Category Archives: Regulations and regulators

GSE Reform Dead for Now

I’m a little surprised at the overly coded reporting at the New York Times and particularly the Wall Street Journal, where Nick Timiraos provides top-notch coverage on the mortgage beat, on the implications of the failure of a widely-touted, Administration-backed GSE reform bill to get out of the Senate Banking Committee. Basically, it confirms what I’ve long believed but refrained from writing about, namely, that government sponsored enterprise, aka, GSE reform, was not going to get done in this session of Congress.

Bill Black: GAO and Wall Street Journal Whitewash Huge Criminal Bank Frauds

Every day brings multiple new scandals. At least they used to be scandals. Now they’re simply news items strained of ethical content by business journalists who see no evil, hear no evil, and speak not about evil.

Health Care Information Technology: A Danger to Physicians and to Your Health

The causes of the crapification are legion, but one that is having a bigger impact on health care than is widely recognized is bad information technology implementation. And I don’t mean the healthcare.gov website.

Abigail Field: The Government Corruption Case Against Fracking and Keystone

The debate on whether to frack or not, whether to build the Keystone pipeline or not, focuses on jobs v. environment. But this conventional framing looks past the fact that there are other ways to create jobs, and even worse, the role of government corruption in covering up the environmental costs.

Satyajit Das: Flash Boys’ HFT Mumbo Jumbo

Satyajit Das reviews Michael Lewis’ book Flash Boys. Das finds it to be deeply flawed,: deficient in its understanding of HFT and not very well written.

Volcker Rule: Swiss-Cheesed or Beefed Up?

Gerald Epstein provides an informative, layperson-accessible update on what has become of the much-ballyhooed Volcker Rule.

The Real Problem with High Frequency Trading

While Michael Lewis’ book Flash Boys is sensationalistic and simplistic, it may goad regulators into action, particular since many knowledgeable observers have been making similar arguments for years. But let’s hope they focus on the real issues.

More From Ex-SEC Lawyer James Kidney on the Agency’s Failing

Former SEC enforcement lawyer James Kidney discusses the agency’s shortcomings and suggests reforms.

Quelle Surprise! Ginnie Mae Says Bank of America Has Lots of Servicing Documents Missing; MERS Also in Hot Water

An article by Kate Berry in American Banker earlier this week hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves. Anyone who was paying attention to the mortgage beat in 2010 through 2012 knew that mortgage securitization originators and servicers were playing fast and loose with critical documents like mortgage notes because they couldn’t be bothered to observe […]

SEC is Kinda Thinking About Doing Something About High Frequency Trading

Why the SEC’s latest trial balloon about what it might do about high frequency trading is an embarrassment.

Cathy O’Neil: Let’s Stop Talking About HFT for a Little While

Why the brouhaha about HFT distracts attention from much bigger Wall Street abuses.

Mirable Dictu! US Regulators Impose Tougher Rules on Bank Capital

It’s easy to be cynical about the state of bank regulations, since the regulators themselves have for the most part been badly captured by the industry. So it’s important to give them credit when they take a meaningful step in the right direction.

SEC Lawyer on Goldman CDO Case Describes How the Agency Wimped Out

Susan Beck at American Lawyer (hat tip Abigail Field) has managed to get an inside view of what was going on at the SEC when it launched its case against Goldman and a Goldman vice president, Fabrice Tourre, over a Goldman CDO called Abacus that went spectacularly bad. So was the SEC corrupt or merely incompetent?

SEC: More Than Half the Private Equity Firms Gouge on Fees

Today, two stories broke on the SEC’s activities in private equity, one in Bloomberg, another in Reuters, and they look to be based on authorized leaks. Together, they suggest that the SEC, which obtained new oversight authority for private equity firms under Dodd Frank, has been turning over rocks and found so many creepy-crawlies that even the normally complacent agency felt compelled to take notice.

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Category Archives: Regulations and regulators

GSE Reform Dead for Now

Bill Black: GAO and Wall Street Journal Whitewash Huge Criminal Bank Frauds

Health Care Information Technology: A Danger to Physicians and to Your Health

Abigail Field: The Government Corruption Case Against Fracking and Keystone

Satyajit Das: Flash Boys’ HFT Mumbo Jumbo

Volcker Rule: Swiss-Cheesed or Beefed Up?

The Real Problem with High Frequency Trading

More From Ex-SEC Lawyer James Kidney on the Agency’s Failing

Quelle Surprise! Ginnie Mae Says Bank of America Has Lots of Servicing Documents Missing; MERS Also in Hot Water

SEC is Kinda Thinking About Doing Something About High Frequency Trading

Cathy O’Neil: Let’s Stop Talking About HFT for a Little While

Mirable Dictu! US Regulators Impose Tougher Rules on Bank Capital

SEC Lawyer on Goldman CDO Case Describes How the Agency Wimped Out

SEC: More Than Half the Private Equity Firms Gouge on Fees

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