Financial Regulatory Forum

By Martin Coyle

LONDON/HONG KONG, Aug. 31 (Thomson Reuters Accelus) – Standard Chartered Bank’s major shareholders are declining to openly criticise the firm’s compliance practices but some cited overall governance issues as their primary interest following its settlement over allegations it breached Iran-sanctions laws. One institutional investor said that it had discussed compliance issues with the bank before this month’s $340 million settlement was reached with New York’s Department of Financial Services (DFS) for breaches of sanctions with Iran. The UK fund manager, which declined to be named, said that it discussed the allegations in general as well as compliance issues.  (more…)

By Bora Yagiz

NEW YORK, Aug. 31 (Thomson Reuters Accelus) - The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau’s proposed rules earlier this month on mortgage servicing are a step in the right direction in its efforts to uproot the malpractices that were once prevalent in the subprime mortgage market. The proposals suffer from a few shortcomings, however, not the least because the Bureau, with its “one-size-fits-all” approach, seems to have ignored the nuances between the different players within the servicing industry. (more…)

By  Patrick Conroy, James Overdahl, Robert Patton and Raymund Wong; NERA Consulting, Thomson Reuters Accelus contributing authors. The views expressed are their own.

NEW YORK, Oct. 19 (Thomson Reuters Accelus) – Exchange-traded fund (ETF) strategies continue to increase in scope, involving active management and more sophisticated financial instruments. The increasing flexibility and versatility of ETFs have been accompanied by claims by regulators and others of destabilizing effects on markets and potential for abuse by market professionals. Moreover, the suitability of ETFs for retail investors and even institutions has become a source of greater concern. Furthermore, the size of the ETF market has more than tripled by number of ETFs, and more than doubled by net dollar value of assets, over the past four years, as you can see from this chart. (more…)

By Peter Elstob

LONDON, April 12 (Complinet) – The Independent Commission on Banking said on Monday that separating retail and wholesale banking in some way might have “a number of potential benefits”, and it invited views on the best design for a “retail ring-fence”.

In an annex to its interim report, the commission illustrated one way to devise such a ring-fence. This is to divide banking business into three broad categories: activities which must take place within the ring-fence; activities which may take place within it; and those which may not take place within it.

But the example leaves a lot of room for interpretation. (more…)