Posts belonging to Category Wells Fargo



Wells Fargo Settles Mortgage-Backed Securities Claims filed by Pension Funds

 

Wells Fargo & Co. has agreed to pay $125 million to a group of pension funds to settle a class action filed by various public pension funds that purchased billions of dollars of mortgage-backed securities believing their money was in AAA-backed investments, according to a Wall Street Journal article by David Benoit entitled “Wells Fargo […]

Morgan Keegan for Sale?

 

Regions Financial Corp. is trying to find a buyer for Morgan Keegan, but the clock is ticking, and the longer it takes, the greater the likelihood that its most valuable asset, the advisor reps, will leave, thereby reducing the value, and making a sale unlikely to happen at all, according to Andrew Osterand’s InvestmentNews article […]

The Real Truth Regarding Some of Wall Street’s Subprime Shenanigans Begins to Emerge

 

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC has agreed to pay $153.6 million to settle SEC charges that it misled investors in a complex “built to fail” mortgage securities transaction just as the housing market was starting to plummet.

The Subprime Mortgage Mess: How the American Dream Turned into a Nightmare

 

Best-selling “Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed, and Corruption Led To Economic Armegeddon,” by Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner, “calls out greedy guys behind mortgage mess,” according to a USA Today book review by Kathryn Caravan. See also “Home Truths,” by James Freeman of the Wall Street Journal. Both reviews provide examples of how the […]

Magnetar CDO Deals Haunt Wall Street Firms

 

The Securities and Exchange Commission is broadening its investigation into the world of “built to fail” collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) by looking at Merrill Lynch’s CDO business, according to articles by Marian Wang of Pro Publica (“Merrill Lynch Investigated for CDO Deal Involving Magnetar”) and Kara Scannell of the Financial Times (“SEC Probes $1.5 Billion […]

Wells Fargo’s Auction Rate Securities Woes Continue

 

Wells Fargo Securities LLC is the subject of an investor class action lawsuit alleging that it violated intended third-party beneficiaries of an auction rate securities settlement with the SEC by refusing to buy back auction rate securities from trusts that purchased and held those securities as trust property, according to a Law360 article by Richard […]

Wells Fargo Sanctioned for Failing to Deliver Prospectuses

 

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has fined Wells Fargo Advisers $1 million for failing to timely deliver prospectuses to approximately 934,000 customers who bought mutual funds in 2009, according to an InvestmentNews article entitled “Wells took up to 153 days to get prospectuses to mutual fund buyers: Finra.”

Wells Fargo/Wachovia Settles CDO Price-Gouging Charges

 

Wells Fargo & Co. has agreed to pay $11.2 million to settle SEC charges that Wachovia Capital Markets LLC sold mortgage-backed securities called collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) at prices that were 70% higher than its own estimate of the mark-to-market value of the securities, according to articles by Liz Skinner of InvestmentNews (“Wells Fargo to […]

Structured Products Aren’t What You Think They Are

 

Structured products are little more than IOUs from issuers and brokers who have come up with complex ways to take investors’ money. They are marketed as “low risk and high yield” ? an oxymoron when dealing with stocks and the market. But to many older, fixed income investors and those tired of low interest money […]

Is UBS Wealth Management for Sale?

 

Rumors persist that Wells Fargo & Co. is in discussions with UBS AG about acquiring its retail-wealth-management operations in the U.S., according to Andrew Osterland’s InvestmentNews article, “Wells Fargo and UBS at the table again?” The rumors seem to be supported by Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf, who was quoted as saying: “In the wealth […]