Opening Bell: 1.4.17
Deutsche Bank Head of Financial Crime Quits After 6 Months (FT)
Deutsche Bank’s head of financial crime and anti money laundering Peter Hazlewood has quit after just six months on the job. The bank declined to immediately comment on the departure of Mr Hazlewood, whom Deutsche described in July as “an experienced career financial crime professional” who would bring “diverse geographic experience” to the German bank.
No One Questioned This Hedge Fund’s Madoff-Like Returns (BBG)
That Platinum Partners was able to avoid scrutiny for so long illustrates flaws in the post-Madoff regulatory regime. While the SEC says it now conducts “risk-based examinations” of funds that have suspiciously smooth returns, the agency didn’t do a thorough on-site audit of Platinum until 2015, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
Cautious Investors Pose Challenge for Hedge Funds (WSJ)
An increase in market volatility should be providing hedge funds with their best moneymaking opportunities in months. The only problem is some of their investors are preventing them from capitalizing. Many of the biggest funds now cater mainly to large, conservative investors such as pension funds and college endowments. These institutional investors discourage the high-stakes punts for which hedge funds became famous, say industry insiders.
Wall Street Lawyer Jay Clayton Emerges as Top Candidate for SEC Chairman (WSJ)
Mr. Clayton, whose clients have included Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Barclays Capital Inc., would succeed SEC Chairman Mary Jo White, another lawyer with a history of representing Wall Street banks before becoming a regulator. Mr. Clayton, who met with Mr. Trump on Dec. 22, is a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, where he also worked on the 2014 initial public offering of Alibaba.
U.S. Banks Gear Up To Fight Dodd-Frank Act's Volcker Rule (Reuters)
Big U.S. banks are set on getting Congress this year to loosen or eliminate the Volcker rule against using depositors' funds for speculative bets on the bank's own account, a test case of whether Wall Street can flex its muscle in Washington again. In interviews over the past several weeks, half a dozen industry lobbyists said they began meeting with legislative staff after the election to discuss matters including a rollback of Volcker.
Morgan Stanley: Buy The Election, Sell The Inauguration (CNBC)
U.S. stocks have rallied since the election, but it's time for investors to start thinking about getting out, possibly timed for President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, Morgan Stanley said. “We are worried that there is arrogance in telling people that they should be worried, but to stay bullish for now.”
Rex Tillerson, He’s Just Like Us! (NYP)
Rex Tillerson may be worth over a quarter of a billion dollars, but he still does his own grocery store shopping. Twitter user Sanho Tree spotted Donald Trump’s choice for secretary of state at the Dupont Circle Safeway grocery store, carrying what looks like a basket filled with Raisin Bran, milk and carrots.