The SIPA

The decision by the Trustee is puzzling on so many levels I almost do not know where to begin so In keeping with my theme from my speech last week to Broker Dealers at the Financial Services Exchange meeting in Atlanta: Follow the money!

AS WELL AS AN INCREASE IN COMMISSIONS Houston we have a problem. Perhaps no phrase has ever spoken more about a problem than these famous words from Apollo 13 years ago. One little problem turned into thousands of people working day and night to try and solve a ‘problem’ that eventually led to the safe […]

There are so many people that I would like to thank for being a part of my life but it would be impossible to list them all here wouldn’t it? On second thought, maybe its time to live for NOW and not worry about time so in no particular order I just want to thank the following people for being an important part of my life in 2010 and hopefully in the years to come…

changes the Safe Harbor rule limiting your expansion capabilities (makes you ask permission from FINRA for virtually any new lines of business or expansions beyond “safe harbor”). Again, preventing you from potential revenue while the district takes its time to approve.

One would think that in light of the financial meltdown as well as the Financial Reform being proposed by Congress that FINRA would seek to reform or maybe even change its current Board and get new blood in the system…But no, not FINRA. FINRA re nominated the existing Head Governor as well as numerous other existing board members to new terms. This makes sense only if there is a bigger picture which fools like me often overlook.

Perhaps congress can get together and grant the Fed the right to control interest rates while they are at it? Maybe Congress could give the SEC the power to curb or eliminate things like naked short selling, buying mutual funds yesterday with today’s news and cracking down on illegal ponzi schemes?

The new Obama administration promised change and change was delivered all right. Trillions of dollars were borrowed from China in an effort to get the economy and more important the jobs created. One year later and the administration is learning the hard way what all of us in the Brokerage world already know: The Government does not create lasting jobs, the private sector does.

A judge who finally gets it right NEW YORK – A federal judge on Monday rejected a $33 million settlement between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Bank of America Corp. over bonuses paid by Merrill Lynch. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff called the proposed consent judgment "inadequate." Rakoff wrote in an opinion that the $33 million settlement was a "trivial penalty for a false statement that materially infected a multi-billion-dollar merger."

Previously, we here at The SIPA have questioned the investment losses of FINRA and wondered out loud if they may have invested in Madoff….well we could be about to find out.  A lawsuit has been filed against FINRA by a member firm that alleges conflict of interest as well as demands the books of FINRA […]

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

In the midst of perhaps the greatest collapse in Wall Street history, FINRA is hard at work not protecting American Investors across the country, but instead is working behind the scenes to once again consolidate even more power away from small firms and place it in the hands of a few.  The SEC is currently […]