Soothing Words about ETF - But Liquidity disappears when we need it most

The market does provide super liquidity that one could never imagine in the past. But when the music stops there will NOT be enough chairs! This type of complacency makes a major debacle even more likely. How many (highly paid) risk managers are really prepared for nearly instantaneous price changes of 20-25 % in all major markets? Tiny slivers of margin will just not be enough to cushion the blow, esp when some potholes open up and a player (or players) fail.
Junk Bond ETFs Are the Future. That's a Good Thing. - Bloomberg

NYC proposes to prohibit asking candidates about current salary

Not clear why Messrs. Schwarzman (Blackstone) and Corbat (Citigroup) would have any objection. All prospective employers need to know is what salary a job candidate expects.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/business/dealbook/job-salary-pay-women-men-wall-street.html?_r=0

Money laundering laws - waste of money and attack on privacy

Anti Money Laundering laws - nearly as useless as the attack on alcohol during the 1920s in the USA. And instigated from the same legislative mob!
Money laundering laws also harm the innocent - Washington Times

Outsourcing without limits?

Should national and supranational regulation allow the unconstrained outsourcing of vital enterprise functions? Information Technology is no longer a low skill 'back-office' job but a vital ingredient of today's business. And this applies more than ever to the finance industry where security is more important than in most other lines of business.
Job-Spirale nach unten: First London, dann Zürich - Inside Paradeplatz

Credit Ratings - still no reform

While regulators have produced tons of paper simple and effective reform of Credit Rating Agencies has not happened.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2969086

Is big better in Money Management Biz?

Bigger does not necessarily mean better. Big fund managers did something right otherwise they would not be big. But that could also be their undoing. Once you manage billions you are going to find it very difficult to achieve any out performance. That will mean that smaller firms will find room to grow.
Big money managers are squeezing smaller ones at worst possible time - Business Insider

EU wants a ban on UK firms setting up Brexit shell companies

So what is supposed to be a 'Shell Company'? Are the Eurocrats going to prescribe the exact number of jobs that have to be hired by a subsidiary? As I repeatedly said - starting in Feb 2016 - one has to look at the different business lines in detail. M+A businesses are quite often already on the ground in the 'Rest EU'. One office should be enough, same can be said for most other finance businesses.
EU wants a ban on UK firms setting up Brexit shell companies

Goldman Sachs Charity donations

The honrable thing - do good and do not talk about it!

Room to Read Goldman Sachs party - Business Insider

Slap on the Wrist for Omega's Cooperman

Can one call a $5 million fine significant given that Cooperman is a certified billionaire? Slap on the wrist would be more appropriate. And if no guilt is admitted why pay a fine? Looks like there is a two level justice system and incidents like these will do nothing to restore public confidence in financial regulation or the banking and investment industries.
Leon Cooperman’s Hedge Fund Settles Insider Trading Case

Vanguard's new UK Online Offering

Afraid this is the way things will go - I  remember the time (more than 45 years ago) when Robeco's international flagship fund charged 0.36%. So maybe that is where the Mutual/Investment Fund Industry is headed to. Who still remembers Bernie Cornfeld's ill-fated IOS? Those were the baby years of investing funds...and the sums have become enormous since the late 1960s. But looking at the way Fiduciaries like Aberdeen Asset Management and Standard Life spread the investor's money around like confetti it does not give the impression that the Industry is ready to face the new reality.
Vanguard launches online investment service in UK