LPL Financial to Present at Upcoming Investor Conferences - Yahoo Finance LPL Financial to Present at Upcoming Investor Conferences - Yahoo Finance

Thursday, May 31, 2012

LPL Financial to Present at Upcoming Investor Conferences - Yahoo Finance

LPL Financial to Present at Upcoming Investor Conferences - Yahoo Finance

BOSTON, May 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- LPL Investment Holdings Inc. (LPLA) (the "Company"), parent company of independent broker-dealer LPL Financial LLC ("LPL Financial"), announced today that it will present at the following investor conferences in June:

  • Mark Casady, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, will present at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Small and Mid Cap Conference on Wednesday, June 6, 2012 at 2:20 p.m. (EDT), at the Boston Harbor Hotel in Boston
  • Robert Moore, President and Chief Operating Officer, will present at the William Blair & Company Growth Stock Conference on Tuesday, June 12, 2012 at 10:10 a.m. (CDT), at The Four Seasons Hotel  in Chicago
  • Mark Casady, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, will present at the Morgan Stanley Financials Conference on Wednesday, June 13, 2012 at 8:30am (EDT), at the New York Palace Hotel in New York City

Interested parties are invited to listen to the live audio webcast of these presentations on the Investor Relations section of the LPL Financial website at investor.lpl.com. An archived recording of each webcast will be available for replay following each presentation.

About LPL Financial

LPL Financial, a wholly owned subsidiary of LPL Investment Holdings Inc. (LPLA), is the nation's largest independent broker-dealer (based on total revenues, Financial Planning magazine, June 1996-2011), a top RIA custodian, and a leading independent consultant to retirement plans.  LPL Financial offers proprietary technology, comprehensive clearing and compliance services, practice management programs and training, and independent research to over 12,900 financial advisors and approximately 680 financial institutions. In addition, LPL Financial supports over 4,400 financial advisors licensed with insurance companies by providing customized clearing, advisory platforms and technology solutions. LPL Financial and its affiliates have approximately 2,700 employees with headquarters in Boston, Charlotte, and San Diego.  For more information, please visit www.lpl.com.

Securities offered through LPL Financial. Member FINRA/SIPC

LPLA-F



Financial experts explain need for CBN autonomy - Vanguard

By BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE
FINANCIAL experts said that the autonomy of the Central Bank is a critical to macroeconomic growth and stability.

“The formal autonomy of the central bank is a pre-requisite for macroeconomic stability in Nigeria., said  Samir Gadio, Emerging Markets Strategist, Standard Bank London.

Commenting on-going efforts to amend the CBN Act, he said, “There is such a wide consensus on this concept both in Nigeria and externally that one can only wonder about the real motivations behind the proposed bill to amend the CBN Act. If passed, the new legislation would be a major setback for the reform process and price stability…a setback of such magnitude that it is still unclear whether the authors of the bill genuinely want it to be adopted.

Unlike the present Act which makes the CBN governor as the chairman of the board and the Deputy governors as board members, the proposed amended  CBN bill would provide for the appointment of a Chairman of the CBN Board (in reality a political appointee) and the exclusion of CBN Deputy Governors and Directors from the Board.

Annual budget

Also, the Board would include representatives of the Ministry of Finance and the Accountant-General of the Federation. Furthermore, the bill seeks to divest the Board of the power to consider and approve the annual budget of the central bank.

“Generally, we (RenCap) think all central banks across the world, not just the CBN, should be independent so that they are not influenced in terms of policy direction,” said  Yvonne Mhango , Vice President, Sub-Saharan Africa Economist, Renaissance Capital (RenCap)

“You have the government that has the treasury under their management and controls fiscal policy. Fiscal policy in Africa is a stronger policy tool than the monetary policy and the reason is because monetary policy is a blunt instrument. This is because the transmission mechanism between the financial market and the real economy is very weak.

“So, the government has the fiscal policy and monetary policy should be left for the CBN which should be independent. In Africa, I don’t see why there should be significant appetite to control monetary policy.”

Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ancoria Investment and Securities Limited, Dr. Olusola Dada, also said  that all over the world, central banks are independent. Dada advised that the CBN Act should not be amended such that the apex bank will be reporting to the ministry of finance, insisting that the Bank ought to report directly to the Presidency.

“In this era of globalisation, Nigeria cannot afford not to follow the global trend. A truly independent and autonomous CBN has become more imperative for the integration of our financial system with the world economy in general and the West African sub region in particular..

“What is required now is not to erode the financial autonomy of the CBN but rather to build and strengthen relationships that would enhance complementary role between the monetary and the fiscal authorities, and ensure accountability and transparency,” he added.”



Bank stocks hurt after surprise $2B JPMorgan loss - Yahoo Finance

WASHINGTON (AP) -- JPMorgan Chase stock lost more than 8 percent of its value Friday after the bank, the largest in the United States, revealed a monster $2 billion loss in a trading group that manages the risks the bank takes with its own money.

More than three years after the financial crisis, the surprise disclosure quickly revived debate about whether banks can be trusted to handle risk on their own.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chair of a subcommittee that investigated the crisis, said the loss was "just the latest evidence that what banks call 'hedges' are often risky bets that so-called 'too big to fail' banks have no business making."

The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mary Schapiro, told reporters that the agency was focused on the JPMorgan loss but declined to comment further.

Some analysts were skeptical that the trading was designed to protect against JPMorgan's own losses, as CEO Jamie Dimon contended Thursday in a conference call with stock analysts and reporters.

The analysts said the bank appeared to have been betting for its own benefit, a practice known as "proprietary trading."

Dimon said the type of trading that led to the $2 billion loss would not be banned by the so-called Volcker rule, which is still being written and is expected to ban certain types of trading by banks with their own money.

The Federal Reserve said last month that it would begin enforcing that rule in July 2014. Bank executives, including Dimon, have argued for weaker rules and broader exemptions.

JPMorgan has been a strong critic of provisions that would have made this loss less likely, said Michael Greenberger, former enforcement director of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates some derivatives.

"These instruments are not regularly and efficiently priced, and a company can wake up one day, as AIG did in 2008, and find out they're in a terrific hole. It can just blow up overnight," said Greenberger, a professor at the University of Maryland.

On Friday, bank stocks were hammered in Britain and the United States, partly because of fear that the JPMorgan loss would lead to tougher regulation of financial institutions.

JPMorgan stock was down 8.2 percent in early trading on Wall Street. It was down more than $3, and by itself shaved 25 points off the Dow Jones industrial average, which was up about 30 points on the day.

In Britain, shares of Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland were down more than 2 percent.

JPMorgan stock was the hardest hit, but its American counterparts suffered, too: Morgan Stanley was down 4 percent, and Goldman Sachs and Citigroup each lost more than 3 percent.

Stock analysts said that bank stocks were hurt mostly because of regulatory fear, not because there was reason to believe other banks would discover similar losses.

"The regulatory and political environment is already a headwind, and clearly this doesn't help," Deutsche Bank said in a note to clients.

The trading loss was an embarrassment for JPMorgan, which came through the 2008 financial crisis in much better health than its peers. It kept clear of risky investments that hurt many other banks.

The loss came over the past six weeks in a portfolio of the complex financial instruments known as derivatives, and in a division JPMorgan says was supposed to control its exposure to risk in the financial markets.

"The portfolio has proved to be riskier, more volatile and less effective as an economic hedge than we thought," Dimon told reporters on Thursday. "There were many errors, sloppiness and bad judgment."

Bloomberg News reported in April that a single JPMorgan trader in London, known in the bond market as "the London whale," was making such large trades that he was moving prices in the $10 trillion market.

Dimon said the losses were "somewhat related" to that story, but seemed to suggest that the problem was broader. Dimon also said the company had "acted too defensively," and should have looked into the division more closely.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that JPMorgan had invested heavily in an index of credit-default swaps, insurance-like products that protect against default by bond issuers.

Hedge funds were betting that the index would lose value, forcing JPMorgan to sell investments at a loss. The losses came in part because financial markets have been far more volatile since the end of March.

Partly because of the $2 billion trading loss, JPMorgan said it expects a loss of $800 million this quarter for a segment of its business known as corporate and private equity. It had planned on a profit for the segment of $200 million.

The loss is expected to hurt JPMorgan's overall earnings for the second quarter, which ends June 30.

"We will admit it, we will learn from it, we will fix it, and we will move on," he said. Dimon spoke in a hastily scheduled conference call with stock analysts. Reporters were allowed to listen.

JPMorgan is trying to unload the portfolio in question in a "responsible" manner, Dimon said, to minimize the cost to its shareholders. Analysts said more losses were possible depending on market conditions.

___

AP Business Writer Pallavi Gogoi contributed to this report. Daniel Wagner can be reached at www.twitter.com/wagnerreports.



Firms suffer from 'ad hoc' financial reporting system investments - PC Advisor

Inefficient financial reporting is leading to a loss of confidence, high costs and hindered decision-making at large firms, according to research from business consultancy Accenture.

The research shows the majority of companies worldwide have made "substantial" investments in financial reporting systems intended to improve their reporting and filing processes. However, the investments have been made ad hoc, "leaving businesses with ineffective solutions and a lack of visibility, quality and confidence in their financial data", said Accenture.

The "Challenges of Corporate Financial Reporting" report highlights that businesses are unable to fully understand the cost of their financial reporting, with 60 percent of finance professionals unable to identify the total cost.

The report suggests that businesses need to change their investment strategies in order to avoid increased costs, ineffective financial reporting and missed key internal and external deadlines.

The report, jointly published by Oracle, surveyed 1,123 finance professionals at large organisations (employing over 250) in 12 countries, including the UK, USA, France, Germany, Russia and Spain.

The research shows 82 percent of companies have made changes over the last three years to their filing and reporting processes. But despite these investments inefficient spreadsheets (72 percent) and emails (68 percent) are still being used to track and manage reporting on a daily basis, suggesting that new investments are falling short of expectations.

Despite a fifth (21 percent) of finance teams seeing their costs rise across the financial close, reporting and filing processes, 60 percent of respondents admitted they did not know the total cost of managing and publicising financial results.

In addition, 68 percent of respondents admitted they have inadequate visibility of reporting processes, while 84 percent said "they find it difficult" to control the quality of financial data across the course of their reporting.

Not surprisingly, almost three-quarters (71 percent) felt their effectiveness was "limited in some way" by data analysis-related issues.

However, businesses are continuing to take steps to improve financial reporting methods, with 86 percent of companies "likely to make a significant investment" over the next five years.

Scott Brennan, executive director of the Accenture finance and enterprise performance consulting group, said: "These results mirror what we see and experience, and they're illustrative of why companies increasingly find it necessary in today's age of volatility to invest in their performance management."

In other recent Accenture research it was shown that the majority of UK citizens access government services digitally, but that a third are concerned about their personal data as a result.



Emerging Stocks Head for Worst May Since 1998 on Europe - Bloomberg

Emerging-market stocks slid, posting the biggest May drop since 1998, on concern the European debt crisis will hurt Asian exporters, the Indian economy grew less than estimated and U.S. reports disappointed.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index (MXEF) retreated 0.2 percent to 906.30 at the close in New York. Telecommunication and energy companies posted the biggest monthly declines since 2008 as OAO Rostelecom, Russia’s dominant fixed-line operator, sank to the lowest in two years. Russia’s Micex Index fell while Brazil’s Bovespa advanced, paring its monthly loss to the biggest since October 2008.

The MSCI gauge slumped 12 percent this month, for its worst May performance since a 14 percent slide in 1998, on concern Europe’s debt crisis and a slowing Chinese economy will curb earnings for exporters. Indian government data showed the nation’s economy grew 6.5 percent in the year ended March 31, less than the 6.7 percent projection in a Bloomberg survey. In Spain, the cost of insuring against sovereign default rose to a record yesterday.

“There is no obvious end game in sight really for Europe and there is a whole multitude of concern out there about China,” John-Paul Smith, emerging market strategist at Deutsche Bank AG, said by phone from London today. “Exporters will clearly be hurt because external demand is going to be weak, and for commodities exporters it’s the same thing.”

First-time claims for jobless benefits in the U.S. increased by 10,000 to 383,000 in the week ended May 26 from a revised 373,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said today. The initial claims exceeded the median estimate of 370,000 in a Bloomberg News survey of economists.

Sector Losses

The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Spot Index of 24 raw materials retreated 1.2 percent to 596.2, the lowest since Oct. 5.

Energy companies in the emerging markets index slipped 0.4 percent in trading, extending the group’s decline to 17 percent in May. Telecommunications companies fell 1.1 percent today and retreated 12 percent in the month. The monthly drops were the biggest since October 2008.

The MSCI emerging-markets gauge has fallen 1.1 percent this year, compared with a 0.4 percent decline in the MSCI World Index of developed nations.

Rostelecom, based in Moscow, dropped 5.7 percent to the lowest level since July 2010, after MSCI Inc. cut the stock’s weighting in its Russia Index.

Russia’s Micex Index retreated 0.2 percent, pushing its monthly decline to 11 percent. Shares on the index have fallen for three consecutive months, the longest losing streak since 2010. OAO MRSK Holding fell 6.3 percent to the lowest level since July 2009. The company’s shares posted a 44 percent drop in May.

Bovespa Gains

The Bovespa gained 1.3 percent, paring its monthly retreat to 12 percent, the most since October 2008. Itausa - Investimentos Itau SA added 6.1 percent, the most since Nov. 30, to lead advances in the index.

Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite index tumbled 2.2 percent, the most among Asian benchmark indexes, as PT Bumi Resources (BUMI), Asia’s largest power-station coal exporter, sank 12 percent. The Jakarta, Indonesia-based company posted a monthly retreat of 30 percent, the most since January 2009.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI) of Chinese companies listed in Hong Kong fell less than 0.1 percent while the Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) slid 0.5 percent.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PCOMP) rose 1.5 percent to close at its highest since May 11 after the government said first-quarter gross domestic product grew 6.4 percent. It was the economy’s fastest expansion since 2010 and it topped all 21 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.

The FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index (JALSH) advanced 0.5 percent in Johannesburg, paring its monthly drop to 3.7 percent, the steepest since September.

The extra yield investors demand to own emerging-market debt over U.S. Treasuries rose five basis points, or 0.05 percentage point, to 428, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s EMBI Global Index.

To contact the reporters on this story: Christine Harvey in New York at charvey32@bloomberg.net; Jason Webb in London at jwebb25@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net


No comments: