Posts filed under 'Investment Banks'
December 1st, 2007
A member recently posted some very good suggestions at the Action Group discussion forum. The post is shown below. If you want to respond, please do so at the discussion forum (http://slk-action-group.com/members/). There you can register and contribute any ideas you may have.
“One very important aspect of these cases is indeed to look at the rules, and processes. This is a key aspect that shareholder action groups need to address, if we are going to move things forward for future generations of shareholders……improving the `framework & regulatory rules`..
Many believe our regulatory system is a shambles, particularly withregard to treatment of shareholders/stakeholders. One case that has highlighted this is the current Northern Rock debacle. You`ll notice that the UK Shareholders Association have made vigourous
public efforts to get the interests of shareholders looked after…..TV appearances, and meetings with shareholders…
You`ll see that the `authorities` have come under very strong criticism over this case.
You`ll see that various Commons Select Committee enquiries have occurred.
You`ll see that much TV/Media coverage has happened. Questions have been asked in `the house`, at PM level…..
You`ll have heard about various shareholder initiatives and meetings have occurred, and two of the key issues are about `not selling the company assets off on the cheap..and also, the shareholders are pressing for more influence in the sale process, to try to ensure the best value for all parties..
Clearly consideration is being given to jobs, and the future of the business. ..its all part of the pressure being applied to try to get an equitable solution.
This is a sea change in the way such debacles are handled…pressure from all sides is being exerted, to try to avoid the usual `hastely arranged, behind the scenes` firesale…at knock down prices….which so often happens…quite outrageously.
This is why its so important that cases like this are given maximum exposure…not least, in political circles.
Unfortunately, far too many people join up and then just sit and watch…..action groups are all about ACTION. Sitting there like cans of milk on a self will achieve nothing…..stakeholder members must take action.
Should we examine the accounts of APR, before and after the transfer, to see how asset valuations could have significantly changed..supporting the claim that assets have been sold off very cheaply…
One action all members could take would be to send a letter to there local MP, expressing concerns about the case. MP are legally bound to respond to such enquiries. I have done this previously, and had some help…..in a different case. And dont forget to follow up on points where you`d like further explainations.
It might help to write also to senior MPs like Dr Vince Cable… Lib Dem MP, and very pro-active on such issues.
A note to the Tory party…..David Cameron, etc…might also be a good idea for the group.
Justin you might like to draft a letter to these senior people, outlining this case, and the main concerns…..and perhaps asking what is being done to protect shareholder interests in such cases…it appearing easy for company executives to do what they like to avoid any kind of meaningful accountability, when it suites them.
It is possible to raise a petition on the web site of 10 Downing St..complainig about what has happened and demanding action…have we done this…”
April 6th, 2007
BRITS GET BIT (New York Post)
LAX BRITISH MARTS ATTRACT FRAUDS ALONG WITH U.S. BIZ
By PAUL THARP
January 8, 2007 — London is paying a steep price for poaching a slew of new stock listings from Wall Street last year -financial fraud in the United Kingdom rose 40 percent.
A report says British authorities are aghast at the skyrocketing of business fraud in the U.K., ranging from stock swindles to accounting hijinks such as rigging profits and asset values.
The report by accounting firm BDO Stoy Hayward stopped short of blaming the crime wave on the influx of tiny American startup companies and their entourages, who’ve fled the stricter U.S. stock exchanges in New York to London, where lately it’s easier to list shares and get investors’ cash.
By going public on the London Stock Exchange under its CEO, Clara Furse, or its sister London AIM (Alternative Investment Market), a startup company has fewer regulatory and auditing requirements than if they listed on a U.S. exchange - a fact that’s aggravated the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq, cost them listings and raised outcries here by leading politicians.
………
The accounting study said rising financial crimes cost British businesses more than $2.7 billion. Losses could be higher because the report included only frauds that exceeded $100,000 in losses. A flood of financial collapses of new companies also could be ahead.
Experts said London’s exchanges also accepted scores of new listings of Chinese and Russian companies that may not have met New York exchanges’ stricter rules.
BDO Stoy Hayward Report on Fraud in the UK
April 6th, 2007
US class action star targets UK (The Sunday Times)
Big business beware: litigation supremo Michael Hausfeld is setting up shop in Britain and he’s in the mood for a good fight. By Holly Watt
IN American corporate boardrooms, the mere mention of the name Michael Hausfeld is enough to spread panic among directors and investors.
He is one of the country’s top litigators who has won billions in compensation for everyone from Holocaust victims to Alaskan fishermen and consumers ripped off by Microsoft. This month Hausfeld is opening a London office and is preparing an aggressive assault on British companies. In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Times this weekend, he said that there “are laws [in Britain] and they’re not being enforcedâ€.
From the new London office, the firm will take on a wide range of cases across the corporate spectrum. He reels them off: “We’re looking at competition, cartel enforcement, human rights, employment, investor rights and environmental issues.â€
Further references relevant to this post:
Cohen Milstein is First U.S. Plaintiffs’ Law Firm to Open Office in Europe
A Wary Europe Moves a Step Closer to Class Actions
Cohen Milstein is moving to London!
London: ‘lawsuit laboratory’
March 23rd, 2007
Investor Advocates Reject Relaxing Rules (AP via Yahoo! Finance)
Investor Advocates Challenge View That Overly Tough Regulations Hamper U.S. Competitiveness
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. companies and Wall Street are off-base in blaming an overly regulated and litigious environment for what they say is a struggle to remain competitive, argued panelists at a symposium Thursday sponsored by state securities regulators.
“I’d squeeze the man’s picture off of a dollar bill before I’d let it go” back into stock investing, said Texan panelist Charles Prestwood, 68. He worked for 30 years as a natural gas pipeline operator and the value of his retirement portfolio invested in Enron Corp. stock plunged to $8,000 from $1.3 million after the company’s December 2001 bankruptcy amid a corporate fraud scandal.
January 12th, 2007
A Bigger Voice For Small Investors (Business Week)
The very rich, F. Scott Fitzgerald once observed, “are different from you and me.” That has applied even to shareholder activism, a niche of the investing world dominated by hedge fund managers who are paid enormous fees to holler and claw for every last nickel of return on behalf of their wealthy clients.
But with corporations under mounting pressure to acknowledge shareholder rights, ordinary mutual fund managers are increasingly asserting themselves on behalf of smaller investors.
October 3rd, 2006
Harvard’s lesson in ethics (USA Today via IndyStar.com)
Jeffrey Skilling, who was convicted in May of masterminding a massive accounting fraud at Enron, has one.
So does E. Kirk Shelton, the former vice chairman of Cendant who was found guilty last year of fabricating earnings at the company.
What do these men, former titans of the new economy, share besides being snared by investigations into securities fraud? They have master of business administration degrees from Harvard Business School.
If any lesson is to be learned from the accounting scandals of recent years, it’s that no one — not even executives trained at some of the nation’s most prestigious institutions of higher learning — is immune to the temptations of the executive compensation bonanza, where subtle manipulations of accounting entries can translate into bonuses and stock options worth tens of millions of dollars.
As a result of the wave of accounting frauds exposed at Enron, WorldCom, HealthSouth and other companies, business schools across the nation have beefed up their offerings on ethics education.
September 20th, 2006
Justin Jones of SmartLogik Action Group will be giving a 20 minute presentation followed by 20 minute Q & A session on:
“Experiences of a Shareholder Action Groupâ€. Without going into too much detail, this will cover why the SmartLogik Action Group was started up. It is suggested that the proliferation of shareholder action groups in the UK is a direct result of the “light touch†regulatory approach that exists, where unscrupulous companies can take advantage of the system. Action Groups are needed to represent the interests of shareholders (esp. the small shareholders), create balance and highlight the importance of good corporate governance. The big mutual funds are needed to ensure that the interests and rights of all investors are safeguarded.
The Sustainable Finance Summit will be held at the Regent’s Park Marriott Hotel, 28 - 29 November 2006. Some 100 - 150 senior executives from banking and finance are expected to attend. See following link for more details and list of speakers:
http://www.ethicalcorp.com/finance/speakers.shtml
August 22nd, 2006
Corporate governance (FT.com via Yahoo! News)
Kim Thomas Mon Aug 21, 6:25 AM ET
The July extradition of three British bankers to the US shows that the repercussions of the Enron scandal - in which company executives were able to conceal billions of dollars of debt from shareholders - are still being felt.
The most lasting impact of Enron, and other corporate failures such as Italy’s Parmalat, has been felt via the US’s Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which requires companies listed on the US stock exchange to establish and manage an adequate internal control structure and procedures for financial reporting, and to obtain annual reports from its auditors about the effectiveness of those procedures.
Businesses in the EU, too, are facing numerous new regulatory requirements. The financial sector has been affected in particular by regulations such as Basel II, the first phase of which comes into force at the end of this year, and the Market in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), a wide-ranging directive that comes into force in 2007, and imposes requirements governing the organisation and conduct of business of investment firms.
August 14th, 2006
Buttoning up white-collar cases (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
When Jack Dodds left the U.S. Attorney’s Office for a big Philadelphia law firm in 1993, he joined two other former prosecutors here and one in Washington in a nascent white-collar defense unit.
Today, there are about 50 lawyers in that unit in offices across the nation and in Paris, and they are busy - helping companies and executives enmeshed in investigations of everything from accounting fraud and health-care violations to price-fixing and insider trading.
But Morgan, Lewis & Bockius L.L.P. is not the only firm enjoying a burst in business in this specialized area of criminal defense: A new era of increased law-enforcement scrutiny of white-collar crime has triggered a boom across the country for defense lawyers who know what to do when FBI agents walk into a business with a grand-jury subpoena.
July 23rd, 2006
The Parmalat fraud has generated too little reform (Financial Times)
Parmalat shareholders will tomorrow elect a new board of directors, signalling the revival of the Italian maker of milk, yoghurts and fruit juices less than two years after its collapse in Europe’s biggest corporate fraud. The ripple effect, however, is likely to be felt for years as regulators, banks, auditors and politicians grapple with an uncomfortable question: has enough action been taken to prevent another Parmalat?
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