Earlier this week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it has fined US$300,000 and issued a cease-and-desist order to UBS Global Asset Management (GAM) for not following fair valuation procedures in three of its mutual funds (check out the full SEC order against UBS on the regulator’s website here). The infractions took place in June 2008 and involved 48 of the firm’s 54 fixed income securities valuations (non-agency mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, and collateralized debt obligations, to be exact) during that month. The SEC deemed that all but six of the 54 securities were valued in excess of … Continue Reading →

In late April, ION acquired WallStreet Systems (WSS), a major technology vendor in the foreign exchange market. The acquiring company, ION Trading (ION), provides real-time solutions across multiple asset classes for electronic trading, position management, pricing, risk management, and downstream processing. Clients are global financial institutions and niche financial specialists. Traders use ION front-end solutions and the ION platform for their day-to-day trading. The trading interface enables access of more than 80 electronic markets in a single view, using a fully customizable, user-friendly interface. The complementary nature of the solutions is significant: WSS features in the FX space are prevalent in … Continue Reading →

Individuals are feeling the effects of oil addiction, and higher fuel costs are raising concerns about industry recovery. Well, we’ve been to the gas station recently, and US$58 for a fill-up is a shocker. But we’ve seen a lot of shocking news, haven’t we? We have headline fatigue. We are witnessing unrest in the Middle East, a triple disaster in Japan, sovereign debt crisis in the European Union, two long-term wars for the U.S. military, and the global financial crisis. And I’ve purposely left out a few things. Last week, Invesco launched a new ad campaign called “Intentional Investing.” The … Continue Reading →

Hurry, get on, now it’s coming Listen to those rails a-humming All aboard, get on Apple’s iTrain! All aboard! This week, Apple rolls out its second-generation iPad. Who is not interested in the latest electronic gizmo? Two years ago I’d walk onto a train and Kindles were everywhere — now, it’s iPads. And what a change! Do we all feel productive, connected, and informed? Yes! No more dozing on the train, thank you. There is company work to do, correspondence to keep up with; there are events to plan, kids to schedule. Our professional and personal to-do lists are turning … Continue Reading →

Did you catch the Grammys this month? Lady Gaga pulled herself out of a giant egg. I like Lady Gaga — she puts herself on the line (plus, I like any type of dance music — bet my colleagues are surprised). To be a superstar, you have to have staying power. You have to reinvent yourself when everyone says your time is up, or hopes it will be. It occurs to me that the leader board for asset managers is a lot like the music business. Below are the asset manager rankings for U.S. tax-exempt assets for 2006 and 2010. … Continue Reading →

While Americans and Europeans faced austerity programs, borrowing, or the printing of additional money to bail themselves out of the global financial crisis of 2008, Canadians used their budget surplus, accumulated over the last 10 years by a government that worked to maintain balanced budgets. Generally, the country  weathered the storm well. Canadians are comparatively conservative in their approach to financial activities, from government budgeting and risk-averse financial-institution-foreclosure rates (less than .5% due to rigorous lending policies) to strict regulatory oversight of financial institution activities to investors with a bias toward bonds, domestic equity investments, and low household debt. The … Continue Reading →