"Federal regulators are investigating the case of the missing '4,' exploring the numeral's conspicuous absence in quarterly reports that could mean companies have improperly rounded up their earnings per share to the next highest cent, according to
people familiar with the matter.
"Enforcement officials at the Securities and Exchange Commission have sent queries to at least 10 companies, asking the firms to provide information about accounting adjustments that could push their reported earnings per share higher, one person familiar with the matter said."
(Jun 28) -- The Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission inked a new agreement on coordination and joint oversight of the swaps market. A Memorandum of Understanding updates provisions in a 2008 agreement addressing the regulatory regime for swaps and security-based swaps more specifically based on today's market environment. Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act gives the regulators joint responsibility to monitor mixed swaps but divides the oversight between the agencies. The CFTC has regulatory authority over swaps, while the SEC monitors security-based swaps and holds antifraud authority over certain CFTC-regulated instruments, including security-based swap agreements.
For fund managers, a good year has quickly come under threat as their favorite stocks stopped cooperating. The reversal caught many managers off guard and couldn't have come at a worse time for funds that are required to report performance to investors as quarter-end approaches. (Bloomberg Markets | Jun 28)
Clients can receive a very different level of oversight from their financial adviser depending on whether they are a broker-dealer or a registered investment adviser (RIA). Though US regulators are trying to close this gap, some believe their efforts risk confusing investors further over the service and protection they should expect. (Financial Times | Jun 28)
The Securities and Exchange Commission
plan approved for public comment on Thursday would make it easier to bring new ETFs to market by laying out formal steps for setting up less-complicated funds. The change would eliminate the need for many issuers to seek a special order from the SEC to allow funds to operate. Commissioners voted 5-0 to release the proposal. (Bloomberg Markets | Jun 28)
The Federal Reserve is expected to eliminate pass/fail grades as soon as 2019.
The Fed is moving toward replacing passing and failing grades for its stress tests of the nation's largest banks with a capital ratio that the lender must meet during the following year. (The Wall Street Journal | Jun 26)
You can try to play down a trade war with China. You can brush off the impact of rising oil prices on corporate earnings. But if you're in the business of making economic predictions, it has become very difficult to disregard an important signal from the bond market. (The New York Times | Jun 25)
The
Cyber Cafe
Cybersecurity news every Friday
The biggest digital heist in history isn't over yet
The Carbanak gang strikes again. Since late 2013, this band of cybercriminals has penetrated the digital inner sanctums of more than 100 banks in 40 nations, including Germany, Russia, Ukraine, and the U.S., and stolen about $1.2 billion, according to Europol, the European Union's law enforcement agency.
The WannaCrypt ransomware claims to have access to all computers on a network, demands payment in advance for not encrypting those computers and claims that once data is wiped, it will not be recoverable. Although it appears the campaign is a fraud and there is no malware that can do these things, data should be backed up regularly and all software patched and protected.
Do remote workers increase your chance of a data breach? 86% of CXOs say yes
When studying the cause of cybersecurity breaches, 47% of CXOs (chief experience officers) and 42% of SBOs (small business owners) cited accidental loss or employee negligence as the top reason, according to the report.
