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NZX January 2015 Shareholder Metrics

Date 03/02/2015

Please find attached Shareholder Metrics for January 2015 which have been amended to correct the new debt issues figure.

Remarks For Acting Associate Attorney General Stuart Delery Press Conference Announcing Settlement With S&P

Date 03/02/2015

Thank you, Mr. Attorney General.

During the lead-up to the financial crisis, S&P served as a gatekeeper in the world of sophisticated finance.  S&P repeatedly promised that its ratings were objective, independent, and not influenced by S&P’s relationships with the investment banks that issued the securities.  When the department brought this suit, we alleged, to the contrary, that S&P limited, adjusted and delayed updates to the ratings criteria and analytical models it used in order to preserve market share and profits.  In addition, S&P issued inflated ratings on billions of dollars’ worth of securities despite knowing that the quality of the underlying assets was impaired and that the ratings would not hold.  Put simply: we brought this case because S&P committed fraud. 

McGraw Hill Financial And S&P Ratings Reach Settlements With DOJ, Attorneys General Of 19 States And District Of Columbia And With CalPERS

Date 03/02/2015

McGraw Hill Financial, Inc. (NYSE: MHFI) (the "Company") today announced that it and its subsidiary Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC ("S&P Financial Services"), which houses the Company's business unit Standard & Poor's Ratings Services ("S&P Ratings"), have reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") which fully resolves the DOJ's February 2013 lawsuit regarding ratings issued and surveilled by S&P Ratings in the 2004-2007 time period relating to certain U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities and U.S. collateralized debt obligations. The settlement also resolves the lawsuits filed by the Attorneys General of 19 States and theDistrict of Columbia, most of which were filed in early 2013 following the DOJ lawsuit. 

Remarks For US Attorney General Eric Holder Press Conference Announcing Settlement With S&P

Date 03/02/2015

Good morning, and thank you all for being here.  I am joined today by my colleagues from the Justice Department: Acting Associate Attorney General [Stuart] Delery and Acting U.S. Attorney [Stephanie] Yonekura of the Central District of California.  I also want to thank our distinguished state partners – including Attorneys General George Jepsen, of Connecticut; Jim Hood, of Mississippi; Gregory Zoeller, of Indiana; and Kathleen Kane, of Pennsylvania.

CFTC Charges California Residents Christopher Valois And Cynthia Wong And Their Companies With Fraud And Registration Violations - Husband And Wife Team Allegedly Stole More Than $300,000 Of The $750,000 Their Customers Invested - Federal Court Enters Emergency Order Freezing Defendants’ Assets And Protecting Books And Records

Date 03/02/2015

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that Judge Cormac J. Carney of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California entered an emergency restraining Order freezing assets and prohibiting the destruction or concealment of books and records of Defendants Christopher Valois, Cynthia Wong, and their companies, Bertram Trade LLC (Bertram) andChurchhill Commodities Trading LLC (Churchhill), all of Orange County California. The judge set a hearing date for February 12, 2015.

Justice Department And State Partners Secure $1.375 Billion Settlement With S&P for Defrauding Investors In The Lead Up To The Financial Crisis

Date 03/02/2015

Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that the Department of Justice and 19 states and the District of Columbia have entered into a $1.375 billion settlement agreement with the rating agency Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC, along with its parent corporation McGraw Hill Financial Inc., to resolve allegations that S&P had engaged in a scheme to defraud investors in structured financial products known as Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) and Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs).  The agreement resolves the department’s 2013 lawsuit against S&P, along with the suits of 19 states and the District of Columbia.  Each of the lawsuits allege that investors incurred substantial losses on RMBS and CDOs for which S&P issued inflated ratings that misrepresented the securities’ true credit risks.  Other allegations assert that S&P falsely represented that its ratings were objective, independent and uninfluenced by S&P’s business relationships with the investment banks that issued the securities.

CalPERS to Recover More Than $300 Million From Standard & Poor's In Investment Ratings Settlements

Date 03/02/2015

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) is poised to receive approximately $301 million in damages from Standard & Poor's (S&P) and parent company McGraw-Hill Financial, the result of settlements in cases against S&P that stemmed from its rating of mortgage-backed and other securities prior to the financial crisis.

FINRA Issues Report On Cybersecurity Practices, Cybersecurity Investor Alert

Date 03/02/2015

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued a new report on cybersecurity, which details practices that firms can tailor to their business model as they strengthen their cybersecurity efforts.

Industry Supports Total Loss Absorbency Requirement To Help Ensure G-SIBs Can Be Resolved In An Orderly Manner Without Taxpayer Assistance - Industry's Empirical Analysis Shows FSB's TLAC Calibration Is Higher Than Needed

Date 03/02/2015

Today, The Clearing House (TCH), the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), the American Bankers Association (ABA) and the Financial Services Roundtable (FSR) filed a comment letter with the Financial Stability Board (FSB) in response to its proposal to impose a total loss absorbing capacity (TLAC) requirement on global systemically important banking groups (G-SIBs).  The letter expresses the industry's strong support for a TLAC requirement for G-SIBs to help ensure that these institutions can be resolved in an orderly way at creditor rather than taxpayer expense, bringing us one final step closer to ending "Too Big to Fail."  The letter also highlights the importance of ensuring that any such requirement be empirically calibrated to achieve its express policy objective - which is to ensure that a G-SIB can absorb sufficient losses to permit its orderly resolution and recapitalization without taxpayer assistance.

BATS Formally Files Market Structure Petition With SEC - Issues Industry Call-To-Action To Drive Regulatory Reform

Date 03/02/2015

BATS Global Markets (BATS) formally filed a  petition for rulemaking on market structure reform with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and issued a call-to-action to the industry, urging participants to engage in a constructive dialogue to improve the already healthy U.S. equity market for all investors.