Guy Walks Into Citigroup Branch, Loses $40,000 – Bloomberg 07-18-13

Salient to Investors: Jonathan Weil writes: The reason it’s a good idea to separate securities firms from commercial banks is to protect consumers from brokers selling schlock investments. There are countless tales of banks cross-selling unsuitable investments to unsophisticated customers. Many people trust the advice they get from their local

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Rigged-Benchmark Probes Proliferate From Singapore to UK – Bloomberg 06-18-13

Salient to Investors: If there is a chance to rig benchmark rates in world markets, someone will try. Charles Geisst at Manhattan College said time and again all these markets have been influenced by major market-makers – a polite way of saying they have been rigged. Barclays, UBS, and RBS have been fined $2.5

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MetLife Cuts 2,500 Advisers Seen Lacking Chance of Success – Bloomberg 05-30-13

Salient to Investors: MetLife cut its adviser force by a third, eliminating 2,500 jobs as the company scales back variable annuity sales and turns to other nations for growth. MetLife has 5,000 advisers who sell insurance and investment products, down from 7,500 in February of 2012. Danny Sarch at Leitner

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Swaps Vote Is Another Big Win for the Big Banks – Bloomberg 05-21-13

Salient to Investors: William D. Cohan writes: The CFTC voted May 16 for a watered-down compromise over requiring opaque and hard-to-value swaps and derivatives to be traded on an exchange, allowing dealers – essentially the big Wall Street banks – to continue to set the prices for these financial instruments using their black

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Where Bank Regulators Go to Get Rich – Bloomberg 04-07-13

Salient to Investors: William D. Cohan writes: Mary Schapiro, the former chairman of the SEC is joining a firm loaded with former government financial-services regulators. Schapiro previously ran FINRA, Wall Street’s self-appointed watchdog. Alan Blinder at Princeton is a co-founder of Promontory Interfinancial Network which offers Insured Cash Sweep, which splits large deposits into

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