News o' the Day

Bruce Carton's all-too-brief notes on a speech by linguist William Lutz about the usefulness of SEC disclosure.

The Harvard Corporate Governance Blog has a post about PIPEs transactions that includes a discussion of what a PIPEs transaction is.

This almost never happens, but today Citibank reminded me of my grandfather. My grandfather had a silver ladle he claimed was made from silver once in the possession of General Santa Ana. Like my grandfather, Citibank (and a whole lot of other banks) have a bunch of mortgages-related securities that are worth a whole lot of money as long as no one asks too many questions. Thus, the New York Times reports that the FDIC has canceled the "legacy assets" part of the PPIP program because banks don't want a bunch of investors asking nosy questions about grandpa's silver.

Battle lines are being drawn and medieval siege works constructed for the Battle of OTC Derivatives. The New York Times reports that CFTC-big wig Gary Gensler has a plan, but as Jim Hamilton reports, so does the derivatives industry.

The National Association of State Securities Administrators joins the FDIC and the SEC in calling for a financial stability council.

Securities Prof Blog talks about Mary Schapiro's Senate testimony.

The Corporate Counsel Blog has good coverage of the SEC's revamped Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations.