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February 19, 2013

Daily newsletter from NYSSA for investment professionals

Top Story

Prosecutors reach beyond fines in Wall Street cases
U.S. prosecutors, in a shift in strategy, are increasingly demanding guilty pleas in Wall Street criminal cases, rather than agreeing to fines and promises of reform. Attorneys for major banks say they are adjusting how they defend clients, sometimes recommending that banks fire employees suspected of impropriety. The New York Times (tiered subscription model)/DealBook blog (2/18)

Industry Update

Small investors regain confidence and return to markets
Individual investors who have avoided the capital markets since the financial crisis are starting to overcome their fears and are trading stocks again. Financial advisers are hearing from investors who were highly risk-averse for years but want to start putting money back into equities. The Wall Street Journal (2/18)

SEC nominee may face heat over political-disclosure debate
The position of Mary Jo White, nominee to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, on a controversial requirement on companies' political spending may be an issue during confirmation hearings. Financial Times (tiered subscription model) (2/18)

FIX issues guidelines for electronic trading of bonds
FIX Protocol has outlined guidelines and best practices for electronic bond trading. The standards address matters including how traded securities are identified and how data, prices and quotes are presented. FIX has zeroed in on cash markets for corporate, government and high-yield bonds. "This market has witnessed massive change and, as it becomes increasingly electronic, the protocol is necessary," said Sassan Danesh of FIX. Bloomberg Businessweek (2/18), The Trade News (U.K.) (2/18), Financial Times (tiered subscription model) (2/19)

Commentary: Ratings agencies need competition
The Securities and Exchange Commission needs to break the hold that Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings have on the ratings industry, writes Jeffrey Manns of George Washington University. Steps by the SEC to create meaningful competition would do more to reform the industry than will the Justice Department lawsuit against S&P, Manns writes. Bloomberg (2/18)

New York Focus

Bloomberg wants 10,000 electric-car charging spaces
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has proposed the installation of 10,000 parking spaces for electric vehicles, each with their own battery-charging station, over the next seven years. "We'll add 50 more electric vehicles to the city's fleet of cars," Bloomberg said. "And we'll put the first six fully electric taxis on the road -- with the goal of making one-third of our taxi fleet electric by 2020." Daily News (New York) (2/18)

School bus strike cost New York City more than $20M
Reimbursing parents for transportation during the New York City school bus strike cost the city more than $20 million, Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott says. Drivers are getting ready to return to work, but Walcott says parents should be prepared to deal with delays and other problems with school bus service. The Wall Street Journal (2/18)

Career Development

What George Washington can teach leaders
George Washington led his troops to victory against the British redcoats at Trenton, N.J., in 1777 in part by adopting a more democratic approach to leadership, Signe Spencer writes. Rather than simply issuing commands and expecting obedience, Washington sought the advice of his subordinates and thereby hatched a battle plan that was more innovative and effective than anything a single general could have devised alone, Spencer writes. Great Leadership (2/17)

People & Personalities

SEC's Walter rejects "caretaker" tag
Securities and Exchange Commission chief Elisse Walter says she has no interest in acting like an interim leader. "I made it clear to everyone that I wasn't interested in being a caretaker," Walter says. Her agenda includes finalizing regulations mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act. The Washington Post (2/18)

On The Economy

Interest for banks may not sit well with public, Fed fears
The Federal Reserve's robust balance sheet means that when it eventually raises interest rates, it may have to pay billions to banks while halting payments to the Treasury Department, Robin Harding and Tom Braithwaite write. Financial Times (tiered subscription model) (2/18)

SmartQuote

Everything that lives, lives not alone, nor for itself."

--William Blake,
British poet and painter

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