By Patrick Clark 10/03/12 8:50am

Morning Read

Damages May Reach Billions As NYAG Files More Suits; Large Firms Positioned for New Marketing Rules: Roundup

Wall Street firms face billions in potential damages after New York State AG Eric Schneiderman brought civil charges against JPMorgan this week for mortgage-packaging standards at Bear Stearns, which JPMorgan acquired in 2008. The lawsuit, which has been criticized for offering little new information, is the first tort filed by a federal-state task force formed by President Barack Obama earlier this year. Mr. Schneiderman said yesterday that other suits would follow.

From engineering financial instruments to building the world’s biggest Ferris wheel, climb aboard with Matt Chaban for former Bear Stearns Asset Management CEO Richard Marin’s wild ride.

Former Wells Fargo Chairman Dick Kovacevich will not abide arguments that the U.S. government bailed out his bank, especially not in his country club’s men’s dining room.

Large firms such as BlackRock are best positioned to take advantage of JOBS Act provisions that would lift the ban on advertising by private investment firms, Bloomberg reports. One reason: bigger money managers already have marketers on staff to work on products such as mutual funds. Read More

By Patrick Clark 9/10/12 3:16pm

open books

"I've stepped away from my desk to appear on TV..."

Let the Hedge Funds Speak! Why New Rules On Marketing May Be a Good Thing

Picture this: Hedge Fund Manager X dresses up in his spiffiest suit, endures the ministrations of production assistants and makeup artists and stands before Bloomberg Television cameras to talk about his recent performance and pontificate on his favorite on markets and industries. A few minutes later, a news article contextualizing his remarks flashes across terminal screens, and a few minutes after that, the same news story hits the web, where the rabid lust for any tidbit with said money manager’s name attached gives birth to dozens of blog posts and hundreds of tweets. Maybe the market moves, maybe it doesn’t, maybe the thesis will prove correct.

Forget about those consequences for a moment. Instead picture Hedge Fund Manager Y, sitting at a souped-up trading desk, registering his rival’s publicity hit in some darkened recess of his reptile brain: Isn’t my track record longer than Manager X? he asks himself. Aren’t my ideas better, my assets under management more robust, not to mention I have spiffier suits and a stronger jaw. And then he picks up the phone and calls his publicist, who calls Bloomberg.

Believe us, it’s coming: Once-reclusive hedge fund managers are going to start going on the record with the press. Read More