Cox Leaves the SEC, Quietly

Yesterday, Barack Obama’s inauguration day, Christopher Cox stepped down as the chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Commission after more than three and a half years on the job. On Wednesday evening, the president named Elisse Walter, the senior Democrat on the commission, as acting chairp...

By David Katz • Jan. 21, 2009

Growing Insecurities

When Christopher Cox took over the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in June 2005, George Bush praised him as “a champion of the free-enterprise system” who understood that it was “built on trust”. These days unfettered capitalism is under siege and trust is in short supply — not least tr...

By Economist Staff • Jan. 16, 2009

Mary Schapiro Vows to Be Tough Enforcer

President-elect Barack Obama’s choice to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mary Schapiro, used her Senate confirmation hearing today to deflect critics who accuse her of being soft on enforcement during her tenure as head of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.“I have never be...

By Sarah Johnson • Jan. 15, 2009

Pelosi Unveils $825 Billion Stimulus

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) outlined an $825 billion economic stimulus package Thursday morning that she said would be marked up in committees next week.The plan includes $550 billion in new spending and $275 billion in tax cuts, with major investments in roads, education, and health ca...

By Roll Call Staff • Jan. 15, 2009

Hard Times

The shutters have come down. The lights are out and the signs are being removed. On high streets and in shopping centres across the country once proud stores are being hollowed out, casualties of Britain’s retail slump. Experian, a credit-scoring firm, reckons that by the end of 2009 almost one i...

By Economist Staff • Jan. 15, 2009

GAO: Fix Our Broken Regulatory System

The nation’s fragmented financial regulatory system is well beyond retirement age and ready for replacement, says a report released Friday from the Government Accountability Office. With the nation in the midst of a severe financial crisis, the GAO report is the latest in a slew of official and u...

By Tim Reason • Jan. 12, 2009

Indian Cops Cuff Confessed Fraudster

The former chairman of Satyam Computer, who admitted last week to cooking the Indian outsourcing firm’s books, was arrested Friday, the Associated Press reported.B. Ramalinga Raju, who founded the firm, and his brother, B. Rama Raju, were arrested in the southern city of Hyderabad, according to t...

By Stephen Taub • Jan. 9, 2009

Waiting for God-Only-Knows-What

During one of his debates with Barack Obama, John McCain, the Republican candidate, kept referring to the “fiscal crisis” when he meant “financial crisis.” Perhaps he was on to something.On January 7th the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a non-partisan outfit, released projections that show th...

By Economist Staff • Jan. 8, 2009

For Commercial Real Estate: Let’s Make a Deal

As the deteriorating economy spreads to the commercial real estate sector, there could be good news for companies that rent office or industrial space. It figures to become less costly in the near future. In a new study, commercial real estate services and investment firm Grubb & Ellis predic...

By Stephen Taub • Jan. 6, 2009

SEC Names Kroeker Acting Chief Accountant

The Security and Exchange Commission’s deputy chief accountant, James Kroeker, has been named acting chief accountant by SEC chairman Christopher Cox. Kroeker replaces Conrad W. Hewitt, who retired from the position on Monday. Kroeker, who has served in his current position since February 2007, w...

By Kate Plourd • Jan. 6, 2009

Ex-GlobeTel CFO Now Faces Tax Charges

A finance executive already facing civil charges from government regulators is now in deeper trouble, charged with criminal tax evasion. If convicted, Thomas Y. Jimenez, former CFO of GlobeTel Communications Inc., could be sentenced to as much as three years in prison and one year of supervised r...

By Stephen Taub • Jan. 6, 2009

Madoff Case Triggers Wider Probe of SEC

The attempt to determine whether the Securities and Exchange Commission failed to do its job in detecting the $50 billion Ponzi scheme put together by Bernard Madoff will be the launching pad for a wider-ranging investigation of the SEC’s operations, the commission’s inspector general told someti...

By David Katz • Jan. 5, 2009

Parratt Named SEC’s Corporation Finance Director

The deputy director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance, Shelley E. Parratt, was named the division’s acting director by SEC chairman Christopher Cox. The appointment puts the veteran deputy director at the division — who has served in that position since 2...

By Roy Harris • Jan. 5, 2009

Insurance Outlook: Higher Prices by Year’s End

Following five years in the bargain basement, property-casualty insurance prices will start to rise again by the last quarter of 2009 or the first quarter of 2010 and stay high for an unusually long time, according to a new report that attempts to predict the commercial insurance pricing cycle in...

By David Katz • Jan. 5, 2009

Top 10 Things to Do with Top 10 Lists

There’s no shortage of city rankings available to companies that might want to pull up stakes. In the aggregate they provide an almost dizzying amount of information that might influence expansion or relocation plans. Want to know which U.S. city is the least expensive, or the most tax-friendly t...

By Alix Stuart • Jan. 1, 2009

Contingency Fans

The surplus of corporate litigation in the United States is rarely viewed as a positive, but for at least one British firm it constitutes a unique investment opportunity.Juridica Capital Management, a UK-based investment firm, has put $90 million into 16 U.S. business-to-business lawsuits since i...

By Kate Plourd • Jan. 1, 2009

Rethinking Risk

Last August, when Virgin Mobile CFO John Feehan spotted signs of looming bankruptcy at Circuit City, a retail outlet for his company’s cell phones, he didn’t sit idly by. Instead, Virgin Mobile tightened billing terms, demanded cash payments, and adjusted shipments daily. When Circuit City finall...

By Kate Plourd • Jan. 1, 2009

SEC: Fair Value’s Savior

The Securities and Exchange Commission, as expected, has decided not to suspend mark-to-market accounting — against the wishes of many banking lobbyists. But the debate over how to measure financial assets and liabilities is far from over. In fact, the SEC’s decision, outlined in a 211-page repor...

By Sarah Johnson • Dec. 31, 2008

The People Puzzle

Moira McKamey is one of many Americans with more free time than she would like. In November DHL, an express delivery company, said that it would close its American domestic operations at the end of January. Up to 10,000 jobs may be lost in Wilmington, Ohio, where DHL has its main hub for domestic...

By Economist Staff • Dec. 30, 2008

SEC Opens Door to Centralized Credit-Default Swaps

In an attempt to make what it sees as the shadowy dealings of the credit-default-swap market clearer to the outside world, the Securities and Exchange Commission today approved temporary exemptions that allow at least one firm, London-based LCH Clearnet Ltd., to operate as a central counterparty ...

By David Katz • Dec. 23, 2008

CIT to Qualify for $2.33B in TARP Funds

Commercial finance company CIT Group Inc. expects to receive $2.33 billion from the Treasury Department under the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) — a result of the Federal Reserve preliminarily approving its application to convert to a bank holding company.Specifically, CIT has converted CI...

By Stephen Taub and Roy Harris • Dec. 23, 2008

Back to the Backdating Scandal: Today, UnitedHealth

By settling its civil stock-option backdating case, UnitedHealth Group Inc. — and also its former general counsel — has wrapped up one of the biggest and earliest of the Securities and Exchange Commission actions in what became one of the biggest business scandals of 2006.UnitedHealth agreed to s...

By Stephen Taub • Dec. 23, 2008

Stop Paying Divs, Fed Tells Three Banks

The Federal Reserve Board ordered three small banks to stop paying dividends and make other changes “to maintain the financial soundness” of the institutions. It is also requiring the banks to seek Fed approval before taking certain actions, and in some cases called for the banks to submit progre...

By Stephen Taub • Dec. 22, 2008

Ground Zero

Central bankers ordinarily strive to be boring. But these are not ordinary times. On December 16th the Federal Reserve unveiled a three-part assault on America’s slump that lit up the news wires like a pyrotechnic display.The Fed’s policy panel, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), announced...

By Economist Staff • Dec. 19, 2008

Con of the Century

Bernard Madoff worked as a lifeguard to earn enough money to start his own securities firm. Almost half a century later, the colossal Ponzi scheme into which it mutated has proved impossible to keep afloat — unlike Mr. Madoff’s 55-foot fishing boat, “Bull.” The $17.1 billion that Mr. Madoff claim...

By Economist Staff • Dec. 18, 2008