(Mar 14) -- The Securities and Exchange Commission's five members voted unanimously to propose a study of transaction fee changes, including modifications to the "maker-taker" model.
Under the model, exchanges charge traders taking liquidity and provide access fee rebates to market makers giving it. Critics of the model claim brokers can direct orders to certain exchanges to capitalize on rebates and ignore the best prices or executions for clients.
The SEC's commissioners also voted 3-2 along party lines to propose a rule that would scale back liquidity reporting requirements for mutual funds.
Not so fast. That was the message from House Republicans a day after the Senate passed sweeping legislation that many bankers consider their best chance in years of easing post-crisis financial rules. (Bloomberg Politics | Mar 15)
The Financial Stability Oversight Council said it would grant hearings to bank holding companies that show significant changes to their corporate structure and balance sheets (Bloomberg BNA | Mar 14)
The London interbank offered rate, or Libor, and rates on Treasury bills are around levels not seen since 2008. The Federal Reserve's move to tighten policy forms the backdrop for the increase, but an added force behind the surge this year has come from a deluge of supply as U.S. deficits widen. (Bloomberg Markets | Mar 12)
Comparisons to 2007's pre-crisis conditions are becoming more common and industry figures are debating whether today's robust conditions constitute a bubble, as purchase prices rise, jumbo buyouts proliferate and deal terms become more aggressive (Reuters | Mar 12)
The Cyber Cafe
Cybersecurity news every Friday
SEC cybersecurity enforcement at watershed moment: How companies should prepare
The watershed moment that all companies feared when the Securities and Exchange Commission published its first guidance on cybersecurity disclosure under the federal securities laws in 2011 has arrived.
Hacking your smartphone, instead of your computer, is easier and the payoff is bigger
Security researchers are seeing a shift where attackers would much rather hit your smartphones with malware and other cyberattacks than your computers.
(Mar 15 ) -- The Department of Labor's fiduciary rule was vacated in its entirety by a federal appeals court in Louisiana. The DOL's move to establish a fiduciary rule was arbitrary, capricious, not in accordance with the law, and in excess of its statutory authority and limitations, the U.S. Court of the Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held in a 2-1 decision, which comes two days after the Tenth Circuit upheld the rule that regulates the financial advice given to retirement savers. Two decisions create a circuit split and make it more likely for the U.S. Supreme Court to review the controversial rule in the near future.
(Mar 15) -- Less than 5 percent of public companies that reported data breaches to regulators last year disclosed those hacks to investors, according to SEC Commissioner Robert Jackson. In a speech at the Tulane Corporate Law Institute in New Orleans, Jackson called on companies and their counsel to strive for greater transparency when facing cybersecurity issues and to provide more disclosure to investors about corporate data breaches. The SEC issued new guidance Feb. 21 on how public companies should report cyber breaches and related threats. It underscored that it is important for companies to have processes in place for informing executives and investors of these issues.
'Panama Papers' law firm Mossack Fonseca shutting down
The Panamanian law firm says that "reputational deterioration" and "the financial consequences and irregular actions by some Panamanian authorities" has caused irreparable damage to its business.
