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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.

UK's Financial Conduct Authority: News For customers Of LQD Markets UK

Date 03/02/2015

On 27 January 2015 LQD Markets UK formally entered into Special Administration Regime insolvency proceedings.

Office Of Financial Research Launches New Website

Date 03/02/2015

The U.S. Office of Financial Research launched a new website today to provide policy makers and the public better access to the OFR’s high-quality data and independent analysis that helps to promote financial stability.

The new website is at www.financialresearch.gov.

Trading Technologies To Establish Connection To KCG’s Fixed Income Liquidity - Software Provider Enables KCG To Provide Both X_TRADER® And TT Platform Users With Access To On-The-Run U.S. Treasury Liquidity

Date 03/02/2015

Trading Technologies International, Inc. (TT), a global provider of high-performance professional trading software, and KCG Holdings, Inc., an independent market-making and execution-only brokerage firm, today announced that TT will introduce connectivity to KCG Fixed Income in the first quarter of 2015. KCG provides direct access to on-the-run U.S. Treasury liquidity. This marks the first time TT has offered connectivity to liquidity from a non-exchange provider.

ACER Calls For Views On The New Lithuanian Gas Tariff Methodology

Date 03/02/2015

Call to interested third parties to express themselves on the new Lithuanian tariff methodology submitted for review of the Agency under Article 7(4) of (EC) Regulation No 713/2009