On February 15, Judge Gregory H. Woods in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York denied certificateholder Royal Park Investments SA/NV’s (“Royal Park“) renewed motion for class certification in...more
Quite a start to the week for consulting powerhouse McKinsey & Co., with a Times expose on the questionable relationship between McKinsey’s clients and the investments its hedge fund has made in those same clients, not to...more
U.S. Financial Industry Developments - CFTC Proposes Rules to Simplify Process for Foreign Clearing Organizations to Obtain DCO Registration Exemption - On August 8, 2018, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)...more
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
European Financial Industry Developments - BCBS Publishes its Work Program for 2018 and 2019 - On June 5, 2018, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision ("BCBS") published details of its work program for 2018 and...more
On May 30, 2018, Judge Ronald L. Bauer of the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Orange denied investor Plaintiffs’ (led by BlackRock Balanced Capital Portfolio (FI)) Motion for Class Certification and...more
Welcome! The spring has sprung and we are here to round up the major class action opinions and settlements finalized during the first quarter of 2018. It was another active quarter with significant activity across all the...more
Commerce Department data released yesterday showed strong across-the-board consumer spending in April, a nominally good sign but one that pushed bond yields higher and sent most equities lower for the day, snapping an 8-day...more
On April 2, 2018, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed a proposed residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) class action against U.S. Bank, in its capacity as trustee ("U.S. Bank" or...more
It was a busy Thursday in the big pharma world, with drugmaker Shire rejecting a $60 billion takeover offer from Japan’s Takeda, while US rival Allergan disclosed that it was considering a bid of its own for Shire....more
China announced yesterday that it was loosening its rules forcing foreign carmakers to link up with a local partner before building factories in China—a move that some see as a step to lowering tensions with the US....more
The Journal dropped something of a bomb on Friday with news that Goldman Sachs’ CEO Lloyd Blankfein is heading out the door as soon as the end of the year. If true, Goldman will likely look for his replacement within its...more
Markets proved that last Friday’s 600-point Dow drop wasn’t an isolated incident, as all major US indices were down nearly 4% (at least) in a nasty Monday of trading....more
Even as JPMorgan has set the playing field for his successor (Daniel Pinto v. Gordon Smith, FYI), head honcho Jamie Dimon is making it clear that he’s not about to go anywhere anytime soon....more
In a January 10, 2018 ruling unsealed on January 19, Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York recommended denial of Royal Park Investments’ request for class...more
A look at Amazon’s newest concept—Amazon Go—a convenience store that opens in Seattle today complete with “shelves of food” found at other stores (including Whole Foods) but with nary a cashier in sight....more
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
Old-school retailer Lord & Taylor has reached a deal with WeWork to sell its landmark New York flagship store for $850 million. L&T will continue on with a greatly decreased department store footprint in the space, but the...more
American Express Chair and CEO Kenneth Chenault announced that he’s stepping down next year after 16 years at the helm of AmEx. He’ll be succeeded by Vice Chair Stephen Squeri....more
Goldman’s deal-making advising is sputtering a bit these days, so Lloyd and the gang are working on generating some of those deals themselves through a new Innovations Lab internal venture....more
As the scandal grows, WF’s newish CEO, Timothy Sloan, faces the unfortunate reality of being a company man (30-years at Wells) when the foundations of that company are cracking....more
Vanguard CEO William McNabb announced plans yesterday to step down, a big announcement for the mutual fund giant that finds itself “in the middle of one of the biggest growth spurts ever experienced by a large asset...more
US Supreme Court: Securities Act’s 3-year statute of repose is not subject to equitable tolling, providing greater certainty to underwriters. Key Points: ..Case has significant implications for financial Institutions...more
Here’s the other shoe for that news that all the big banks passed their Fed stress tests the other day: are the “bad old days of enormous leverage and freewheeling deals” and the risk inherent in them back, too?....more
We covered the move by Exxon shareholders to push the company for greater climate-change accounting last week. Now we’re learning that the NY AG believes that Exxon’s been “misleading” its shareholders about the impact that...more