Category Archives: Regulations and regulators

Harry Markopolos Scores Again: State Street Settles for $382 Million on Foreign Exchange Fraud

Harry Markopolos exposed cheating of pension funds and mutual funds in foreign exchange trades,, with State Street the latest settlement.

How Much Do Shady Financial Practices Cost You, Exactly?

The average U.S. household loses over $100,000 to destructives activities of bankers and financiers

New Zealand Offshore Company Agents: Mossack Fonseca is Far From Alone

The global footprint of agents selling NZ companies and trusts

Study: Top Bank Execs Saw the Crisis Coming and Sold Their Company’s Shares

So much for the “whcouddanode” theory of the crisis.

Draghi Supports Bailout of Italy’s Banks

Draghi backs an Italian bank rescue, but that does not settle the issue.

Dodgy New Zealand Companies: Mapping Their Global Footprint Since 2009

New Zealand’s scam companies: a map of their global footprint

Did the European Court of Justice Just Rescue Italy’s Banks? (Updated)

The European Court of Justice just issued a ruling that may allow Italy to rescue its banks without imposing bail-ins.

COBOL and Legacy Code as a Systemic Risk

More on why legacy code at major banks is a ticking time bomb.

How Finance Costs Too Much and Fails to Deliver

The costs of looting by the financial services industry are even more staggering than you probably imagined.

Will Italian Banks Tear Down Europe?

Will Italian banks be the detonator of a political and economic crisis?

Beyond Credit Rating to Stabilizing an Unstable Economy

The third part in a three-part series on how to fix what is wrong with credit rating agencies.

Warren, Sanders, Brown, Merkley, Reed, 4 Other Senators, Ask the SEC to Get Out of Bed on Private Equity

As strange as it may seem, eight Senators ganging up on the SEC over yet another private equity lapse is a sign of a change in the zeitgeist.

Instability in Capitalist Economies and a Better Way to Think About Credit Risk

Instability in capitalist economies comes from the quest for profit. And that has implications for credit ratings that are often ignored.

Private Equity Industry Offers Intelligence-Insulting Defenses for Long-Standing Grifting Due to Refusal to Register as Broker-Dealers

Private equity firms insist that they continue to violate broker-dealer requirements. Why? So they can carry on looting.

Congress Exposes That DoJ Overruled Recommendation to Indict Money Launderer HSBC Over Too Big to Fail Worries

Why money-launderer HSBC got off so easy in 2012: it had lots of official help.