Category Archives: Regulations and regulators

And Then There Were 3? Three Trials Over Financial Firm Audits Loom for Big Four Firm PwC

PricewaterhouseCoopers faces three potentially serious trials over allegedly negligent audits of failed financial firms. The most significant launched earlier this month in a Florida state court. Other big four firms successfully settled claims.

Big Wall Street Firms Make Lame Excuse for Volcker Rule Non-Compliance, Ask for Additional Five Year Extension

Big Wall Street firms like Goldman and Morgan Stanley offer “dog ate my homework” excuses for failure to comply with the Volcker Rule.

Bill Black: Thomas Friedman – Deregulation Makes Banking Safe

Thomas Friedman, who needs to be renamed “Wrong Way Friedman,” tries peddling the canard that deregulation is a plus for bank stability.

Bill Black: Thomas Friedman’s Big Idea for Hillary – Embrace Wall Street and Deregulation

Help us, Tom Friedman is at it again…

Instant Payment Services – Payer Beware

How the New York Times does its readers a huge disservice by not telling them that so-called “instant payment services” are anything but that.

New Zealand Foreign Trusts: the Scandals, the Reforms, and Some Throat-Clearing From the EU

NZ’s promised Foreign Trust reforms still don’t look quite right

Shaky State of North-South Relations

North-South, or developed-emerging economy dealings, are becoming more contentious.

Americans for Financial Reform Calls Out Private Equity Broker-Dealer Abuses as Latest Example of SEC’s Weak, Selective Enforcement

Americans for Financial Reform, an influential group, calls on the SEC to act to combat a long-standing private equity abuse.

European Bank Shares Fall Out of Bed as Monte dei Paschi Rescue Fails to Reassure

Investors in European bank shares are in a bit of a panic, and for good reason.

The Politically Expedient German Scheme for Eurozone Sovereign Debt Bail-Ins

Yet another half-baked European bail-in plan.

Did Germany Just Blink?

Germany just cut Spain and Portugal some budgetary slack. What’s driving this unexpected outbreak of reasonableness?

Italian Bank Failures Could Disintegrate the EU

How bad is the Italian banking mess?

How Executives Can Personally Profit from Bad Corporate Behavior in Health Care

Two Johnson & Johnson executives were prosecuted in a health care case for illegal marketing but their superiors got off scot free.

EU Gives UK a Brexit Poke in the Eye by Appointing Michel Barnier, Nemesis of the City, as Key Negotiator

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker achieved a significant win by appointing Michel Barnier as a lead Brexit negotiator.

Italy Bank Crisis Looming With Rush to Rescue #3 Bank, Monte dei Paschi

Frantic rescue efforts for Monte dei Paschi are underway but the current plans don’t look very viable.