28JAN09:
Q1-09 DOW: 8900
Q2-09 DOW: 7250
Q3-09 DOW: 5810
Q4-09 DOW: 3960
CITI NATIONALIZED
OBAMA GETS SICK 27AUG09:
Mini Crash 21SEP09 Predicted correctly:
Bailout=Bonuses
Demise of Bear Stearns
Demise of Lehman Bros.
Demise of AIG
Subprime would cause problems
Date of 2007 crash
CRAs were to blame
G20 riots were a party
Northern Rock run
Northern Rock Nationalization
HBOS and RBS demise
UBS really was Useless
Today I steer you through the extraordinary turn of events that is making the last 2 years a bad dream. We have disgraced Fred Goodwin back, Madoff out of prison, credit funds in vogue and the ratings agencies are back in favor. Not only that but AIG is back in the black and hedge funds are not to be regulated in the USA after all.
We even have commodity shortages - sugar. Yes, the stuff that adorns all food in the US is in short supply. Is this a tip or a factual observation? I will let you decide.
Hedge funds have enjoyed their best year-to-date returns in a decade, according to new research, but the majority of firms are still unable to charge performance fees to their investors, highlighting again the extent to which the industry suffered in 2008.
Fintag says Lets look at the positive side: Less taxes for the Socialists.
SIR Fred Goodwin will start his hunt for a new business role when he returns to his £3m Edinburgh home later this month, City A.M. can reveal.
The disgraced former Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive is looking at re-entering the charity sector, after his six-year tenure as chairman of the Prince's Trust came to an end last month.
“He knows he wouldn't be on everyone's wish list at the moment for an executive position, but he just wants to get back into society,” said a friend.
Fintag says All the villains have been forgiven. What next? Madoff out of jail and Bush back as US president? Jabre has a lot to answer for.
ROLE OF CONSULTANTS “UNDER THREAT” AS INVESTORS LOSE FAITH
UK - More than nine-tenths of senior industry figures expect "unsustainable" defined benefit schemes to continue to close to existing members because of cost pressures on sponsoring employers, latest Penrose Financial research revealed.
The public relations consultancy's survey - which polled 150 senior figures at some of the leading pension funds consultants and investment management houses - also found more than eight-tenths of respondents believed the proposed system of personal accounts would fail to provide adequate incomes for retirement.
Fintag says Consultants were a big reason for the crash so they have got their just rewards. But this phase will pass and they will be back being slow, useless and errrr useless.
telegraph says " How the Bank came to get things so wrong about the crash "
Thames River Capital will be launching two investment grade credit funds on October 1, 2009 targeting the US institutional market, according to sales director Edward Morse.
The independent fund house, which manages $11.5 billion in alternative products, said the two funds would have a global remit although the main focus is expected to be on Europe.
Fintag says And I am to do the same. Distressed credit is the new fad.
HOUSE BILL WILL FEATURE LIGHT-TOUCH REGULATION FOR HEDGE FUNDS, PRIVATE EQUITY
The U.S. House of Representatives is likely to pass a bill severely tightening the reins on banks and mortgage lenders while letting hedge funds and private equity firms off relatively easy, Bloomberg News reports. Members of the House Financial Services Committee from both sides of the aisle indicate that alternative investment firms will have to register with regulators and provide them with more information, but will not be subject to any strict new limits on their activities.
The word from the south side of Capitol Hill signals a general agreement between the House, Senate and White House about how hedge funds and private equity firms should be handled.
Fintag says The UK's FSA must be delighted. Shame Europe has abandoned light touch for forms and sticks.
PEQUOT TRADING IN GOOGLE, COX, PREMCOR SPARKED WARNINGS TO SEC
Pequot Capital Management Inc., once the world's biggest hedge-fund manager, was cited in at least 44 private reports from exchange watchdogs in the past four years alerting U.S. regulators to potential insider trading, market manipulation or other misconduct, government documents show.
Trades linked to Google Inc., Cox Communications Inc., International Securities Holdings Inc., Premcor Inc. and dozens of other companies prompted surveillance units policing U.S. exchanges to make the referrals to the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to agency records obtained by Bloomberg News. Thirty-six reports flagged possible insider trading. Four indicated possible manipulation and four were labeled “other.”
Fintag says Good grief. Pequot must think they are Goldmorgan Stanley.
Often overlooked as a dull bunch of statisticians, rating agencies have sprung to widespread notoriety as one of the key groups of villains in the financial crisis. Taking a AAA-rated bond at face value led many investors to load up with ostensibly "safe" bonds that turned out to be dangerously toxic instead.
Calpers, the Californian pension giant, is pursuing the rating agencies through the courts. Meanwhile, politicians and regulators around the world have vowed to bring them to heel.
In April the European Union passed a directive promising to bring transparency and regulation to the powerful firms. Two weeks ago, the US Treasury published its own reforms designed to bring about the same sort of overhaul.
Fintag says We really are going back to the good old bad old days.
Frank DiPascali, the chief financial officer of Madoff's investment advisory business, will plead guilty today for his role in the $65 billion Ponzi scheme. According to prosecutors, DiPascali will waive his right to an indictment at a 3 p.m. hearing in Manhattan and will plead guilty to a criminal information. The precise charges were not specified in the letter to U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan.
DiPascali worked for Madoff for more than three decades and is believed to be the closest of the fraudster's employees to the workings of the Ponzi scheme. He has been under investigation since Madoff's confession and arrest in December; many of Madoff's victims say DiPascali was the point man for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities' investment advisory.
Jean-Pierre Mustier, a 22-year veteran at Société Générale (SocGen), and head of the firm's asset management and private banking arms, has resigned amid allegations of insider trading.
SocGen said proceedings with the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF) have been launched against Mustier and Robert Day, chairman of US-based asset management firm and SocGen subsidiary TCW Group, for insider trading.
Fintag says Insider trading is the news of the day. Soc Gen, beloved by the French government is all over the place.
American International Group, the insurer bailed out by the government, benefited from hedge funds for the first time in a year as the company returned to profitability in the second quarter, Bloomberg News reported.
A.I.G. earned $121 million from hedge funds in the period after the holdings cost the insurer $2 billion in the nine months ended March 31, the company said last week.
Fintag says Glad we could have been of assistance.
The UK is expected to sign a deal to recover lost tax from Britons holding bank accounts in Liechtenstein.
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has agreed with the Alpine tax haven to start exchanging information.
Up to 5,000 British investors have an estimated £3bn stashed away in secret accounts in the country.
Fintag says So both countries will be sharing information? I think the information flow is likely to be one way ...
13 comments
anonymous said ...
has anyone ever heard of Khandaker Alpah? are they a legitimate fund?
11 Aug 09 - 07:38 gmt
GalwayBoy said ...
I thought Khandaker were a risk management platform and did some HF Advisory..............
11 Aug 09 - 09:55 gmt
TaxAccountant said ...
Liechenstein. I use Lativa myself
11 Aug 09 - 13:55 gmt
anonymous said ...
Is Lativa some new country you made up Mr TaxAccountant?
11 Aug 09 - 14:15 gmt
Maria said ...
oh don't be such a smart ass, anon. he/she probably meant latvia and mistyped...this is something i really dislike about the comments on this blog.
11 Aug 09 - 14:29 gmt
anonymous said ...
Sarcastic comments about grammatical errors are of more interest than the Maria and Moron show. When you two start your mating ritual on here, the hedge fund blogosphere collectively vomits. Moron=idiotic and unfunny, Maria=boring and facile
11 Aug 09 - 14:38 gmt
TaxAccountant said ...
I am not a great speller but i am good with tax planning
11 Aug 09 - 14:53 gmt
Maria said ...
that's not grammar. funny and smart make me laugh. stupid and mean comments are useless. your twisted minds make you think of whatever it is you're thinking reading my comments. i never said i was not boring...'dying is easy, comedy is hard'...:)
and this is the last post for today as i am not in the mood to continuously read comments from frustrated idiots. have a nice day.
11 Aug 09 - 15:06 gmt
anonymous said ...
please make it your last post ever....you have never said anything of relevance or interest
11 Aug 09 - 15:10 gmt
Moron said ...
all right dimwits.....leave her alone......!!!!!!!!
11 Aug 09 - 15:32 gmt
anonymous said ...
I think Anon's comment at 15:10 could equally apply to Moron. Except many many months ago he occasionally made a comment about markets of mild interest, now about nothing except himself and the irritating Maria.
11 Aug 09 - 16:06 gmt
Moron said ...
how very polite...thank you sir...and would u like some biscuits with ur evening tea.....:)))))!!!!
11 Aug 09 - 16:18 gmt
Etaoin. said ...
It seems the frustration level is rather elevated today. Especially that of the more trollish commenters. Decent types: Please do not feed the trolls.
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