Pennsylvania regulators filed a civil complaint against broker-dealer TD Ameritrade, alleging it committed fraud in the sale of Reserve Yield Plus Fund. The Pennsylvania Securities Commission’s enforcement division alleges that TD Ameritrade and Amerivest Investment Management LLC repeatedly told investors, in calls that were recorded, that the fund was a money-market fund.
Posts Tagged ‘Assets’
SEC to propose disclosure of high-frequency traders’ activities
April 8th, 2010
Before You Invest The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is proposing that the identity of broker-dealers is revealed when high-frequency trades are made, insiders have said.Two unnamed sources told the Financial Times that the SEC is concerned about the current way in which high-frequency trading, which seeks out pricing and other discrepancies in markets through the use of computer algorithms, takes place.At the moment, the identity of broker-dealers carrying out such business is not shown up in audited trails – making it a hard sector to regulate.The new proposals would aim to improve this situation as part of wider reforms including the implementation of risk management controls.John Nester, SEC spokesman, did not confirm the precise details of the regulators plans but said: “Staff expect to make a recommendation in the very near future.”Last month, the new Financial Rules Bill proposed that all large hedge funds – those with assets of more than $100 million – must be registered with the SEC.
New Mexico real estate exec accused of $80M scheme
March 27th, 2010
Before You Invest A prominent Albuquerque real estate executive used his reputation to defraud about 600 investors in New Mexico and elsewhere out of an estimated $80 million in a Ponzi scheme, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged in a federal lawsuit.In the complaint, filed Tuesday, the SEC accused Douglas F.
Citigroup may be earning $20bn a year by end of 2012
March 11th, 2010
Before You Invest Citigroup may be earning as much as $20 billion a year from its core business by the end of 2012, according to a prediction from the bank’s chief executive officer Vikram Pandit.Mr Pandit is set to use an upcoming speech to investors to predict that Citigroup can earn a yearly return of 1.25 per cent on its assets, reports the Financial Times.Citigroup’s asset level stood at more than $1,300 billion at the end of 2009, with the bank estimating this will grow by around five per cent a year.Based on these figures, Citigroup may surpass the $20 billion mark in 2012 as it seeks to increase its global presence.”Clients look to us as being the financial conduit to the world,” Mr Pandit has said. “We want to be a global bank for institutions and individuals.”Earlier this year, Citigroup reported losses of $7.6 billion for the final quarter of 2009 – with $6.2 billion of the deficit attributed to the bank’s repayment of its bailout funding.
Reverse Convertibles—Complex Investment Vehicles
March 11th, 2010
Before You Invest Click for entire articleOver the past few years, brokerage firms and banks have been issuing and marketing complex investments known in the industry as “structured products” to individual investors. These include “reverse convertibles,” which are well loved in part because of the high yields they offer.Also known as “revertible notes” or “reverse exchangeable securities”—and sold under a variety of proprietary names that may or may not use the term “structured” to describe the product—reverse convertibles are debt obligations of the issuer that are tied to the performance of an unrelated security or basket of securities.
George Washington Bank fails; Ohio’s FirstMerit takes over
February 20th, 2010
Before You Invest George Washington Savings Bank in Orland Park, Illinois was closed by state banking regulators, with Akron, Ohio-based FirstMerit Bank acquiring all the deposits and virtually all of the assets of the 120-year-ancient bank.George Washington is the second Chicago-area bank to fail so far this year.
Fraud Defendant Lands in Jail for Failure to Comply with Court Order
January 27th, 2010
Before You Invest Earlier this week Trevor G. Cook, a onetime money manager charged with operating a foreign currency trading scheme, was jailed for being in contempt of court. A federal judge in Minnesota had been trying to enforce an order granted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) forcing Cook to hand over more than $35 million in assets when Cook’s unwillingness to comply landed him in jail.
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