Posts belonging to Category Investor Rights



The Facebook Fiasco Confirms that Wall Street Views Smaller Investors as Second Class Citizens

 

Facebook made national headlines last Friday when the social networking giant sold shares to the general public in its IPO. The company is now making even more headlines as investors have filed lawsuits against it and all of its underwriters alleging that they released material information to only “preferred investors” (See “Facebook, banks sued over […]

Client Trust – Why Honest Financial Advice Is So Important

 

Approximately 81% of 974 surveyed investors said that they expect their financial advisor to be able to explain the array of investment products on the market today (See InvestmentNews, “Clients: So many investment products, so little understanding”). “Advisers must stay on top of the latest investment products because many investors say they’re overwhelmed by investment […]

Chicago Professors Argue That Governmental Approval Should Be Required For Wall Street’s Exotic Financial Products

 

Wall Street is peddling snake oil ? new financial products that are the equivalent of bottles of medicine with labels like “Dr. Bartlett’s Beneficent Balm ? Boon to Mankind” ? and they should be regulated as such, according to University of Chicago professors Eric A. Posner and E. Glen Weyl. The FDA protects consumers from […]

Credit Suisse Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs) Clean Investors’ Clocks

 

Credit Suisse’s VIX (volatility)-linked exchange traded note? named “VelocityShares Daily 2X VIX Short-Term ETN” ? plummeted 30 percent on March 23 after Credit Suisse announced it would resume issuing new shares. “This is a wake-up call,” a Morningstar analyst was quoted as saying, adding: “People don’t take seriously the options that issuers have” that can […]

Be Wary of Recommendations from Financial Analysts

 

Sell recommendations by investment analysts working on Wall Street are still a rarity years after regulators and Congress imposed rules to clean up analyst fraud, and years after FINRA banned Jack Grubman of Citigroup and others who issued buy recommendations on technology stocks they privately considered to be “pigs,” in order to reap personal financial […]

Bloombergs (The Mayor And The Company) Pile On Greg Smith–Why?

 

In the wake of Greg Smith’s op-ed piece about why he is leaving Goldman Sachs, the press has been inundated with all sorts of opinions and comments both supportive and critical. Some question Smith’s motives; others question Goldman’s motives in attacking him. Few address Greg Smith’s central point ? that Goldman puts its own interests […]

Investor Protection As Political Football

 

The House Financial Services Committee under Republican Chairman Spencer Bachus rejected a proposal to increase the SEC’s budget by 18.5 percent to $1.56 billion to pressure the SEC to back down on its recommendation to impose a fiduciary duty standard on broker-dealers. Congressional Republicans tried to justify their rejection of the needed funding by pointing […]

Government Looking For Ways To Cover Gap In Investor Protection

 

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and some Congressmen are seeking to expand the mission of the Securities Investors Protection Corporation (SIPC) to cover investors’ losses in the $7 billion Ponzi scheme operated by convicted felon R. Allen Stanford. The SIPC says it was created by Congress to restore funds to investors with assets in […]

Arbitrators Are Recognizing That ‘Sophisticated Investors’ Can Be Defrauded

 

Wall Street’s favorite defense to investor claims, the “sophisticated investor” defense, isn’t working anymore. In almost every FINRA arbitration brought by an investor, the brokerage firm adopts the mantra that “The claimant is a sophisticated investor.” In essence, the firms argue that the customer was too sophisticated to rely on any alleged misconduct or misrepresentations. […]

SEC Receiver Seeks to Deny Recovery to Many Medical Capital Investors

 

In connection with the Medical Capital receivership, the SEC Receiver recently filed its “Proposed Plan for Distribution” (the “Plan”). Unfortunately, the Plan contains some disturbing news for those investors who were pro-active and obtained recoveries against third-parties through litigation (including class actions) or arbitration.