What may be the world’s largest complaint department went live today. At a press conference Thursday morning in Des Moines, Iowa, Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, announced that its database of 90,000 searchable complaints on financial products and services is now available for public use. The launch expands the Consumer Complaint […]
Joe Mont
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FSA Spends Final Days Crafting Guide for Successor, Bank Capital Rules
With its final day as the U.K’s top financial regulator drawing close, the Financial Services Authority is going out with a bang. This week, in addition to publishing a business plan and risk outlook for the new Financial Conduct Authority that will replace it on April 1, the FSA enacted new rules that allow smaller […]
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In a Twist, CFPB Rule Favors Credit Card Companies Over Consumers
How’s this for irony? The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has aggressively pursued questionable practices by credit card companies, has now issued rulemaking that may benefit them at the expense of customers. The Bureau has formally amended a 2011 rule the Federal Reserve Board issued on credit card fees. A federal court ruling last year […]
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Nasdaq’s Compensation Plan for Botched Facebook IPO Draws Fire
Amid vociferous complaints, the Securities and Exchange Commission has approved Nasdaq OMX Group’s plan to pay out $62 million in compensation to firms that suffered losses during its botched execution of Facebook’s initial public offering on May 18. A technology glitch delayed the offering by roughly half-an-hour, prevented traders from getting an accurate overview of […]
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Regulators Issue Very Real Regulations on Virtual Currencies
Virtual currency, once the exclusive domain of online gamers, has gone mainstream, with everyone from Facebook, American Express, Visa, and Amazon getting into the act. In May, Amazon will launch Amazon Coins, a virtual currency for purchasing apps and in-app goods for the Kindle Fire. And then there is Bitcoin, a de-centralized digital currency distributed […]
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Bills Chipping Away at Dodd-Frank Hop One Hurdle, Next Vote April 11
Some of the most extensive changes yet to the Dodd-Frank Act moved a step closer to reality with the House Agriculture Committee’s approval last week of seven legislative proposals to amend its Title VII derivatives rules. The bills include the following: H.R. 634, the Business Risk Mitigation and Price Stabilization Act, “ensures that end-users can […]
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Leveraged Lending Guidance Updated for First Time Since 2001
Federal bank regulators have released updated supervisory guidance on leveraged lending. The guidance, issued on Thursday by the Federal Reserve Board, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, covers transactions characterized by a borrower with “a degree of financial leverage that significantly exceeds industry norms.” It updates guidance issued in […]
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Equity-Based Incentives Not Executive Loans, Says ‘Landmark’ SOX Guidance
In a “no-action” letter issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance, a firm’s use of equity-based incentive compensation was not found to violate a longstanding prohibition on companies providing personal loans to executives. Responding to RingsEnd Partners, a financial services firm, the Division of Corporation Finance on March 4 wrote that […]
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O’Malia Slams CFTC’s Swaps Data as Unusable, Servers as Unstable
“Big data is the commission’s biggest problem.” That’s how Scott O’Malia of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, speaking at a Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association conference on Tuesday, described the data-crunching “nightmare” undermining swap reporting rules. Among the policy reforms of the Dodd-Frank Act is the mandatory reporting of all OTC trades to a […]
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White, Cordray Nominations Advance to Full Senate Vote
Mary Jo White and Richard Cordray, nominees to head the Securities and Exchange Commission and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, are one step closer to confirmation following a vote by the Senate Banking Committee this morning. The committee voted favorably, 21-1, to advance White’s nomination to the full Senate. Cordray, despite opposition from committee Republicans, still […]
