Our Arbitration Rules Or No Game
August 2, 2002
CBS Marketwatch
Like the kid who says he gets to make the rules because he’s got the only ball, the National Association of Securities Dealers and the New York Stock Exchange have blocked new investor arbitrations in California because they don’t want to follow the state’s new conflict-of-interest disclosure rules. The California legislature, concerned about the growing […]
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Brokerage Watchdog Fights For Credibility
May 31, 2002
USA Today
Noelle Knox and Barbara Hansen
Plenty of investors are upset with their stockbrokers, but they are also losing faith that Wall Street’s watchdog group will help them. Consider this: Investor arbitration claims against brokers jumped 24% last year. But, at the same time, investor complaints to that watchdog group, the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), fell 22%. That may […]
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With Spitzer Case Settled, Merrill Now Faces Angry Public
May 21, 2002
TheStreet.com
Mary Haffenberg
Eliot Spitzer, the bulldog attorney general who extracted a $100 million settlement payment from Merrill Lynch (MER:NYSE – news – commentary – research – analysis), says that’s just a down payment for compensating aggrieved investors. To be sure, none of the money that Merrill agreed to pay in this much-anticipated deal will go to investors […]
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Dear Dagen: Navigating the Arbitration System
May 10, 2002
TheStreet.com
Dagen McDowell
If you ask a securities attorney to list the pros and cons of the arbitration process, you’ll likely get the following response:What difference does it make? You don’t have any other option. That’s true. In the securities industry, complaints are typically heard in arbitration (a private legal proceeding that’s legally binding on both parties), rather […]
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How Settlement Is Worded Could Be Costly To Merrill
May 10, 2002
New York Times
Patrick McGeehan
How much will the investigation into the behavior of Merrill Lynch’s stock analysts cost the firm? With estimates running into the billions of dollars, Merrill’s shares have been bouncing all over the map. Merrill executives hope to reach a settlement soon with Eliot L. Spitzer, the attorney general of New York, that would require Merrill […]
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