Blog entries

Bank stocks off to hot start this year

RJ & Makay — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:12:29 +0100

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Financial stocks are off to a hot start this year. The easing of the European debt crisis, improvement in the U.S. economy and the recent $25 billion settlement by large U. S. mortgage lenders has had a bullish effect on asset managers. During the seven-week period ended February 15, fun...

A Hartford split would impact ratings: Fitch

RJ & Makay — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 22:45:28 +0100

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Recent public speculation about a possible split of the Hartford Financial Services Group (HFSG) into separate life and property-casualty (P/C) companies is raising questions about possible rating implications of such a move, Fitch Ratings said last week. ...

Renewed investor interest in subprime mortgage investments

RJ & Makay — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:49:08 +0100

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Investor perception that the U.S. housing market may be on the rebound is supporting renewed interest in once-toxic mortgage bonds that were at the center of the financial crisis, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article. Some distressed mortgage-backed bonds have registered doub...

Strong 2011 annuity sales: LIMRA

RJ & Makay — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 21:12:39 +0100

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Total annuity sales reached $240 billion in 2011, an increase of 8% compared to 2010, according to LIMRA’s fourth quarter 2011 U.S. Individual Annuities Sales survey. After six straight quarters of positive growth when compared to the prior year, fourth quarter 2011 Variable Annui...

Home, not health, is biggest expense for over-50 crowd

RJ & Makay — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 06:03:03 +0100

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Home mortgage and property tax outlays are the biggest expenses for Americans over the age of 50, according to a recent study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). The study was based on research data gathered from 5,000 households across the nation betwe...

$6 trillion of fake U.S. Treasuries seized in Italy

RJ & Makay — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0100

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In a joint operation, Italian police seized about $6 trillion of allegedly fake U.S. Treasury bonds and arrested eight Italians in connection with the fraud, Italian officials said Friday. “Operation Vulcanica” was carried out by Italian, Swiss and U.S. authorities following a yea...

Chicago is most corrupt U.S. city

RJ & Makay — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0100

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A new study by the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and the University of Illinois’ Institute of Government and Public Affairs has found that Chicago is the “most corrupt” city in America. Corruption among public officials has cost the city about $500 million a year, according to UIC political s...

SEC ups qualified investor threshold

RJ & Makay — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:11:09 +0100

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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced yesterday that it is tightening its rule governing investment advisory performance fees by raising the net worth requirements for qualified investors by excluding the value of the investor’s home from the net worth calculation. Under the current ...

World Bank’s Robert Zoellick to resign

RJ & Makay — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:09:17 +0100

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World Bank president Robert Zoellick announced today that he plans to step down on June 30th after serving five years guiding the bank through a period of volatile global economics. His departure starts in motion a process to find a replacement, which traditionally goes to a Washing...

Social networking 2.0

RJ & Makay — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:05:33 +0100

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Investors are more likely to introduce a friend to an advisor if investors have both a business and personal relationship with the advisor, instead of just a relationship exclusively based on business, according to research at Registered Rep. Many advisors still lag when it comes to social...

Office romances on the rise

RJ & Makay — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:59:56 +0100

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More than 10% of people say they have made love within their workplace, and many more report that they have considered it, according to a new survey from job search site Glassdoor.com. 37% of office workers said they have been romantically involved with a co-worker. The survey poll...

Volcker Rule under intense scrutiny

RJ & Makay — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:45:29 +0100

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In dozens of comment letters filed Monday, bankers and their trade associations said the Volcker Rule would increase risk and costs for investors, hurt U.S. competitiveness and be vulnerable to legal challenge. The comments came as the world’s largest banks demanded a list of change...

FHA in cash crunch

RJ & Makay — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:38:42 +0100

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The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) may require a Treasury Department cash infusion for the first time in its 78-year history, according to a budget projection report released today. The agency, which has become a major source of financing for home purchases since the housing crisis four y...

Obama budget targets tax revenues

RJ & Makay — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:20:34 +0100

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President Obama proposed today that the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) category be replaced by the so-called Buffett Rule, which targets wealthy Americans. The AMT, which was adopted in 1969 to target wealthy Americans that paid little or no taxes, was never indexed for inflation,...

Annuities for retirement plans

RJ & Makay — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:56:48 +0100

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The U.S. Treasury Department announced recently that it would facilitate the expansion of annuities and other guaranteed lifetime income products for retirement plans. The department has put forward two regulations that will make it easier to purchase an annuity t...

European banks on track

RJ & Makay — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:37:08 +0100

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European regulators will inform European banks in early March as to whether they support the banks’ plans to build up their balance sheets, officials said. Excluding Greek institutions, so far their plans are on track. Europe’s financial institutions need to raise a c...

BDC investment under the eye of regulators

RJ & Makay — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:18:06 +0100

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Non-traded business development companies (BDCs), a fast-growing alternative investment popular among financial advisors, are coming under closer regulatory scrutiny. The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) is preparing to draft a statement of poli...

$26 billion settlement for distressed homeowners

RJ & Makay — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:31:35 +0100

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Five of the nation’s largest banks, along with state and federal authorities, have agreed to a $26 billion settlement over foreclosure practices that could provide relief to nearly two million current and former homeowners hurt by the bursting of the housing bubble, state and federal offic...

Advisors as investment managers: A growing trend

RJ & Makay — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:43:04 +0100

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Financial advisors who work at broker-dealers are increasingly managing their clients’ fee-based accounts, according to a Cerulli Associates report today. So-called reps-as portfolio-manager programs, where an advisor is granted discretion in making individual investment ...

Investors trust advisors, not Washington

RJ & Makay — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:59:50 +0100

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82% of investors trust their financial advisor and only a small percentage of investors trust Washington policymakers, according to a John Hancock Financial Services survey. A poll of 1,001 investors revealed that only 30% of survey recipients trust Federal Reserve head Ben Bernanke, and on...