Obama Plans Fast Action

Wide-ranging changes, including hedge fund rules, for rating agencies,mortgage brokers, and mortgage backed securities' underwriting standards. Also preparing for regulation of derivatives such as Credit Default Swaps. NYT More on Likely Hedge Fund Registration.

How BNY Mellon Weathered Meltdown

Click to read the article at Law.com. Meltdown saw 22 banks fail, but, several majors stood tall, perhaps none taller than BNY Mellon. Legal takes some of credit. How did in-house team help keep the bank afloat?

Financial Regulatory Reform Coming

Time for Congress to create comprehensive regulators who can regulate, if necessary, the entire U.S. financial market. Financial regulators should be provided tools to meet, and perhaps prevent, the next crisis. See more from the The Deal Professor who is testifying today at a hearing called “Where Were the Watchdogs? The Financial Crisis and Breakdown of Financial Governance.”

Obama's SEC Head Tough Enough?

When he nominated Mary Schapiro to lead the SEC, Obama criticized regulators for having "dropped the ball" in a "failure of oversight" in the market meltdown and Madoff scandal. But a close WSJ examination of Schapiro's record shows she has infrequently pursued tough action against big Wall St firms. NASD-NYSE regulatory-merger that Schapiro oversaw shifted power to larger firms at expense of small ones and (nka Finra) missed the mortgage crisis and Madoff.

Will the Regulators be Fired? Help Wanted: Stockbrokers

First, Fire the Regulators
Our financial-oversight system needs more than just a makeover. Read More at Portfolio. Graphic: Remaking Regulators

Help Wanted: Wall Street Stockbrokers, No JokingDetails about retention bonuses for MS and Citi brokers haven't been announced. Smith Barney's top-grossing broker threatened to defect last summer. In response, Citi offered to promote him to management to boost his pay. When that didn't work, CEO Vik Pandit offered to move his personal account from Morgan Stanley, his former employer, to Mr. Zinman's supervision at Smith Barney. Zinman jumped to Credit Suisse anyway.

Starting Overhaul of Wall St Not Encouraging

Will Obama deliver on promise of a “21st-century regulatory framework” for the financial system? The NYT editorial board says the early signs, including his selections for major financial posts, “not terribly encouraging.”

Geithner, Obama Treasury man, was “closest regulator to Wall Street during the years when the excesses that led to the crisis proliferated.” Gensler to lead the CFTC, oversaw legislation that exempted derivatives — including CDS, which amplified the damage — from oversight by the federal commodity regulator. Relying on market discipline to keep risk in check has been a “manifest failure.” Among changes urged are limits on use of leverage to boost profits, stronger capital requirements, more oversight of swaps and derivatives and Hedge Fund Regulation.

Obama Administration Could Mean More Compliance Regs Read more at The Datakos Blawg
Financial meltdown coupled with Democratic control seems like a recipe for a host of new compliance regulations — and thus more business for storage vendors and more work for storage administrators. While it might be years before all this results in any kind of international consensus, another round of regulation is almost certainly at hand.

Weekend that Wall St died

CEO decisions and negotiations, many previously unreported, show how they sought to avert death of their giant investment banks. Efforts culminated in round-the-clock weekend of secret negotiations and personal struggles to keep their firms afloat. Accounts based on documents, emails and interviews with executives, traders, regulators, investors and others. WSJ via The Plain Dealer

Goldman Eyes Dark Blocks | FINRA Looks to Kill OTC "Three Quote Rule"

Goldman Eyes Dark Blocks in Crowded Landscape | FINRA Looks to Kill OTC "Three Quote Rule" Charities Shine During Turbulent Times – Tough times haven't stopped a number of firms from donating a day's commissions to good causes.
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Family?...Cohmad...Auditor AICPA Investigation

Family ruled out,Fortune reports Boston-based Cohmad Securities subpoenaed. 20% owned by Madoff and 80% by Maurice Cohn. Added insult to Madoff investors
What drove Madoff? Questions remain: Videos Untangling Madoff.

Can Mary Schapiro Save the S.E.C.?

Barack Obama introduces Mary Schapiro (left) to serve as chief of SEC, Gary Gensler (second from right) to head the CFTC and Daniel Tarullo (right) to fill an open seat on the Federal Reserve board.

WSJ NYT’s chief financial correspondent writes the choice should please those who hope the S.E.C. can recover from the worst year in its history. Can Mary S. Save the S.E.C.?

"Sleazy Stocks mag cover girl gets SEC nod" - Says Naked Shorts blog.

S.E.C. and Madoff Advice

Madoff SEC ties under a microscope this morning, Dealbook points out that in 2000, Madoff was part of the S.E.C.’s Advisory Committee on Market Information. SEC Meeting Minutes Gary Weiss notes that Chris Cox made it Unanimous in contravention of Arthur Levitt's comments - and moreover that Madoff was an 'Admirer' of Levitt's SEC.
Finally from Dealbreaker: If you are going to defraud, make sure you include personal places of worship of all the really good prosecuting authorities you can muster. Pictured near Apt-courtesy Cityfile.

Levitt: SEC Isn’t to Blame; So far: No Signs Family Aided Madoff

Arthur Levitt Jr., former SEC chairman told The NY Post.
“At this point, I don’t see any evidence that the S.E.C. dropped the ball,” Mr Levitt, now an adviser to Carlyle Group. Video interview: former NASDAQ chairman at 2007 roundtable discussion (33 minutes) with Josh (a Madoff Systems designer). You Tube Video/Link/Commentary from The Jewish Journal. So far, No Signs Family Aided Madoff but as details emerge of trading discrepancies and "Vast Options Game"

SEC Official Married into Family Madoff Boasted of Close SEC Relationship, "My Niece Even Married One" Video and More from ABC Investigative Team

Dealbreaker & Dealbook all over Madoff case, with pithy and other reader comments-RSS Feeds 24/7 Right here->

"There is no more Wall Street."

Alan “Ace” Greenberg, former Bear chief contends that the Street has changed forever with collapse of Lehman and the forced sale of his old firm and Merrill, destroying the investment banking model he helped create.
“That model just doesn’t work because it’s at the mercy of rumors”
In the end, Wall St was destroyed by the very tools Ace created. Greenberg career not over: he accepted a JPMorgan Chase position. Bloomberg reports he'll get a payout equal to 40% of commissions he generates. See Video from Bloomberg

Compliance Staffing Letters, Speeches/Letters from SEC

SEC issued a Letter to BDs, IAs,investment companies and transfer agents, to remind of the critical role played by their firms' compliance programs in assuring that operations comply with the law and rules and to ensure that clients are protected. The open letter follows SEC Chairman Cox's remarks at the SEC 11/13/08 CCOutreach National Seminar. SEC Links posted 12/2 http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2008/2008-283.htm

SEC approved measures to strengthen oversight of credit rating agencies. Video and more from SEC
Debt Watchdogs: Tamed or Caught Napping? Page 1 NYT Lured by profits during the housing boom, credit-rating agencies overlooked the risk of mortgage debt, critics say.

Wall Street Fire Sale

Page 6 has an upside to economic calamity? Schadenfreude. Take a gander at big-ticket items that super-rich Wall Streeters are selling as they feel the pocketbook pinch.
Need a Bailout? Here’s the Form. Companies queuing up for their share of the rescue pie. Others unsure how to get access to the government cash. For those unfortunate souls, Vanity Fair has a (mock) application, the EZ CASH form, that can help put “corporate scions” in the same stead as banks and, potentially, automakers.

More via NY Post. Pictured: Erin Callan: Once the highest- ranking woman on the Street, who rose to CFO at Lehman.