Sky Blog
On November 3rd, high-frequency trader Michael Coscia was found guilty in Chicago in one of the most-watched financial trials in recent years.[1] His conviction under Dodd-Frank’s new anti-spoofing provision is important on a number of levels: what it means …
The limited liability company (LLC) is not only a widespread business form for non-listed firms but also is used by listed companies. There were twenty publicly traded US LLCs in September 2013—all formed in Delaware. Two more Delaware LLCs have …
Corporate governance mitigates agency costs by protecting outside investors from exploitation from insiders, as well as aligning the financial and other incentives of insiders with those of the principal. The literature remains underdeveloped, however, on those tasked with shaping and …
The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) on December 10th issued the second iteration of its proposed revisions to the standardized approach (SA) for credit risk measurement. Following up on last year’s initial issuance, the proposed revisions are intended …
Debt has undergone a remarkable resurrection in relation to banks’ capital structures. In the immediate aftermath of the crisis it was uncertain whether debt would survive at all in the Basel Committee’s minimum capital requirements for internationally active banks. Today, …
Ethan Allen and its management prevailed a few weeks ago against an intense hedge fund activist campaign to remove its entire board of directors.
An analyst of one of our larger shareholders, the Gabelli funds, observed “I’ve never seen a …
In two previous posts,[1] I described the financial industry’s “single point of entry” (SPOE) strategy for resolving failed megabanks. The SPOE approach – which has been endorsed by the Federal Reserve Board (Fed) and other regulators – could be …
High frequency trading is all of a go,
With joy to the traders and profits that grow,
It brings to investors an unhappy blow.
Investors and traders in capital markets have always sought to be better informed and to trade …
The conventional story around the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act is that it was the final blow in bringing down the Glass-Steagall Act wall that separated commercial and investment banking in 1999, increasing risky business activities by commercial banks and inadvertently precipitating the …
Headlines about unicorns—private companies with valuations of a billion dollars or more—have dominated newspapers such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the like. It has become part of the fabric of the venture capital …
As political spending surges toward record levels in 2016, post-Citizens United changes in the funding of American political campaigns will require directors to oversee a dramatically deregulated political environment. Corporate money will play a large role in the election, heightening …
On December 1, 2015, the New York Department of Financial Services (the DFS) released a proposed rule that would require certain New York-regulated financial institutions (Regulated Institutions) to comply with enhanced anti-terrorism and anti-money laundering (AML) requirements and subject chief …
Since the late 1990s, activist hedge funds have become the dominant face of shareholder activism, essentially taking over an arena that was once dominated by pension funds and mutual funds. Hedge fund activism (HFA) has attracted substantial public attention because …
The US Federal Reserve (Fed) again expressed concerns about the culture at financial institutions this month.[1] This has been a recurring theme since the financial crisis, as regulators in the US and abroad have hit industry players with steep …
Corporate personhood is getting a bad name.
After Citizens United v Federal Election Decision in 2010, protecting the First Amendment rights of corporations to spend money in elections, the nation has seen the development of a broad-gauged movement to overturn …
On November 16, 2015, Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates gave a speech[1] regarding the implementation of the Department of Justice’s recent policy initiatives to facilitate the prosecution of individuals in corporate cases outlined in the “Yates Memo,” issued …
Proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis recently issued its U.S. voting policy guidelines for the 2016 proxy season. The guidelines include a few key changes, a summary of which is outlined below.
Conflicting Shareholder Proposals. Conflicting shareholder proposals relating to …
The global financial crisis forced regulators to realize that traditional monetary measures cannot adequately ensure financial stability. As an alternative, macroprudential policy can complement and supplement monetary policy in dealing with macroeconomic as well as stability issues. Yet the debate …