Regulators

IndyMac Bancorp (IMB), the latest victim of the subprime mortgage crisis, has been shut down by the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) today. To avoid selling IndyMac’s assets at fire-sale prices, the FDIC will take over its operations and run the bank until it can find a buyer. The bank will be reopened on Monday [...]

It may be a few years too late, but federal regulators are finalizing some new rules for mortgage lenders that would largely eliminate some of the loopholes with qualifying borrowers for adjustable rate mortgages as well as make it easier for them to refi into loans less onerous. From an L.A. Times story:On Monday, the Federal Reserve is expected to require lenders to document borrowers' incomes

Regulators try to ease selling pressure on munis Insurers can get new ratings on munis backed by downgraded bond insurers By Alistair Barr, MarketWatch Last Update: 6:45 PM ET Jun 2, 2008 SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Regulators unveiled a plan on Monday that they hope will relieve pressure on insurance companies to sell municipal bonds backed by troubled bond insurers. Several bond [...]

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) will continue providing training courses for the professional staff of the State Securities Commission, the commission said on its website yesterday. The courses will focus on improving the commission’s supervisory capacity in order to promote the transparency of... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other con

Viet Nam has too many stock brokerages according to SJC Securities Joint Stock Co general director Huynh Anh Tuan. "With the current small size of the stock market, the number of existing securities companies is too much," said Tuan. "In recent months, the number of newly-founded securities firms has been higher... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Flickr allowing movie uploads but only 90 seconds. Quite limited. Pointless. Chertoff asks for reverse Manhattan project. Florida Teen-Beating triggering movement to stop violent videos from being passed around. New IBM water-cooled UNIX machine said to be fastest ever? Microsoft loading up the public with 44,000 pages of technical details for its projects. What a [...]

REGULATORS TELL SCHUMER: BEAR STEARNS’ CASH SHORTAGE WAS UNKNOWN UNTIL IT WAS TOO LATE, SHOWING NEED FOR REGULATORY REFORM Washington, D.C. - Under questioning today by U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) at a Senate Banking Committee hearing, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke and other top regulators admitted that none of them knew of the [...]

Facing the prospect of a stock market nearly grinding to a halt over the past week, the State Securities Commission yesterday decided to loosen the daily trading band in effect on the nation’s stock exchanges by one percentage point, only one week after tightening the band. Effective on Monday, the trading band on... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

California regulators have drastically cut the number of zero-emission vehicles required to be sold in the state by the year 2014, a decision that frustrated environmentalists but came as a relief to auto manufacturers.  The rules adopted Thursday put the number of electric and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles that automakers sell in California at 7,500 by 2014 [...]

From Capitol Hill to the White House, federal lawmakers and regulators are talking tougher than ever about regulation. The crisis in the nation’s housing market, the roller-coaster ride on Wall Street and the series of safety scares and recalls involving spinach, toys, toothpaste, beef and pet food are driving both political parties to call for [...]

SACRAMENTO – California’s air-quality regulators may wish to lay to rest the legend of who killed the electric car.But a proposal going before the Air Resources Board on Thursday fails to sway critics convinced that the state continues to retreat from its once-lofty goal of seeing thousands of electric cars on the roadways. “They’re backing down,” said Bill Hammons, president of the Electric Vehicle Association of San Diego. “It’s a total collapse.” A staff report recommends that the board greatly reduce the required number of purely electric vehicles that automakers offer for sale and instead focus on more readily available and less expensive hybrids that would still cut pollution dramatically. It’s a difference that would save the auto industry more than

Pattaya, Thailand – The Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall (PEACH), the world-class meetings facility of the multi award-winning Royal Cliff Beach Resort, hosted the crucial 8th Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR08) held from 11 to 13 March. Themed “Six Degrees of Sharing: Innovative infrastructure sharing and open access strategies to promote affordable access for all”, the three-day event was organised by the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in collaboration with the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) of Thailand.

Google could soon be forced to delete identifying user information from its search logs, statements by the European Union data regulators suggest. The search engine’s lawyers have long argued that network addresses don’t really count as personal information, and even if they did, the company’s policy of masking the last few digits of an IP [...]

NEW YORK - Some major banks and securities firms that have suffered huge credit losses failed to understand the inherent risks of securities they bought, top global banking regulators said on... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

First, they came for the restaurants, then they came for the bars and bowling alleys, now if you live in Minnesota and are a smoker, they're after your apartment and car.The victories of health Nazis have emboldened them to tackle new challenges. Private apartments and vehicles are their next target.More top-level strategy for a Smoke-Free MinnesotaBy Mark Brunswick and Curt Brown, Star Tribune:Fresh from their success winning a statewide smoking ban in bars and restaurants, Minnesota's anti-smoking advocates are ready to zero in on where you live.One anti-smoking group will kick-start a campaign this week to encourage landlords to outlaw smoking in their buildings. While the program would be purely voluntary for now, some communities might follow two California cities by considering broader ordinances that would apply to multi-unit dwellings.Smoke-free groups are also considering pushes to restrict drivers who smoke with kids in their cars, park users who smoke and even cigarette-da

As a senior counsel on the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, I participated in the building of the current relationships between the U.S. financial institutions, the federal financial regulators (Treasury and component agencies, FDIC, SEC, and the Federal Reserve Board), and law enforcement to prevent terrorist financing and money laundering. Over the past six years, the parties have quietly worked together to prevent numerous terrorist attacks (I know of six) and to build an infrastructure...(read more)

The final report on the crash of Garuda flight 200 in Indonesia in March has delivered scathing criticism of the plane's pilot and airline regulators.Our Indonesia correspondent Geoff Thompson reports from Jakarta five Australians were among the 21 people killed when Garuda flight 200 crash-landed in March.The final report on the crash has strongly condemned the pilot in charge for flying too fast for the plane's wing-flaps to be operated properly.It says the pilot in charge of Garuda flight 200 did not follow company procedures and make a stabilised approach to the runway in Yogyakarta on the day of the accident.He was also criticised for not aborting the landing and going around when alerts sounded 15 times, as well as the copilot screaming to the chief pilot to go around when the aircraft first bounced off the runway.Indonesia's Director General of Civil Aviation was also criticised for not identifying deficiencies in the pilot's training.Rescue and firefighting services at Yogy

There has been a lot of press recently reporting the call from regulators and politicians for hedge funds to have greater disclosure. It has been flavour of the month recently because of the 'threat' (as some see it) of the lightly regulated nature of these investment vehicles. The real question is; Can hedge funds survive if they have to disclose their inner most workings? I think not. At

It's always amusing to poke fun at the regulators but it is twice as much fun when industry 'experts' add to the cock up. I have always been told that the definition of an expert is 'ex' as in 'has been' and 'spurt' as in a 'drip' under pressure. This may be a little harsh but when the lunatics are taking over the asylum it's time to get concerned On Tuesday October 10th, Europe’s

Mortgage lenders in subprime ‘traffic jam’ by Financial Times - 10/3/07 snips:US mortgage companies are being overwhelmed by the large numbers of homebuyers who need to renegotiate their loans to avoid default, creating a “subprime traffic jam” that could frustrate efforts by regulators to prevent foreclosures, experts say. Mortgage servicers, the operations that collect loans, say they are having trouble making profits because of record levels of late payments and delinquencies. Litton Loan Servicing estimates that costs have increased 20 per cent in the last year for mortgage servicers, who even in good times depend on razor-thin profit margins... “Servicers have failed because there’s a huge resourcing issue,” said Barefoot Bankhead, managing director at Navigant Consulting. “As lenders have gone out of business, the servicing arms have been in transition without the resources to handle the enormous number of requests for loan modifications and restructuring.” T

Jacksonville, FloridaThe Health Insurance Advisory Board of Florida has considered a list of legistlative recommendations that adress many aspects of health care reform.The board, which is chaired by Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty, will consider the list during a public hearing Sept. 17 at noon at the Senate Office Building in Tallahassee. Also during the hearing, the board will hear a presentation on expenditures of low-income pool dollars and other sources of funding for the care of uninsured persons, and will review a draft of a report on Florida's commercial health insurance market. The Agency for Healthcare Administration will present an update on its efforts to improve the transparency of health care systems. The Heritage Foundation, a think tank that promotes conservative public policies, will make a presentation on its proposals for health care reform.

The Guardian, in the following story published on January 10, 2005, says that while Sanofi is confident it has a winner in the new anti-obesity drug Acomplia, it can expect close scrutiny during the approval process of the side effects. Want to lose weight, stop smoking and cut down on your alcohol consumption? An easy way to do all three is a tempting prospect in the post-Christmas gloom. This new healthy lifestyle could be as easy as just popping a pill, if the hype surrounding the new “wonder drug” Acomplia is to be believed. A flurry of articles last year have lauded this drug, which is being developed by the newly merged French company Sanofi Aventis. The drug has been shown to help people quit smoking - without the usual expanding waistline - and induce weight loss. Trials to see if the drug cuts patients’ alcohol intake are under way and some experts have suggested it could be a potential treatment for schizophrenia and serious drug addiction. Doctors are crying out for he

While diet drug rimonabant may double your risk of depression, its benefits “continue to outweigh its risks” for overweight and obese individuals who are not taking antidepressants, European drug regulators concluded on July 19th. But in deciding to let Acomplia remain on the market in Europe, the regulators expressed concern that “too many patients are taking Acomplia at the same time as antidepressants,” and issued a tougher warning to doctors to stop prescribing it to patients on antidepressants or suffering major depression. The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) issued their decision after reviewing safety data that led a U.S. FDA advisory panel last month to unanimously recommend against allowing rimonabant (also known as Zimulti) to be prescribed in the United States. The EMEA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) said it asked Sanofi-Aventis following the FDA advisory panel meeting in June 2007 to “submit all available inform

At the end of last year Owens corning (OC) and St. Gobain announced a joint venture for the production of composite materials. It was going to be 60 /40 owned by OC and either company had the option to buy out the other's interest in 4 years and OC indicated that they would most likely eventually exercise that option. The plan ran into hurdles with EU regulators and both companies withdrew their application earlier this year. The objections of the regulators was never really made clear. So,... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

As if there isn't enough talk of the sub-prime mortgage business already out there, here is another post concerning the subject. Why is this post different than some of the others? For one, living in Los Angeles means I have some friends in the mortgage arena so I know a thing or two about the business, and for another, the investor side of me presents the other side of the coin.So whats the problem in sub-prime? To understand that better, lets start with what is sub-prime. Every lender has a different criteria for sub-prime but mainly, people with Poor to Good credit are considered sub-prime. Usually, this translates to a FICO or a box score of between 500 and 700. Some lenders have prime mortgage products for those that have a credit score of 640-700, but for the most part, this area is considered Alt A, which means prime product for a sub-prime borrower. For a business, sub-prime loans are risky in that they have a higher tendency to default, however, these loans have higher profit

If this does in fact pass it would put a cap on what some believe are excessive roaming rates and level the playing field for all carriers across the EU. Will definitely keep an eye on this one. European Union telecom regulators have settled on a price they would like to see for roaming rates that EU operators can charge customers, although the new rule has yet to receive final approvals.

Nothing kills a stock quicker than getting the Feds involved. Welcome to the implosion of the subprime market. Like I mentioned on: 2/12 – Did You Feel That? Housing Just Hit The Third... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

While it continues to battle New York officials, Shelton Brothers of Massachusetts is now taking the Maine Bureau of Liquor Enforcement to federal court because that state will not allow three brands the company imports to be sold in the state. One of the beers, Santa's Butt Winter Porter, is also involved in the New York dispute. Maine regulators also feel that the label featuring Santa Claus will appeal to children. The other two beers are being censored because the label art features bare-breasted women. Shelton is bringing the lawsuit with the help of the Maine Civil Liberties Union, saying the art on the label is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Les Sans Culottes, a French biere de garde, uses a Eugene Delacroix painting from the 1830s in the Louvre collection, "Liberty Leading the People." The label on Rose de Gambrinus, a Belgian lambic, has a watercolor painting with a naked woman. Officials in Maine say they reject very few label applications eac

Seattle, Washington - In what it characterized as its largest-ever case against a payday lender, the state Department of Financial Institutions on Wednesday filed a statement of charges against Check 'N Go of Washington Inc. and said it intends to revoke the company's license.

State insurance regulators are focusing their efforts on a short list of five consumer problems areas related to the improper sale of variable annuities and life insurance. The problem areas include: 1) 1035 exchanges, 2) variable annuities inside of qualified accounts, 401(k)s or IRAs, 3) failure to fully disclose costs and fees, 4) comparing sub-accounts to mutual funds, and 5) improper or

AM-online reports the European Commission has unveiled new safety rules that– it says– could save 5k lives a year. Oh, and help cut fuel consumption. If the rules are approved by the European Parliament, all new cars sold in the Eurozone from 2012 will be equipped with tire pressure monitors, electronic stability control (ESC) [...]