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Our experts frequently write blog posts about the findings of the research we are conducting.

Displaying 9 out of 9 results for "Variable Prepaid Forward".

Impuestos, Bonos Municipales de Puerto Rico y los Fondos UBS

(Oct 2014)

A la fecha hemos escrito extensamente sobre los fondos de bonos municipales UBS Puerto Rico. Pueden encontrar nuestra más reciente entrada al blog aquí. La singularidad del régimen impositivo de Puerto Rico sigue saliendo a colación y pensamos que una entrada al blog aclarando este asunto vale la pena.

Los residentes de Puerto Rico no pagan impuestos sobre el ingreso al gobierno federal pero pagan altos impuestos sobre el ingreso. Los puertorriqueños pagan una tasa impositiva marginal máxima...

SEC Examiniation Priorities 2014

(Jan 2014)

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) senior staff recently announced their 2014 examination priorities . The national examination program will be focusing on fraud detection and prevention, corporate governance, and registrants that serve as both a broker-dealer and investment adviser.

SEC staff also plans to undertake initiatives that examine the rollover of retirement vehicles during employment transitions or near retirement. In particular, the staff is concerned about misleading...

SEC Awards More Than $14 Million to Whistleblower

(Oct 2013)

Earlier this week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that an anonymous whistleblower has been awarded over $14 million for the information provided to the SEC that resulted in an expedited enforcement action. This is the third, and by far the largest, award granted by the SEC's Office of the Whistleblower since it was established by the Dodd-Frank Act in 2011.¹
Although the announcement does not specifically mention which enforcement action lead to the award, we can...

Illiquid ETFs and SEC Market Maker Incentives

(Sep 2013)

There is now nearly $1.5 trillion invested in exchange-traded products (ETPs) in some 1,400 exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded notes. However, not all of that huge sum is distributed evenly. Some funds, like SPY, have huge assets under management, while many others struggle to top $10 million. Often, issuers will close lightly-traded ETPs (leading to substantial turnover each year), but if they don't, the market price of an ETP can often deviate from the net asset value of its...

SEC to Vote on New Money Market Fund Rules

(Jun 2013)

Tomorrow, the Securities and Exchange Commission will vote on new rules pertaining to the $2.6 trillion money market fund (MMF) industry. The SEC hopes that the new rules will safegaurd against future runs on MMFs, such as those that occurred during the financial crisis after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. A "run on" MMFs occurs when many investors (or a few very large investors) attempt to redeem their shares in near unison, resulting in significant liquidations of MMF holdings.

A money...

SEC Examination Priorities 2013

(Feb 2013)

Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced their examination priorities for 2013 "to communicate with investors and registrants about areas that are perceived by the staff to have heightened risk, and to support the SEC's mission to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation."

For those that are unfamiliar, SEC staff conducts examinations of SEC registrants through their regional offices and headquarters

to determine...

Variable Prepaid Forwards Cost JP Morgan at least $18 million

(Oct 2012)

Yesterday, the Oklahoma District Court in Tulsa, OK ordered JP Morgan Chase Bank to pay the Burford Trust over $18 million. In addition to this payment, JP Morgan is responsible for attorneys' fees and punitive damages to compensate the trust for the diminution in value resulting from a series of 11 variable prepaid forward contracts (VPFs) JP Morgan entered into with the Trust starting in May 2000. The news of this decision has been picked up by Bloomberg, the New York Times as well as ...

Two New Exotic Products from the CBOE

(Oct 2012)

The CBOE has begun the offering process on two new and highly innovative volatility-related products that could have broad implications for the exchange traded products market and index investing in general.

The new S&P 500 Variance Futures are futures contracts on the realized variance of the S&P 500 index. This is in contrast with VIX futures, which trade on the impliedvolatility of the S&P 500; however, according to a CBOE press release, the ability to combine the two may have motivated...

Variable Annuity Regulation: Speech by Susan Nash

(Jul 2012)

Last Tuesday, Susan Nash, Associate Director of the Division of Investment Management at the SEC, gave an interesting speech at the URI 2012 Government, Legal & Regulatory Conference regarding variable annuities. Variable annuities continue to grow in sales -- according to Ms. Nash's comments, sales of variable annuities grew by approximately 12% in 2011 -- but have been the subject of numerous FINRA Investor Alerts and Regulatory Notices due to their high costs and complex risks.

Ms. Nash...

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