Wall St Reform Battle: Hedge Funds Fret

Coming Battle Over Wall St Reform Hedge Funds Fret About Proposed Rules: “How many people do I have to allow to come through my front door demanding a look at my books?”

Administration Unveils Financial System Overhaul

Obama administration unveiled sweeping overhaul. First step to decide on a single entity to be responsibile for ensuring systemic stability over major institutions and payments and settlement systems. Federal Reserve cited as the most likely agency for that task. Geithner said advisers to hedge funds and other private pools of capital like private-equity and venture capital funds should register with the SEC.

Traders Comment on “Uptick Rule”

Have Market changes rendered price tests ineffective? STA Comment Letter: SEC Proposal on Shorts. Sen. Kaufman (Del.) introduced his first legislation which would reinstate “uptick rule” restricting short sales. Sen. also opined on "Naked Shorts."

Big Investor Subsidies in New Toxic Asset Plan

Goal is to leverage dwindling resources of bailout program with private investors. Treasury plans to buy as much as $1 trillion in mortgages and related assets. WSJ Pictured: Treasury's Geithner criticized when he outlined a rescue plan with no details. HatTip PE Wire link to details and basic fact sheet of how public-private partnership would work

Raters' Windfall in Bailout Program | Fed All-In

Critics say Moody's, S&P and Fitch have made few changes to the way they assess debt. Have they taken steps to avoid a repeat of past mistakes in assigning ratings? Still paid for ratings by the companies whose bonds they rate, potential conflict of interest. Anticipated competition for the three has failed to materialize so far. WSJ Op-ed: Secretary of the Fed? Bernanke/Fed all in this week to unlock markets and spur economy.

SEC Looks at More Short-Sale Measures

Aiming for April to restore uptick rule. Will look at other ways to address short-selling.Uptick rule, adopted after the 1929 stock market crash, allowed short sales only when the last sale price was higher than the previous price and was abolished in 2007. Reuters et al.

Fed Chief Calls for Overhaul of Financial Rules

Federal Reserve chairman Bernanke called for broad reworking of how government regulates the financial system to prevent future financial meltdowns.
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Treasury's two new TARP contracts

The Treasury Department finalized two new contracts with law firms to help manage the 'mountain' of bank transactions stemming from the Troubled Assets Relief Program. HatTip: Legal Times