January 7, 2011 - Christopher Whalen of Institutional Risk Analytics shares the latest news, views and analysis in the financial sector.
December 2, 2010 - Washington DC - New York Times columnist David Brooks and Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) sparred over the proper size and function of government in the inaugural American Enterprise Debate Thursday at AEI. The debate stemmed from competing op-eds in which Ryan argued for a limited government while Brooks advocated a more "energetic" and active approach. Ryan opened the debate by arguing that the federal government has become so large and unwieldy that it simply cannot retain the energetic character Brooks promoted. Centralized efforts, Ryan contended, have become too clumsy and overreaching to achieve their intended purposes. He said America has reached a moment of crisis requiring a choice between two divergent paths: a more limited role for government or rapid, open-ended, and destructive expansion. Brooks refuted this claim as a false choice, saying that America's conservative tradition calls for a government that actively promotes growth, fosters strong character, and tools its citizens for success rather than a system marked by a laissez-faire approach. He emphasized that the issue is not binary, but should be seen as a precious opportunity for compromise. Brooks pointed out that plans from both sides of the aisle had considerable overlap and could be used to pursue the mutual interests of both parties if they could avoid the rigidity and polarization of an absolutist worldview. Ryan replied by arguing that the unsustainable trajectory of our debt crisis demanded a change at the philosophical level, saying that winning the idea would preclude winning the policy debate. Full video and supplemental materials from the event are available at American Enterprise Institute.
November 29, 2010 - Washington DC - The structural causes of our economic problems linger, even as we attempt to emerge from the financial crisis, panelists concluded at an American Enterprise Institute event Monday. These "seeds of destruction" impede growth and threaten the recovery. R. Glenn Hubbard, dean of the Columbia Business School and former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, presented the policy prescriptions for improving growth from his new book, Seeds of Destruction: Why the Path to Economic Ruin Runs Through Washington, and How to Reclaim American Prosperity (FT Press, 2010), which he coauthored with Peter Navarro. Hubbard emphasized a need to focus on the long term over the short term and to enact policies that encourage investment rather than consumption. His recommendations covered a wide range of areas, including tax, social security, and energy policy and financial regulatory reform. Ramesh Ponnuru of National Review agreed with many of Mr. Hubbard's proposals but questioned the political feasibility of some, such as an oil price floor. Carmen Reinhart of the Peterson Institute for International Economics suggested that policymakers need to focus on the debt, which is higher than at any time since 1946. Full video and supplemental materials from the event are available at American Enterprise Institute.
November 8, 2010 - Washington DC - The FDIC and the Professional Risk Manager's International Association (PRMIA) are hosting Systemic Risk Supervision: Recognizing the Next Bubble. Topics include: Measurement of Systemic Risk: 21st Century Regulation and Oversight, Big Data: Practical Challenges and Potential Solutons, Bubbles: Detection, Mitigation and Deflation, Resolution Plans: The Front-Line of the Dodd-Frank Act, and Systemic Risk: A Demon of Our Own Design. Laurie Goodman, Senior Managing Director, Amherst Holdings will provide the keynote address. For more information and registration, please visit PRMIA.
November 5, 2010 - Washington DC - The American Enterprise Institute is hosting a panel discussion Foreign Policy Priorities for the New Congress. Members of the 112th Congress will need to get up to speed quickly on national security questions, absent from the midterm debates. The war in Afghanistan, the terrorist threat against the homeland, Iran and North Korea nuclear ambitions, a rising China, and the proper level of defense spending are among the front-burner issues. Danielle Pletka, American Enterprise Institute will moderate panelist: Thomas Donnelly, American Enterprise Institute; William Kristol, Weekly Standard; and Jim Talent, Heritage Foundation. For more information and reservations, please visit the American Enterprise Institute.
October 28 and 29, 2010 - Washington DC - The FDIC is hosting the 10th Annual Bank Research Conference - Financial and Sustainable Growth. Sessions include: Reflections of the Financial Crisis, Finance and the Real Economy, Measuring Systemic Risk, Economics of Ratings, Bank Lending and Capital, Consumer Loan Defaults, and Bank Capital Adequacy. For more information and registration, please visit, the FDIC.
October 26, 2010 - Washington DC - The National Economist Club is hosting T. Timothy Ryan, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. Mr. Ryan will present Dodd-Frank Act Implementation: Paving the New Rules of the Road. Tim will discuss how the financial services industry will approach the rule-making process, industry priorities, and what the future holds for the financial services industry. For more information and registration, please visit, the National Economist Club.
October 20, 2010 - Washington DC - The National Chamber Foundation, the Campaign for Free Enterprise and the American Enterprise Institure are sponsoring A Balancing Act: Federal Debt, Deficit, and Economic Recovery. For more information and registation, please visit the National Chamber Foundation.
October 19, 2010 - Washington DC - The Association of Contingency Planners is hosting a workshop on the Voluntary Private Sector Preparedness Accreditation and Certification Program (PS-Prep). Donald Byrne, CBCP, CDCP,CBRO-M and Lead Auditor will cover PS-Prep Standards, Audit Expectations and Certification. For more information and registration, please vist the Association of Contingency Planners.
October 6, 2010 - Washington, DC - The American Enterprise Institute hosts a panel discussion, "Living in the Post-Bubble World: What's Next?" Moderator, Alex Pollock, AEI will lead a panel of economic and financial experts: Mark Fogarty, National Mortgage News; Desmond Lachman, AEI; John Makin, AEI; Christopher Whalen, Institutional Risk Analytics; and Thomas Zimmerman, UBS Investment Bank. Key discussion points include: government interventions, national debt, sovereign debt, uncertainty, unemployment, housing and mortgage impacts resulting from the biggest credit bubble in the 21st century. For more information and reservations, please visit the American Enterprise Institute.
October 5, 2010 - Washington, DC - The National Economist Club and American University will host a discussion on the Dobb-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Panelist: Mike Konczal, Roosevelt Institute and Mark Calabria, Cato Institute. For more information and/or reservations, please visit the National Economist Club.
September 16, 2010 - Washington, DC - A Strategy for U.S. Fiscal Policy - The federal government faces a daunting fiscal outlook, with the Obama Administration Budget showing deficits over $700 billion yearly for the next 10 years and an accelerating debt spiral. It is widely recognized that this trajectory is unsustainable. Changing the trajectory is essentail and desirable for better economic performance. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former CBO Director, will outline elements of a strategy to achieve sustainable fiscal policy and faster economic growth that includes statutory changes to the budget process and substantive policy proposals. Sponsored by the National Economist Club, hosted by National Federation of Independent Business.
September 13, 2010 - Washington, DC - The American Enterprise Institute sponsored the Shadow Financial Regulator Committee (SFRC) meeting and press briefing. The SFRC is a group of publicly recognized independent experts on the financial services industry. The group meets on a regular basis to study and critique regulatory policies affecting the financial services sector. SFRC members will dicuss the newly passed Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and its implications; Basel Committee on Bank Supervison issues; Securities and Exchange Commission policy initiatives; and other actions and proposals in the financial services sector. SFRC members include: George Kaufman, Richard Herring, Marshall Blume, Charles Calomiris, Kenneth Dam, Edward Kane, Robert Litan, Kenneth Scott, and Chester Spatt. Papers:
* Group of Governors and Heads of Supervision Statement on Capital Standards
* Missed Opportunities in the Dodd-Frank Bill
* Proxy Access and the Market for Corporate Control
* The Monumental Task Assigned to the Fed
* Regulation of Broker-Dealers and the Dodd-Frank Act
July 21, 2010 - The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. While the Act initially targeted the financial services industry, the Act now impacts all publicly traded companies.
May 5, 2010 - The Securities and Exchange Commission charged New York City-based Spongetech Delivery Systems Inc., an affiliate, and five people involved in a massive pump-and-dump scheme that deceived investors into believing they were buying stock in a highly successful company. SEC Press Release.
May 4, 2010 - The preliminary staff report on Shadow Banking and the Financial Crisis was submitted to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) and the public for information, review, and comment. The report provides background factual information to the Commission on subject matters that are the focus of the FCIC’s public hearings on May 5 and 6, 2010. The staff will provide investigative findings as well as additional information on the financial crisis to the Commission over the course of the FCIC’s tenure. Comments due: June 18, 2010. The final report of the Commission's findings is due to the Congress, President and the American people on December 15, 2010.
April 27, 2010 - The US Supreme Court held that the statute of limitations for private actions claiming securities fraud under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act does not begin to run until plaintiffs have discovered or, with reasonable diligence, could have discovered the facts constituting the fraud. US Supreme Court Opinion - Merck & Co. Inc. v. Reynolds, No. 08-905.
April 27, 2010 - The DOJ announced today that it has reached a settlement that will require Baker Hughes Inc. and BJ Services Company to divest two specially equipped vessels and other assets in order to proceed with their proposed merger. The department said that the transaction as originally proposed would combine two of only four companies that provide specialized pumping services, called stimulation services, necessary for the production of oil and gas from wells in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Without the divestitures, the department said the transaction would lead to higher prices and a reduction in service quality. DOJ news release.
April 22, 2010 - OSHA to address urgent safety and health problems facing Americans in the workplace, is implementing a new Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP) and increasing civil penalty amounts. The new Program will focus OSHA enforcement resources on recalcitrant employers who endanger workers by demonstrating indifference to their responsibilities under the law. This supplemental enforcement tool includes increased OSHA inspections in these worksites, including mandatory OSHA follow-up inspections, and inspections of other worksites of the same employer where similar hazards and deficiencies may be present. The SVEP will become effective within 45 days. US Dept. of Labor news release.
April 21, 2010 - Fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon approximely 50 miles southeast of Venice, LA. The rig is owned by Transocean and leased by BP. A Coast Guard MH-65C dolphin rescue helicopter and crew document the fire aboard the mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon, while searching for 11 missing crew members. Multiple Coast Guard helicopters, planes and cutters responded to rescue the Deepwater Horizon's 126 person crew. US Coast Guard news release.
April 21, 2010 - Bruce Karatz, former Chairman and CEO of KB Homes, faces up to 60 years in federal prison after he was found guilty on 4 felony counts of fraud related to stock-option backdating in US District Court, Central District California. SEC litigation release. DOJ press release.
April 19, 2010 - Westward Seafoods Inc., the operator of a seafood processing plant in Dutch Harbor, AK, will pay a $570,000 civil penalty as part of a settlement agreement to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air Act and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, the DOJ and EPA announced today. The settlement resolves a complaint that alleged that Westward Seafoods had multiple violations of the Clean Air Act. DOJ press release.
April 16, 2010 - The SEC charged Goldman, Sachs & Co. and one of its vice presidents for defrauding investors by misstating and omitting key facts about a financial product tied to subprime mortgages as the U.S. housing market was beginning to falter. The SEC alleges that Goldman Sachs structured and marketed a synthetic collateralized debt obligation (CDO) that hinged on the performance of subprime residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). Goldman Sachs failed to disclose to investors vital information about the CDO, in particular the role that a major hedge fund played in the portfolio selection process and the fact that the hedge fund had taken a short position against the CDO. SEC press release. SEC litigation release.
April 1, 2010 - The SEC announced a settlement with Daimler AG for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), alleging that the Stuttgart, Germany-based automobile manufacturer engaged in a repeated and systematic practice of paying bribes to foreign government officials to secure business in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Daimler agreed to pay $91.4 million in disgorgement to settle the SEC's charges and pay $93.6 million in fines to settle charges in separate criminal proceedings announced today by the U.S. Department of Justice. SEC press release.
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