Bank of America said it would pay $33 million to settle an SEC complaint that it misled shareholders regarding $5.8 billion in bonuses paid to Merrill employees.
Congress may be willing to go further than the Obama administration in regulating over-the-counter derivatives by banning “naked” credit default swap trading, leading lawmakers said.
The House Financial Services Committee, chaired by Barney Frank (D-Mass), cleared a bill on Tuesday giving regulators the right to ban certain forms of compensation at financial firms.
The SEC has evidently been much laxer in the supervision of its employees’ trading practices that it expects the securities firms under its supervision to be, according to testimony from the agency’s inspector general.
The SEC voted unanimously in favor of putting out a rule that would require all public companies to disclose more about executive compensation and corporate governance that might affect their risk management.
The first salvos have been fired in what promises to be one of the major battles of the administration’s regulatory reform program – the creation of a new agency to focus on consumer protection in financial products.
In testimony before a Senate Banking subcommittee, SEC chairman Mary Schapiro argued that all securities-related derivatives – including credit default swaps – should be regulated by the SEC.
SEC chairman Mary Schapiro and the newly confirmed chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission made a case to lawmakers for more funds to beef up enforcement and technology.
