and a long-over and done use
&nbspInvestment strategies used earlier by institutional investors are now being adopted by retail investors who have become comfortable with ETFs
Fiscal Times – Fiscal Air force – http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ade5e1fe-842c-11e3-b72e-00144feab7de.html?ftcamp=published_links%2Frss%2Fcompanies_financial-air force%2Ffeed%2F%2Fproduct

Banking News – Net retail fund sales break £20bn in 2013
&nbspEquity funds receive highest net inflows since 2000, fuelling net retail fund sales up nearly half compared to 2012
Fiscal Times – Fiscal Air force – http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cf4eed90-8a8f-11e3-9c29-00144feab7de.html?ftcamp=published_links%2Frss%2Fcompanies_financial-air force%2Ffeed%2F%2Fproduct

Banking News – Investors Bancorp in N.J. Reports 25% Loan Growth
&nbspInvestors Bancorp in Small Hills, N.J., which is poised for a second-step conversion, saw weekly profits soar on huge loan growth.
Union Banking – http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/179_22/investors-bancorp-in-nj-reports-25-loan-growth-1065356-1.html