Securities Industry

4 Japanese Brokerages Fined: The Tokyo Stock Exchange levied a $21,700 fine against Naigai Securities Co., Aizawa Securities Co., Meiko Securities Co. and Izumi Securities Co. for compensating clients for stock losses. The Japan Securities Dealers Assn. said the compensation totaled $6.3 million for 92 clients between October, 1987, and March, 1990.

With rare bipartisan support, the Senate is poised to pass a bill this week that could lead largely to the end of the nation's long online sales tax holiday. The measure would allow states to require that large online retailers collect sales taxes on goods sold over the Internet, closing a loophole that has benefited the likes of EBay Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. The White House gave the legislation its approval Monday, and it passed a key procedural hurdle. The Senate voted 74 to 20 to begin consideration of the so-called Marketplace Fairness Act, with a final vote expected in a few days.

In a largely symbolic action, the Securities and Exchange Commission formally barred inside trader Ivan F. Boesky from doing business with any investment firm. The SEC first issued the permanent bar order last Nov. 14, when Boesky settled an SEC complaint charging him with insider trading and agreed to pay a $100-million penalty. However, the Nov. 14 order was temporarily stayed to allow Boesky to close out his businesses.

The Securities and Exchange Commission may have booted Henry Blodget off Wall Street, but the former Merrill Lynch & Co. Internet analyst has attracted some big fans for Business Insider Inc., which he co-founded in 2007.  A major endorsement for the online news site landed this week in the form of $5 million -- venture capital rounded up by Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos.  “Jeff's leadership, vision and philosophy at...

In a victory for the securities industry, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a case that would overturn clauses in securities contracts that require customers to go to arbitration rather than court when they have a dispute with a broker or brokerage company. The case, Michael J. Connolly vs. the Securities Industry Assn., also sought to require greater disclosure about arbitration agreements.

A major deregulation of Canada's securities industry begins today, opening the way for foreign entry into the country's financial markets and supposedly making it easier and cheaper for corporate and individual consumers to acquire stocks and loans. But the new system, nicknamed the "Big Bang" after a similar deregulation in Britain last year, has been viewed with caution in the days just before the changeover.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman John S. R. Shad will be leaving the commission this week to become ambassador to the Netherlands. He discussed his SEC career with Washington Post Staff Writer David A. Vise. Question: You will be remembered as the SEC chairman who presided over the $100-million case against Ivan F. Boesky. If you were writing the history book, what would you say about your role and the SEC's role in the Boesky matter?

Ralph D. DeNunzio announced Thursday that he will resign as chief executive of the major investment firm Kidder, Peabody & Co. and that the second-ranking official will leave the company altogether in a shake-up that marks the latest casualty of Wall Street's insider trading scandal. DeNunzio, who will stay on as chairman to oversee the management transition, will be replaced as chief executive by Silas S.

Wall Street executives are cashing in on the most profitable year ever for investment banks and brokerage houses as low interest rates, a surging stock market and record underwritings of new stock and bond issues make the securities industry a shining exception in an otherwise dreary economic firmament. Proxy statements filed recently by securities firms disclose that pay for 1991 is up for top executives of big public firms. Merrill Lynch & Co. officers have reaped the richest rewards to date.

Dealing a blow to the securities industry, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to change the rules that allow commercial banks to sell short-term, large-denomination corporate IOUs, or commercial paper. In separate actions, the high court: - Set the stage for an important employee-discrimination ruling by agreeing to hear the appeal of a Fort Worth, Tex., bank employee who claims that she was denied promotions because she is black.

Federal regulators are investigating whether onetime junk-bond czar Michael Milken violated his lifetime ban from the securities industry, according to a published report. Milken is allowed to manage his own wealth but is barred from running money for others under the terms of a 1980s settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to the article in Fortune magazine. Here's what's happening, according to the magazine's article : The SEC is analyzing whether Milken ran afoul of the ban by effectively providing investment advice through Guggenheim Partners, the investment colossus that spearheaded last year's blockbuster purchase of the Dodgers.

NEW YORK -- Wall Street has been slashing jobs, kicking out traders and bankers as the finance industry shrinks. But those with high-paying jobs are still taking in fat bonuses. The average cash bonus on Wall Street last year rose an estimated 9% to nearly $121,900, according to a report released Tuesday by New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. Overall, the New York securities industry is expected to dole out $20 billion in 2012 cash bonuses, up 8% from the previous year.

NEW YORK -- High-paying Wall Street jobs will probably become more scarce as securities firms continue to lay off traders and brokers in the face of increased regulation following the financial crisis, according to New York's state comptroller. Profits in New York's securities industry appear to have improved in 2012 compared with the previous year, but at the expense of Wall Street employees, said Thomas DiNapoli, the state's comptroller. "Part of how firms are maintaining profitability is by having fewer people,” said DiNapoli, whose office plans to release a report on Wall Street bonuses next month.

The cyber-security industry is on Defcon 1 high alert. The recent rash of attacks on dozens of websites including those of the CIA, the FBI and even PBS is roiling the security industry and increasing demand for cyber-defense experts. "Every time one of these breaches makes the news, I will tell you, my phone rings off the hook," said Chris Novak, a manager of Verizon Communications Inc.'s Investigative Response Team, which now has nearly 100 members, more than double from a year ago. With the surge in attacks in recent months, Novak sees the team tripling in size this year.

The Obama administration is proposing the farthest-reaching set of new rules for the financial industry since the Great Depression -- including measures that would for the first time regulate hedge funds and give government the power to seize and dismantle companies deemed a threat to the economy. There is strong support for reform in the wake of last fall's near-meltdown of the global banking system, but several of the measures could trigger fierce resistance from the financial industry.

If you didn't know John Jones, you'd assume he was just another overworked securities trader, hustling across the sidewalk to wolf down a quick lunch in this city's financial district. But when Jones sits down, his recent past is on full display. Titanium shins poke out from the cuffs of his dress slacks, revealing prosthetic legs. Jones was a Marine staff sergeant in Iraq in 2005 when a land mine blew off both legs below the knees.

Former Silicon Valley technology banker Frank Quattrone, convicted on criminal charges of obstructing justice, has been barred from the securities industry for life by regulators for allegedly failing to cooperate in an investigation of his activities. The NASD, formerly the National Assn. of Securities Dealers, said Monday that its National Adjudicatory Council had permanently banned Quattrone from the industry, overruling a January decision by a hearing panel to suspend him for only a year.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, facing congressional questions over its vigilance in policing Wall Street and corporate fraud, said Monday that it im- posed more than $1 billion in sanctions in the last fiscal year. Fines and orders extracting ill-gotten profits surpassed that amount in the 12 months that ended Sept. 30, the SEC said in an annual report, without giving specific figures. The agency imposed $1.

Mona Mond had a plan -- and it didn't include Wall Street going haywire and giving up a three-bedroom house with a half-acre yard for a small apartment. She'd married a man with a career on Wall Street, and at the very least she was going to live in a house, preferably brand new, with a Jacuzzi in her bedroom and a pool in that yard. There'd be a maid -- and no skimping, no worrying that any day Amar, her husband, would lose his job.