Short Takes: Underwriting Conflict of Interest and more

Tomorrow is a holiday, so this is a special Thursday edition of Short Takes. Have a great long weekend!

Tom Bradley at Steadyhand doesn’t understand why regulators permitted Scotiabank to underwrite its own stock issue. His disclosure at the end of the piece cracked me up.

The Blunt Bean Counter wades into the debate about whether insiders have an edge in trading stocks they are close to professionally.

Where Does All My Money Go? explains the wash-trading charges against RBC. Preet’s explanation is much clearer than anything I read in newspapers.

Big Cajun Man looks at the budget’s changes to Registered Disability Savings Plans (RDSPs).

Retire Happy Blog takes a look at corporate bonds. Personally, I don’t invest in such bonds and probably won’t in the future except possibly indirectly through a bond index ETF.

Million Dollar Journey explains the Pension Benefits Guarantee Fund.

My Own Advisor seems to be ahead of the game on his 2012 personal financial goals.

Comments

  1. Big Cajun ManApril 5, 2012 at 6:34 AM

    Thanks for the mention, enjoy the long weekend

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Blunt Bean CounterApril 5, 2012 at 8:08 AM

    Michael, thx for the mention and your insightful comment on the topic.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousApril 5, 2012 at 12:40 PM

    Any thoughts on RBS'c wash trading...?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Michael JamesApril 5, 2012 at 12:49 PM

    @Anonymous: The accusation seems to be that RBC took different sides of the same trades to gain some Canadian tax advantages. On the surface, it's not obvious why this is a problem even if true. The main complaint seems to be that the trades weren't made in the spirit of propoer "price discovery". Perhaps parties who trade are required to agree to certain conditions. In any case, RBC denies that their different arms conspired to take these riskless positions.

    ReplyDelete
  5. My Own AdvisorApril 5, 2012 at 9:29 PM

    Thanks for the link Michael. Have a great long weekend.

    Mark

    ReplyDelete
  6. WhereDoesAllMyMoneyGo.comApril 6, 2012 at 1:11 AM

    Thanks for the link Michael - have a great long weekend!

    ReplyDelete

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