Walmart’s broader foray into the grocery biz—letting customers order online and pick up in person and expanding home delivery—is paying dividends for the retailer and helping push its revenue up 3.8% from this period a year...more
8/17/2018
/ Advertising ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Cable Television Providers ,
China ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Deutsche Bank ,
DirectTV ,
Elon Musk ,
Facebook ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Grocery Stores ,
Investment Fraud ,
Marijuana ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
MetLife ,
Misleading Impressions ,
Mortgage Loan Originators ,
Opioid ,
Ponzi Scheme ,
REIT ,
RMBS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Social Media ,
State Street ,
Stock Prices ,
Tesla ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Wal-Mart
Elon Musk had some explaining to do in light of his “funding secured” tweet on August 7 in the context of taking Tesla private, and he’s gone to the corporate blog to do so, arguing that his meetings with representatives of...more
8/14/2018
/ Automotive Industry ,
Class Action ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Digital Currency ,
Discovery ,
Elon Musk ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Ether ,
Financial Crisis ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
LIHTC ,
Netflix ,
Real Estate Development ,
RMBS ,
Student Loans ,
Subprime Loans ,
Tesla ,
Turkey ,
Virtual Currency ,
Wells Fargo
The US government is officially greenlighting fintech, with both the OCC and the Treasury Department issuing statements yesterday in support of the “emerging corner of the financial sector.” For the OCC, that means welcoming...more
8/1/2018
/ China ,
Coal Industry ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EU ,
Extradition ,
Financial Crisis ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Forex ,
Greece ,
High Frequency Trading ,
HSBC ,
IMF ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Kickbacks ,
Market Manipulation ,
NYSE ,
Securities Traders ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
UK Supreme Court ,
US Trade Policies
The world’s keeping a wary eye on Turkey’s economic well-being, especially given the precipitous drop in the value of the country’s currency (which has pushed up prices for consumers and corporations) and President Erdogan’s...more
7/11/2018
/ Android ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Automotive Industry ,
Breach of Duty ,
China ,
Credit Suisse ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Forex ,
Google ,
Insider Trading ,
Judges ,
Morgan Stanley ,
Nominations ,
Retirement Plan ,
Rupert Murdoch ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Smartphones ,
Tariffs ,
Tesla ,
Trade Policy ,
Trade Relations ,
Trade Retaliation ,
Trump Administration ,
Turkey
We’ve begun exploring here the impact that the White House’s Iran deal pullout (and subsequent threat to impose sanctions on Iran’s trading partners) will have on particular EU-based companies (right, Peugeot)? Now we’ve...more
6/7/2018
/ Activist Investors ,
Agricultural Sector ,
Allergan Inc ,
Automotive Loans ,
Cargill ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Credit Suisse ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Director Mulvaney ,
EU ,
Farms ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Payday Loans ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Tariffs ,
Title Loans ,
Trade Relations ,
US Trade Policies ,
Warren Buffett
Europe’s much-ballyhooed (and feared) General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) officially goes into effect today. Here’s a look at the mad dash across all sectors (and outside of the EU) to comply....more
5/25/2018
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Apple ,
CBS ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Deregulation ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Driverless Cars ,
Economic Growth Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act ,
FDIC ,
Federal Housing Administration (FHA) ,
FHA Loans ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Medicare ,
Non-Bank Lenders ,
Out-of-Pocket Expenses ,
Pfizer ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Viacom ,
Volkswagen
Takeda has officially emerged victorious in the battle for Shire. The Japanese drug giant will pay more than $66/share to acquire Shire in a deal valued at $62 billion....more
5/8/2018
/ Activist Investors ,
Citigroup ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Crude Oil ,
E-Commerce ,
Elon Musk ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
International Data Transfers ,
Leverage Ratio ,
Nestle ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
Retail Market ,
Starbucks ,
State and Local Government ,
Takeda Pharmaceuticals ,
Wal-Mart ,
Warren Buffett
More than 3 years after admitting to cheating on diesel emissions tests, Volkswagen appears poised to oust CEO Matthias Muller—likely in favor of former BMW exec Herbert Diess....more
4/11/2018
/ Alibaba ,
Capital Requirements ,
China ,
Class Action ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Facebook ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Mark Zuckerberg ,
Penny Stocks ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Sprint ,
Stress Tests ,
Subprime Mortgages ,
T-Mobile ,
Tariffs ,
Token Sales ,
Trade Relations ,
US Trade Policies ,
Volkswagen ,
Wells Fargo
Some analysis of Friday’s less-than-booming jobs report – NYTimes and Bloomberg And a look at Fed Chair Powell’s first major remarks on the state of the economy and the potential effects a trade war would have on the Fed’s...more
4/9/2018
/ Asset Freeze ,
China ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Data Collection ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Facebook ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
HSBC ,
India ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Job Creation ,
Libor ,
Mark Zuckerberg ,
Market Manipulation ,
Personal Data ,
Privacy Concerns ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
Unemployment ,
Unregistered Securities ,
US Trade Policies ,
Wells Fargo
With all that went on between the US and China over the past week alone on tariffs, a timeline may help. Luckily, the Times was thinking of our plight when it put this together....more
4/6/2018
/ Airlines ,
Aluminum Sales ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
BlackRock ,
China ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Data Breach ,
Dating Services ,
Financial Services Industry ,
General Electric ,
Job Creation ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
KPMG ,
Mobile Apps ,
Online Marketplace Lending ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Ransomware ,
Steel Industry ,
Tariffs ,
Tinder ,
Trade Relations ,
Unemployment ,
US Trade Policies
The DOJ is expanding its Wells Fargo sales probe into the bank’s wealth management division, a troubling move for an organization still trying to right the ship in its retail-banking unit where the sham-account scandal...more
3/19/2018
/ Blockchain ,
China ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Collection ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Facebook ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Franchises ,
FTSE ,
Housing Market ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Joint Employers ,
McDonalds ,
NLRB ,
Retaliation ,
Startups ,
Wealth Management ,
Wells Fargo
As has been buzzed about for several months, music-streaming startup Spotify has officially filed [directly] a prospectus for its listing on the New York Stock Exchange....more
3/1/2018
/ Bank of America ,
Banks ,
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) ,
Capital Raising ,
Corporate Culture ,
Credit Cards ,
Credit Ratings ,
Debt ,
EU ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Herbalife ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Millennials ,
Mortgage Servicers ,
Music Streaming ,
Ocwen ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Spotify ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
Unemployment
New Fed chair Jay Powell made his first official appearance before Congress in that capacity, relaying to the House Financial Services Committee yesterday that he viewed the country’s economic outlook as improved since...more
2/28/2018
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Banking Sector ,
Bankruptcy Code ,
Breweries ,
Comcast ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Cross-Selling ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Libor ,
Wells Fargo
Nordstrom’s doing what it can to fight the seemingly inevitable decline of many retailers in the face of online competition. The family-run company has been revamping stores, amassing e-commerce companies, and launching new...more
2/15/2018
/ Carried Interest Tax Rates ,
Consumer Price Index ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Fannie Mae ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Global Economy ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Mortgages ,
Nordstrom Inc. ,
Olympics ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Retailers ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Reform ,
Virtual Currency ,
White Collar Crimes
Chipotle and founder Steve Ells—which built an empire on the idea of offering a healthier, more authentic Mexican experience than its Tex-Mex fast food rivals—are turning ironically enough to Taco Bell’s CEO Brian Niccol to...more
2/14/2018
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
AT&T ,
Bribery ,
Broadcom ,
Chipotle Grill ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Price Index ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Deregulation ,
Drones ,
Energy Sector ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Market Manipulation ,
Media ,
Medical Supplies ,
Oil & Gas ,
Payday Loans ,
Qualcomm ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Royal Dutch Petroleum ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Time Warner
Volatility was again the name of the game on Thursday in the US markets, which closed down nearly 4% again and headed into official “correction” territory....more
2/9/2018
/ Alphabet Company ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Anti-Fraud Provisions ,
Appraisal ,
Bitcoin ,
Broadcom ,
Class Action ,
Commercial Real Estate Market ,
Countrywide ,
Cryptocurrency ,
currency ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Dow Jones ,
Driverless Cars ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
NYDFS ,
Qualcomm ,
Samsung ,
Shipping ,
Social Media ,
SoftBank ,
Trade Secrets ,
Twitter ,
Uber ,
Virtual Currency
The Times explores the $27 billion in fixed-income-trading income that has seeped out of Wall Street over the past 5 years thanks to “a combination of tough regulations, new technologies, calm markets and changing customer...more
1/12/2018
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Banks ,
Bitcoin ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Data Storage Providers ,
Digital Currency ,
Dropbox ,
ETFs ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Fixed Income Investments ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Iran ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Shopping Centers ,
South Korea ,
Virtual Currency
US regulators have given passing grades to the living wills for all 8 major US banks, a reversal from the April 2016 determination that 5 of the 8 had deficiencies in their bailout-prevention plans....more
12/20/2017
/ Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Barclays ,
Bitcoin ,
C-Suite Executives ,
Digital Currency ,
EU ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Gig Economy ,
Health Care Providers ,
Hospital Mergers ,
Libor ,
Living Will ,
Money Transfer ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Ridesharing ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Sharing Economy ,
Transportation Industry ,
Uber ,
Virtual Currency ,
Woman Board Members
The Senate Banking Committee has voted out of committee a bipartisan effort to ease Dodd-Frank regulations. The bill in question could “drastically cut” the number of banks subject to heightened Fed oversight and “would ease...more
12/6/2017
/ Aetna ,
Banking Regulators ,
Banking Sector ,
Barclays ,
Bitcoin ,
Class Action ,
Community Banks ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Credit Unions ,
CVS ,
Deregulation ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Digital Currency ,
Dodd-Frank ,
EU ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
HSBC ,
Ireland ,
Mortgages ,
Movie Theaters ,
Nationwide Insurance Co. ,
RMBS ,
Senate Banking Committee ,
UK ,
UK Brexit
More on the Saudi crackdown initiated by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the weekend, including the government’s move to confiscate and freeze more than $800 billion in assets from the detailed princes and other...more
11/8/2017
/ Activist Investors ,
Capital One ,
China ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Corruption ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FDIC ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Government Officials ,
Investment ,
Investment Banks ,
Mobile Apps ,
Money Laundering ,
Mortgage Loan Originators ,
Mortgages ,
Quarterly Report ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
RMBS ,
Saudi Arabia ,
Securities Fraud ,
Snapchat ,
U.S. Treasury ,
White Collar Crimes
Facebook may have had a difficult day on the Hill. But a 79% rise in Q3 profit—driven, ironically enough, by online ads—should help soften the blow....more
11/2/2017
/ Administrative Appointments ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Apple ,
Arbitration ,
Automotive Loans ,
Banking Sector ,
Board of Directors ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Digital Currency ,
Facebook ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FOMC ,
Google ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Microsoft ,
Quarterly Report ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sharing Economy ,
Social Media ,
SoftBank ,
Subprime Loans ,
Token Sales ,
Trump Administration ,
Uber ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency
The Journal gives us a revealing long look at the true meaning behind a Morningstar investment star ranking and finds that the coveted 5-star overall rating translated into a 5-year performance worthy of that designation just...more
10/26/2017
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
banking ,
Banking Sector ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Drones ,
E-Commerce ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Internet Retailers ,
Libor ,
Retail Market ,
Uber ,
Unmanned Aircraft Systems
A federal jury in Brooklyn has found former HSBC Holdings exec Mark Johnson guilty on 9 counts of front-running that grew out of the DOJ’s investigation into forex manipulation at HSBC....more
10/24/2017
/ Agricultural Land ,
Agricultural Sector ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Arbitration ,
Auto Parts ,
Automotive Industry ,
BMW ,
Chipotle Grill ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
DaimlerChrysler ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Dodd-Frank ,
EU ,
Farms ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Forex ,
General Electric ,
Germany ,
Goldman Sachs ,
HSBC ,
Market Manipulation ,
Price-Fixing ,
Trading Platforms ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Volkswagen
Representatives of the US’s biggest stock exchanges have questioned the SEC’s plan to change how markets work by altering the current “maker-taker” system and imposing new transparency and conflict-of-interest rules on...more
10/18/2017
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Administrative Proceedings ,
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) ,
China ,
Coal ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Crowdfunding ,
E-Commerce ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Global Market ,
Goldman Sachs ,
Internet Retailers ,
Investment Fraud ,
Ireland ,
Japan ,
Morgan Stanley ,
News Stories ,
Payment Processors ,
PayPal ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Steel Industry ,
Trading Platforms ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
Venmo
Despite a stronger global economic outlook than we’ve seen in years, the world’s central bankers appear loath to let go of stimulus measures while lower-than-expected inflation bedevils them....more
10/16/2017
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon ,
Banking Sector ,
China ,
Commerzbank ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Energy Sector ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Global Economy ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Native American Issues ,
Oil & Gas ,
Online Marketplace Lending ,
Payday Loans ,
Private Investment Funds ,
Quarterly Report ,
RMBS ,
Saudi Arabia ,
Sovereign Wealth Funds ,
Technology ,
Tribal Governments ,
Tribal Loans