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Subscribe by RSSFinancial Reporting Disclosure Reform: Need for Investor Input
Currently there are initiatives underway to create an overarching framework to improve financial statement disclosures. The “disclosure framework” is intended to help enable companies communicate more effectively with investors,
Quant Magic: A Book Review of Quantitative Value, by Wesley Gray and Tobias Carlisle
Financial statement analysis and security valuation are a big part of our training as CFA charterholders; for many of us, they are the most important part. We pride ourselves on the thoroughness, sophistication,
Splitting Chairs: JPMorgan Deals With Shareholder CEO/Chairman Buzz Saw
The 21 May JPMorgan annual meeting is fast approaching, and it will feature a contentious shareowner proposal that calls for the separation of chairman of the board and CEO roles. In this post we will take a look at the corporate governance issue that is dominating the headlines.
Policy Perspectives: Developing Industry-Specific Sustainability Accounting Standards (Video)
The inclusion of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in the investment process is gaining more and more traction in global markets. In response, a number of organizations are looking to establish standards for better understanding and measuring the ESG metrics that matter to issuers and investors alike.
CFA Institute Asset Manager Code of Professional Conduct: Growing Global Awareness
We’re close to welcoming the 900th asset management firm to the list of those who claim compliance with the Asset Manager Code of Professional Conduct. Although the Code has been available since 2005,
Does Self-Regulation Serve a Useful Purpose in Today’s Securities and Financial Services Marketplace?
Based on a recent CFA Institute Financial NewsBrief reader survey, investors appear to be fairly split on whether self-regulation serves a useful purpose in today’s securities and financial services marketplace.
An R-Squared Chart Taxonomy: Seeing is Not Believing
Often financial analysts are presented with statistical charts that purport to demonstrate an important — and, of course, investable — relationship between data points. These charts are supposed to be worth a thousand words and thousands of shares traded.
Does Self-Regulation Serve a Useful Purpose in Today’s Securities and Financial Services Marketplace?
Based on a recent CFA Institute Financial NewsBrief reader survey, investors appear to be fairly split on whether self-regulation serves a useful purpose in today’s securities and financial services marketplace.
Splitting Chairs: JPMorgan Deals With Shareholder CEO/Chairman Buzz Saw
The 21 May JPMorgan annual meeting is fast approaching, and it will feature a contentious shareowner proposal that calls for the separation of chairman of the board and CEO roles. In this post we will take a look at the corporate governance issue that is dominating the headlines.
How Does Gender Affect the Performance and Career Outcomes of Sell-Side Analysts? (Podcast)
CFA Institute is excited to announce a new series of Financial Analysts Journal author interviews. We’ll interview authors from our flagship publication and chat with them for a few minutes about their research.
Weekend Reads for Financial Advisors: Emotional Finance and Chaos Theory
Here, in no particular order, are some articles and resources you may find interesting. Happy reading.
Investing
It’s always worthwhile getting a peek into Jeremy Grantham’s (sometimes depressing,
Book Review: Aging and the Macroeconomy
Aging and the Macroeconomy: Long-Term Implications of an Older Population. National Academies Press. 2012.
Reviewed by Murad J. Antia, CFA
The United States and many other countries are in the infancy of significant demographic changes.
Hong Kong Tiger Asia Case: Are Insider Traders Losing Their Stripes?
I was at the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong on 30 April to witness the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) win over Tiger Asia Management LLC in a landmark ruling. In dismissing Tiger Asia’s appeal,
Current Thinking on Housing Prices and Mortgage Markets
Global housing prices remain a popular indicator of economic activity. According to the latest surveys, US home prices rose 7.1% over the last year, still 13.6% below their peak. London home prices rose 9.4% in the past year,
The Role of Financial Advisers: What Should Clients Expect?
In recent times, there has been increased scrutiny of the role of financial advisers. In Singapore, this has taken the form of the Financial Advisory Industry Review recommendations. In Australia, such matters are under the purview of the Future of Financial Advice reforms while in India it falls to the Investment Advisors Regulation.
How to Reform LIBOR: The Debate Continues
Since the publication of the U.K.’s Wheatley Review in late September, which heralded the beginning of the reform process to fix the scandal-plagued London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) benchmark, a swath of regulatory initiatives has been launched.
Are Young Investment Professionals Especially Vulnerable to Ethical Lapses?
While reading a Wall Street Journal article about yet another young trader at the center of a scandal — 33-year-old Tom Hayes, the only trader to be cited by name in the Libor-rigging investigation — I was reminded of an interview that I conducted with John R.
BOJ Asset Purchases: Is Japan Sowing Seeds of Next Asset Bubble?
Japan’s Nikkei index is on fire. In just the past six months, the benchmark is up 55% as of this writing. Why? Pretty simple: New Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda has announced that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will begin purchasing approximately ¥7 trillion worth of bonds annually in a major new quantitative easing program.
Recommended Reading: The Best Books on Islamic Finance (Video)
A frequent question on the minds of those interested in learning about Islamic finance is, “What’s the best book that I should read?” To answer this question, I spoke with Rodney Wilson, a professor at the University of Durham and a well-known commentator on Islamic finance.
MRI International Scandal: Another Reason Ethical Behavior is Needed in the Marketplace
“A friend told me that I could earn more than investing in the stock market.” “At first I was skeptical, but as they paid me a dividend I used my retirement savings to invest in this scheme.” These were only a few of the many remarks of regretful retail investors who may have been victims of another Madoff-style scam.
US Industrial Renaissance is Eroding Emerging Markets’ Competitive Edge
In his 2007 book, The Emerging Markets Century, author Antoine van Agtmael, argued that the world’s economic center of gravity was decisively tipping toward emerging markets, a term he is said to have coined in 1981 while at the World Bank.
Is Fed Policy Responsible for the Rally?
Monday morning on CNBC, TrimTabs CEO Charles Biderman noted that “the Fed’s balance sheet is up a few trillion, and the equity market caps are up a few trillion. To me, there’s nothing else that’s going on.” The popular pundit line has been that QE (quantitative easing) is mainly psychological,
Volcker vs. Vickers — Which Plan Is Best for Banks?
Between British economist Sir John Vickers — who in 2010 became chair of the U.K.’s newly created Independent Commission on Banking — and former Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volcker, there few people as synonymous with efforts to prevent another systemic meltdown as these two policy luminaries.
European Bank Reporting: Investors Should be Wary of Reclassified Financial Assets
As the economic crisis in Europe continues to play out, an important question for investors is how sovereign debt exposure may have affected the recently reported performance of systemically important banks.
Top Five Articles from April: Bloomberg’s Twitter List, Currency Wars, and Bitcoin
1. Inside Bloomberg’s Twitter A-List (Well, At Least a Fraction of It)
Bloomberg recently announced that it had become the first financial information platform to integrate real-time Twitter
Corporate Governance Roundup: IIRC Seeks Integrated Reporting Input, Hong Kong Keeps Company Director Details Public, and More
From the state of corporate governance in Asia and integrated reporting globally to the United Kingdom’s launch of two new regulators in place of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), it’s time to span the corporate governance globe to review important developments from the month of April.
Mutual Recognition: New Horizon for China, Hong Kong, and Foreign Fund Houses?
When former Bank of China chairman Xiao Gang (pictured left) took over as chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) in March, he inherited a long list of still-in-progress capital market reform initiatives from his predecessor Guo Shuqing.
Nudge or Shove? The Many Shades of Financial Paternalism
Discussions about the value of paternalism have been in vogue these days. The latest contribution: In “Mandatory Retirement Savings” (PDF), a Financial Analysts Journalarticle just released ahead of print,
What to Do about High-Frequency Trading
The following guest editorial was written by Larry Harris, CFA, Fred V. Keenan Professor of Finance at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. It was published in the March/April 2013 issue of the Financial Analysts Journal.
Using the Asset Manager Code to Distinguish between Ethical Investment Advisers and Magicians
What do magicians and the black sheep among investment advisers have in common? Well, for the purpose of this blog, a lot. Both magicians and notorious investment advisers make their money by selling illusions.