David Brooks writes today in the New York Times about America’s debt hangover… he is right in positing that this problem comes from inner weaknesses and societal signals… go anywhere, online or street level, and you are bombarded with consumerist noise… in fact its deafening… buy, buy, buy…
So he urges individuals and society to turn […]
What a lovely week… the MSRB began outbound communication today of actions reviewed and taken by its Board of Directors … kudos… http://www.msrb.org/
~~~~ “The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board would like to provide dealers and other interested parties with information about actions taken by the Board at its quarterly meetings. Beginning today, the MSRB will post […]
Netbanker’s excellent statistics… (near time… eventually these could become some of the most useful retail financial statistics… )
From Registered Rep…~~~~ “UBS is trying to address two of its thorniest problems: angry investors who hold frozen auction-rate securities, and angry financial advisors who are leaving because they feel the firm has lost the plot—or simply because they want those fat recruiting bonuses being offered by rival firms….
Meanwhile, UBS clients stuck holding illiquid […]
*** I’m a member of the portfolio review committee at my church… (the only female… ) we meet last night at the request of the senior layperson (80+ years old) to discuss his stepping back from the oversight and relatively active management of the endowment…
Senior layperson has been doing this for over 30 years […]
Finra is so helpful for registered representatives… they have a very useful “online learning” service to get backgrounded on sales practices for Series 7… topics of relevance to fixed income and retail investors…
Debt mark-ups
Fixed income suitability - retail sales practices
Bond sales practices - key risks to consider
This is part of the framework of building […]
From BBG… “SEC Plan for Market-Data Fees Is `Fatally Flawed,’ Sifma Says “
Wall Street’s biggest lobbying group said a U.S. regulator’s plan to let NYSE Euronext charge brokerages for certain stock quotes is so “fatally flawed” that it would be rejected by a federal court.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission can’t rely on competition […]
I read about the appointment of Wayne Strumpfer as the head of the office of investor education at the SEC… welcome… a key responsibility in our financial system… to help educate investors… much can be done at the state and federal regulatory levels to police fraud and unfair dealing… but the true first line […]
From Netbanker…
~~~~ “… 2. This is the best featurette I’ve seen in a while: “real” online signatures. Users “sign” their loan docs by moving their mouse to draw their signature online. The company also offers a typing option, so users type their name on the keyboard and it’s rendered on-screen with a standard script font.
I […]
Finally catching up… news from… Google Finance invests in Google Data…
~~~~ “Our team is pleased to announce the release of a data API for Google Finance portfolios. This means that developers can build financial software that could give you easy access to your portfolios on your desktop, homepage, or mobile phone. If you know something about writing […]
