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

Displaying 111-120 out of 234 results for "Principal Protected Notes".

CFTC Investigating Potential Manipulation in Interest Rate Swap Market

(Apr 2013)

Bloomberg's Matthew Leising is reporting that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has issued subpoenas to current and former employees at swap brokerage firm ICAP (IAP) "and as many as 15 Wall Street banks" for alleged manipulation of a key benchmark price in the interest rate swap market.

The benchmark, known as ISDAfix, "provides average mid-market swap rates for six major currencies at selected maturities on a daily basis." Similar to LIBOR, the rates are set based on end-of-day...

Fees on Structured Products Rise as Sales Increase

(Apr 2013)

Kevin Dugan recently reported that fees on structured products linked to stocks have risen to their highest level in three years. In particular Kevin notes that "issuers and underwriters earned $137.7 million in disclosed fees, or 1.95 percent of the $7.08 billion of equity-tied securities" that have a stated commission. Average fees have ranged from less than 1.5% to nearly 2% over the past three years.

The increase in average fees is likely due to the increase in average term for products...

Goldman Sachs Uses JOBS Act to Sidestep Volcker Rule

(Apr 2013)

Evan Weinberger at Law360 is reporting that Goldman Sachs may have found a way around the Volcker Rule--the ban on proprietary trading by banks, which also prohibits sponsoring hedge funds and private equity funds--by using another controversial regulatory measure, the 2012 JOBS Act (of which we have spoken before):

By setting up an independent business development company in which it will hold a minority stake and limited leverage exposures, Goldman will be able to engage in at least limited...

Stockton California May Proceed with Chapter 9 Bankruptcy

(Apr 2013)

Yesterday a federal judge in California ruled that, despite the objections of bondholders and bond insurers, the city of Stockton could proceed in the process of Chapter 9 bankruptcy. Stockton is a city of almost 300,000 located about 90 minutes east of SanFrancisco Stockton was hard hit by the housing bubble and saw a 16% decline (page 345 of the PDF) in general fund revenue from FY 2008-2009 to FY 2009-2010.

After facing "an immediate and severe fiscal crisis" in early 2012, Stockton became...

TD Ameritrade Data Suggests Retail Investors Use ETFs in 'Sophisticated Ways'

(Mar 2013)

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are increasingly popular among retail investors. ETFs tend to have lower expense ratios than comparable mutual funds, and can be traded intraday like stock, giving them a comparable advantage that has proven attractive. The number of ETF issuers has grown, and that competition has driven down prices in what has become known in the financial press as the "ETF Fee War".

TD Ameritrade has produced an infographic that shows how their clients use ETFs, and the results...

JP Morgan's New Incarnation of Non-Agency RMBS Weakens Provisions from Pre-Crisis Version

(Mar 2013)

Last week, the Wall Street Journal covered the first non-agency residential mortgage-backed security (RMBS) offering from JP Morgan since the financial crisis. This particular RMBS is a collateralized mortgage obligation (CMO) which is "supported by 752 jumbo mortgage loans [...] made to borrowers with high credit scores and with about 35% of their own money in a down payment for the property." JP Morgan originated nearly half of the mortgage pool (48%) and First Republic Bank originated...

SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review - March 22nd, 2013

(Mar 2013)

Fake Hedge Fund Manager Sentenced to 40 Months in Prison
March 20, 2013, (Litigation Release No. 22655)
Andrey C. Hicks was sentenced to "40 months in prison in connection with criminal charges...[of] committing wire fraud, attempting to commit wire fraud, and aiding and abetting wire fraud." Hicks was also "ordered to pay $2.3 million in restitution." In 2011, the SEC charged Hicks and his investment advisory firm, Locust Offshore Management, LLC, "with misleading prospective investors about...

Barclays' Structured Product Linked to a Basket of ETFs and Indexes

(Mar 2013)

RISK.net recently posted an article entitled "IWM urges investors to think about risk-adjusted returns" in the structured products portion of their website. The article describes in detail a Barclays product for which Institute for WealthManagement, LLC (IWM) served as the basket selection agent. Interestingly, the basket is composed mostly of ETFs, which have been appearing in structured products more frequently as the ETF industry itself has become more mature. IWM's Matt Medeiros talked...

SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review - March 8th, 2013

(Mar 2013)

SEC Charges Robert Crane for Market Manipulation
March 7, 2013, (Litigation Release No. 22636)
According to the complaint (opens to PDF), in 2010 Robert Crane manipulated the market of two penny stocks: Argentex Mining Corporation and ERHC Energy Inc. The complaint charges Crane with violating sections of the Securities Act and Exchange Act. A court order was entered against him that permanently enjoins him from future violations of those laws and also imposes a penny stock bar against...

Evolution of Absolute Return Structured Products

(Feb 2013)

From 2006 to 2009, a type of structured product known as an absolute return barrier note (ARBN) was issued by a variety of major investment banks. ARBNs are interesting because they are linked to the absolute value of the return on an underlying, not just its return, and therefore are considered non-directional bets. We've done a lot of work on ARBNs here at SLCG, including a research paper that values a sample of ARBNs and finds they are worth on average 4.5% less than their purchase price...

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