Here’s an amusing – and perhaps inevitable – consequence of preferential ballotting:
The number of parties registered to contest an upper house election due by Nov. 30 has more than doubled to 54 since 2010, with the electoral commission ordering magnifying glasses for voters to read ballot papers more than 1 meter (3 feet, 3 inches) long. A preferential voting system means results may be splintered, raising the prospect small, single interest parties will have final say over what laws pass in the world’s 12th-largest economy.
…
The influx of new parties has led the Australian Electoral Commission to order 100,000 magnifying glasses to help voters read ballot papers that will be printed in a tiny 6-point font to cram in all the contenders’ names. The total number of candidates won’t be known until after the election is called.Given a voting system that lets voters indicate an order of preference for candidates, contestants with negligible first-choice selections can be elected. That happened in 2004 when creationist Steve Fielding, who went on to cast decisive votes on laws regarding media ownership, won a Senate seat after his Family First Party snared just 2 percent of the vote in Victoria state. In 1984, Jo Vallentine won a seat while campaigning for the now defunct Nuclear Disarmament Party.
I hadn’t realized there was this money laundering wrinkle in the SAC Capital charges:
The money-laundering complaint U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara filed against Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors LP raised the prospect that the hedge fund’s $14 billion in assets may be subject to forfeiture.
…
In announcing the lawsuit and SAC’s parallel indictment for insider trading, Bharara wouldn’t specify the dollar amount he was seeking. His money-laundering complaint just says he wants “all right, title and interest” in SAC’s assets, should he prove his case.The law underlying the civil case states that any property “involved in” money-laundering activities, or traceable to them, can be forfeited. That sweeping language has proved more limited than it sounds.
Judges have approved forfeiture of illegal profits from a crime plus money derived from those profits, including appropriate interest, according to lawyers who have dealt with the money-laundering law. Bharara said that criminal conduct at the fund had resulted in “hundreds of millions of dollars of illegal profits.”
GWO is still looking for cheap assets:
Great-West Lifeco Inc. won’t let efforts to mesh its recent $1.75-billion acquisition of Irish Life Group with its existing Irish business stand in the way of future mergers.
…
“Clearly corporate teams will be working with Irish Life Group, but that is in no way going to constrain us from continuing to look for opportunities to grow, whether its additional growth in Europe or the U.S.,” said Paul Mahon, chief executive of Great-West, on a conference call. While other major Canadian life insurers have looked to Asia for growth, Great-West has intensified its focus on Europe. Mr. Mahon noted that further growth within Ireland itself would be unlikely, though.
Does the US want to find the best possible person for the role of Fed chair? Or does it want a woman?
[Former Fed Governor Susan] Phillips said the focus on gender in speculation over who will succeed Ben S. Bernanke as chairman — Fed Vice Chair Janet Yellen, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers or former Vice ChairDonald Kohn — has reminded her that women remain scarce as central-bank heads.
Yellen, 66, would be the first female leader in the central bank’s 100-year history and, while women have populated its senior ranks, there is a “big difference” in the authority and visibility wielded by the chairmen, Phillips said. They speak for the entire institution, set the agenda and often “preserve to themselves” relationships with the administration and Congress.
It is “the second most-powerful position in the country after the president — it’s a very influential position,” said Mark Calabria, director of financial-regulation studies at the Cato Institute in Washington and a former Senate Banking Committee aide. “There is a glass-ceiling element to this that does make this different than being vice chair.”
This follows on the heels of the OSC expanding from policeman to social activist:
Canadian companies will be asked to disclose the proportion of women they have on their boards and in senior management as part of a new policy being proposed by Canada’s largest securities market regulator.
The Ontario Securities Commission will unveil a consultation paper Tuesday suggesting that companies be required to develop and disclose policies to improve their boardroom gender diversity, or else explain why they have opted not to have a policy.
Keystone, Schmeystone! TransCanada’s got a big project in the works!
TransCanada Corp., the country’s second-biggest pipeline operator, plans to go ahead with a C$12 billion ($11.7 billion) pipeline that will ship oil from Western Canada to the East Coast.
The Energy East project would have a capacity of 1.1 million barrels a day and be in service by the end of 2017 for deliveries to Quebec and to New Brunswick in 2018, the Calgary-based company said today in a statement.
The project to supply East Coast refineries and export terminals involves converting a portion of 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) of existing 42-inch natural gas pipeline and building 1,400 kilometers of new pipeline, the company said.
Travesty.:
Fabrice Tourre, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) vice president on trial for his role in a failed $1 billion investment, was found liable on six of seven claims by a jury in Manhattan.
The verdict is a victory for the government in one of the most high-profile trials to come out of the financial crisis of 2007-2008. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accused Tourre, 34, of intentionally misleading participants in a 2007 deal known as Abacus about the role played by Paulson & Co., the hedge fund of billionaire John Paulson.
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Tourre was found liable on three claims of intending to defraud, two claims of negligence and one count of aiding and abetting. He was found not liable on the claim of misrepresentations and omissions.
National Bank has acquired TD Waterhouse Institutional Services:
National Bank of Canada (“National Bank”) and The Toronto-Dominion Bank (“TD”), through subsidiaries, have entered into an agreement providing for the acquisition by National Bank of TD’s institutional services business known as TD Waterhouse Institutional Services.
Like National Bank’s Correspondent Network (“NBCN”), TD Waterhouse Institutional Services is a leader in the provision of back-office solutions, including custody, trading, clearing, settlement and record keeping, for independent Canadian based registered portfolio managers and introducing brokers.
The purchase price for the acquisition is $250 million, subject to a price adjustment mechanism based on asset retention. The transaction is expected to increase National Bank’s 2014 and 2015 recurring EPS by $0.12 and $0.14, respectively, assuming full benefit of the acquisition in fiscal year 2014. National Bank estimates the transaction will reduce its Common Equity Tier 1 ratio under Basel III rules by approximately 40 basis points. National Bank expects its Common Equity Tier 1 ratio to remain above 8% following closing of the transaction. Closing is expected to occur later this year, subject to receipt of required regulatory approvals and other transaction terms and conditions.
I’m glad to see the end of TDWIS – their service policies were an arrogant joke. DBRS notes:
The combination of the Bank’s Correspondent Network and TD Waterhouse Institutional Services will make National a leader in the institutional services business with 408 market intermediaries overseeing over $84 billion in assets under administration.
It would have been nice to see this business pass out of banks’ hands, though. And I find it hard to forget National’s reprehensible conduct regarding playing both sides of the ABCP market prior to the Credit Crunch.
It was a poor day for the Canadian preferred share market, with PerpetualDiscounts losing 35bp, FixedResets off 9bp and DeemedRetractibles down 28bp. There is yet another very lengthy Performance Highlights table, heavily skewed towards losers. Volume was on the low side of average.
| HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices Values are provisional and are finalized monthly |
|||||||
| Index | Mean Current Yield (at bid) |
Median YTW |
Median Average Trading Value |
Median Mod Dur (YTW) |
Issues | Day’s Perf. | Index Value |
| Ratchet | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.5953 % | 2,609.5 |
| FixedFloater | 4.10 % | 3.40 % | 33,404 | 18.58 | 1 | 0.0000 % | 4,046.5 |
| Floater | 2.58 % | 2.89 % | 81,130 | 20.00 | 5 | -0.5953 % | 2,817.5 |
| OpRet | 4.59 % | 3.35 % | 79,542 | 0.86 | 3 | -0.2037 % | 2,626.8 |
| SplitShare | 4.70 % | 4.84 % | 61,584 | 4.16 | 6 | -0.1942 % | 2,952.0 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.2037 % | 2,401.9 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.68 % | 5.14 % | 94,475 | 0.58 | 12 | -0.1817 % | 2,280.4 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.41 % | 5.52 % | 153,147 | 14.59 | 25 | -0.3465 % | 2,378.9 |
| FixedReset | 4.94 % | 3.65 % | 232,427 | 3.75 | 85 | -0.0863 % | 2,466.3 |
| Deemed-Retractible | 5.12 % | 4.92 % | 192,368 | 7.02 | 43 | -0.2818 % | 2,362.5 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| TRP.PR.A | FixedReset | -1.72 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2043-08-01 Maturity Price : 23.57 Evaluated at bid price : 24.00 Bid-YTW : 3.90 % |
| TRI.PR.B | Floater | -1.61 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2043-08-01 Maturity Price : 23.01 Evaluated at bid price : 23.28 Bid-YTW : 2.24 % |
| PWF.PR.F | Perpetual-Discount | -1.53 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2043-08-01 Maturity Price : 23.45 Evaluated at bid price : 23.74 Bid-YTW : 5.55 % |
| TRP.PR.D | FixedReset | -1.36 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2043-08-01 Maturity Price : 23.02 Evaluated at bid price : 24.70 Bid-YTW : 4.04 % |
| CU.PR.G | Perpetual-Discount | -1.30 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2043-08-01 Maturity Price : 21.68 Evaluated at bid price : 21.96 Bid-YTW : 5.21 % |
| SLF.PR.B | Deemed-Retractible | -1.15 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2025-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 22.35 Bid-YTW : 6.19 % |
| IAG.PR.A | Deemed-Retractible | -1.12 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2025-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 23.03 Bid-YTW : 5.62 % |
| BNS.PR.K | Deemed-Retractible | -1.08 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 24.66 Bid-YTW : 5.03 % |
| SLF.PR.C | Deemed-Retractible | -1.02 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2025-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 21.36 Bid-YTW : 6.33 % |
| HSE.PR.A | FixedReset | 1.19 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2043-08-01 Maturity Price : 22.93 Evaluated at bid price : 23.80 Bid-YTW : 3.76 % |
| SLF.PR.G | FixedReset | 1.20 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2025-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 24.47 Bid-YTW : 3.65 % |
| FTS.PR.J | Perpetual-Discount | 1.70 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2043-08-01 Maturity Price : 22.89 Evaluated at bid price : 23.30 Bid-YTW : 5.16 % |
| MFC.PR.C | Deemed-Retractible | 1.89 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2025-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 21.51 Bid-YTW : 6.33 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| BNS.PR.P | FixedReset | 109,436 | Nesbitt crossed 100,000 at 24.57. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 24.48 Bid-YTW : 3.83 % |
| CM.PR.E | Perpetual-Premium | 59,873 | RBC crossed 50,000 at 25.00. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2043-08-01 Maturity Price : 24.68 Evaluated at bid price : 24.99 Bid-YTW : 5.63 % |
| HSB.PR.E | FixedReset | 57,600 | RBC crossed 16,300 at 25.86; Desjardins crossed 22,000 at the same price. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-06-30 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.84 Bid-YTW : 3.52 % |
| BMO.PR.M | FixedReset | 51,733 | There may be some buying for conversion purposes with this one. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2013-09-24 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.02 Bid-YTW : 2.24 % |
| RY.PR.T | FixedReset | 37,274 | Nesbitt crossed 35,000 at 25.95. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-08-24 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.90 Bid-YTW : 2.45 % |
| TD.PR.C | FixedReset | 31,574 | TD crossed 25,000 at 25.34. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.32 Bid-YTW : 3.04 % |
| There were 29 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||
| Wide Spread Highlights | ||
| Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
| GWO.PR.I | Deemed-Retractible | Quote: 22.00 – 22.79 Spot Rate : 0.7900 Average : 0.4996 YTW SCENARIO |
| GWO.PR.N | FixedReset | Quote: 23.29 – 23.75 Spot Rate : 0.4600 Average : 0.3147 YTW SCENARIO |
| TD.PR.R | Deemed-Retractible | Quote: 25.88 – 26.23 Spot Rate : 0.3500 Average : 0.2092 YTW SCENARIO |
| BNS.PR.K | Deemed-Retractible | Quote: 24.66 – 25.07 Spot Rate : 0.4100 Average : 0.2797 YTW SCENARIO |
| ELF.PR.H | Perpetual-Discount | Quote: 24.32 – 24.85 Spot Rate : 0.5300 Average : 0.4017 YTW SCENARIO |
| PWF.PR.F | Perpetual-Discount | Quote: 23.74 – 24.12 Spot Rate : 0.3800 Average : 0.2530 YTW SCENARIO |