Securities Law Commons^™

Are Passive Index Funds Active Owners? Corporate Governance Consequences Of Passive Investing, Giovanni Strampelli

San Diego Law Review

The exponential rise of mutual funds designed to track stock indices has been one of the drivers behind the re-concentration of ownership of listed companies in the United States. Because of the high concentration of the passive index funds industry, the three leading passive fund managers—BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street—make up an increasingly important component of the shareholder base of listed companies. In spite of this however, it remains questionable whether they are actually interested in playing an active role in the corporate governance of investee companies. In fact, although passive investors are, by definition, focused on the long term …

Proxy Access Voting: Evaluating Proxy Access And The Recent Phenomenon Of Corporations Adopting Shareholder Protective Policies, Danielle Vukovich

San Diego International Law Journal

Shareholders hold a financial stake in a corporation, and therefore are often viewed as owners of the corporation and believed to be in control for all corporate actions. However, their powers are circumscribed. Board of directors committees nominate directors to serve the corporation and these directors have the power to select the corporation’s officers. The committees provide shareholders a slate of proposed directors that are voted on and approved at the annual shareholder meeting. Shareholders may also propose their own slate of directors, but this typically requires a proxy contest, which can be expensive due to the costs both associated …

High-Speed Trading On Stock And Commodity Markets—From Courier Pigeons To Computers, Jerry W. Markham

San Diego Law Review

A growing concern in the stock and commodity markets over the last several years has been the rise of high-frequency traders (HFTs). Those traders employ high-speed computer technology for the algorithmic origination, transmission and execution of their orders through fiber optic cables and microwave towers. That technology allows HFT orders to be executed in times measured in fractions of a second. As a result of this technological advance, HFTs are now dominating trading volumes. This phenomenon has, on the one hand, led to claims by proponents of high-speed trading that HFTs are an important source of market liquidity and should …

Inequities In Corporate And Securities Law: Disabling The Exploitative Chinese Corporation And Charting A Path To International Commercial Accountability, Jonathan P. Schmidt

San Diego International Law Journal

This article seeks to illuminate these issues and provide a roadmap for the U.S. federal and state legislatures to come together to protect the U.S. investor from the type of accounting fraud and stock misinformation that was the impetus behind enacting the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. First, this article will discuss the legal backdrop and legislative policy behind U.S. laws such as SOX and its enforcement mechanisms, and the ability for shareholders to bring securities class action derivative actions for financial fraud. This article will also discuss trade secrets laws, criminal extradition treaties, international enforcement of judgments, and elucidate the …

Basel Iii And Credit Risk Measurement: Variations Among G20 Countries, Matt Schlickenmaier

San Diego International Law Journal

Most countries require banks to hold extra capital to protect against unforeseen financial calamities; banks with riskier loans must hold more capital than those with safer loans. Basel II, a set of international banking standards, allows banks to measure a loan’s risk in different ways: some banks make their own judgments; others use outside agencies. The recent mortgage crisis prompted banks to reevaluate these methods, in part due to banks having failed to perceive the high level of risk inherent in securitized mortgages. The international community’s response was Basel III, an updated version of its previous standards. This Comment will …

The Federal Trade Commission And Privacy: Defining Enforcement And Encouraging The Adoption Of Best Practices, Andrew Serwin

San Diego Law Review

This Article examines the history of privacy enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), including the FTC’s jurisdiction under section 5, and its privacy enforcement matters, as well as the FTC’s recently issued report, Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change: A Proposed Framework for Businesses and Policymakers, in which the FTC examines past enforcement models, noting their failings. In light of the FTC’s examination of past enforcement models, this Article then analyzes these models, including the accountability-centric model that has previously been utilized in the United States, as well as the FTC’s proposed solution to the privacy …

The Trouble With Investment Banking: Cluelessness, Not Greed, Will Bunting

San Diego Law Review

We assume that the set of marketable financial instruments can be divided into two distinct categories: (1) easy to price and (2) difficult to price, and then isolate two behavioral effects as most important with respect to securities trading in difficult-to-price securities; specifically, the "house money effect" and the "earned money effect." It is shown that these behavioral effects discourage profitable investment in research effort.

We then argue that the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA) safe harbor should not apply to investment banks that issue/underwrite difficult-to-price securities. We also advocate for the return of the private investment banking partnership …

Overseeing Controlling Shareholders: Do Independent Directors Constrain Tunneling In Taiwan?, Yu-Hsin Lin

San Diego International Law Journal

This Article intends to explore the extent to which independent directors constrain tunneling by controlling shareholders in Taiwan. Taiwan serves as an appropriate jurisdiction for research since the private benefits agency problem is prevalent among Taiwanese public companies. A further twist in Taiwan?s case is that independent directors were newly introduced to Taiwan?s corporate boards, which follow dual-board system where the traditional monitoring function is served by statutory supervisors, instead of board committees, which adds to the complexity in analyzing the effectiveness of independent directors in constraining tunneling activities. Part II reviews relevant literature and lays the foundation for this …

The Lion Awakens: The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act - 1977 To 2010, Michael B. Bixby

San Diego International Law Journal

This Article discusses the history, purposes and provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and traces its use and enforcement activity from 1977 to the present. This once little-used law has in recent years become the focus of aggressive activity by both the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The manuscript also includes numerous charts reporting on key cases and enforcement activities over the last thirty-three years by the DOJ and SEC, as well as other information and statistics regarding the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Evolving Regulation Of Corporate Governance And The Implications For D&O Liability: The United States And Australia, Joan T.A. Gabel, Nancy R. Mansfield, Paul Von Nessen, Austin W. Hall, Andrew Jones

San Diego International Law Journal

This Article compares the modern corporate regulatory environments in the United States and Australia, including an analysis of the climate for Directors & Officers (D & O) liability coverage. Comparing these regulations across two large markets with similar historical bases for assessing director and officer liability allows us to explore which reforms may be more effective as new scandals emerge.

Clearer Skies For Investors: Clearing Firm Liability Under The Uniform Securities Act

San Diego Law Review

Securities fraud poses a major threat to the financial security of millions of investors. Stock fraud and the brokerage firms perpetrating it thrive, bilking investors out of millions of dollars annually. The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), an association comprised of state and regional securities regulators, estimates that investors lose $6 billion a year to investment fraud, including micro-cap stock fraud.1 In 2000, Bradley Skolnick, the Indiana Securities Commissioner and former head of the NASAA, stated that boiler rooms were “the single greatest source of investment scams.” Yet defrauded investors are unlikely to recover funds lost to fraud, because …

Triggering One-Year Limitations On Section 10(B) And Rule 10b-5 Actions: Actual Or Inquiry Discovery, Charles Benjamin Nutley

San Diego Law Review

Securities fraud lawsuits under Rule 10b-5 are governed by the one and three year limitative period in section 9(e) of the Securities Exchange Act. The one-year period is triggered by the plaintiff's discovery of the facts constituting the violation. Courts differ, however, on the correct discovery standard for section 9(e). This Comment addresses whether courts should apply an inquiry notice standard or an actual notice standard to trigger the one-year limitative period.

An Examination Of The Current Status Of Rating Agencies And Proposals For Limited Oversight Of Such Agencies, Francis A. Bottini Jr.

San Diego Law Review

This Comment analyzes the market for ratings of both financial securities and insurance companies, and finds significant problems with rating agencies, such as lethargy in changing ratings, political influence, unsolicited ratings, and inaccurate ratings. To ensure that the federal securities laws continue to protect investors, this Comment recommends limited oversight of rating agencies. It proposes that Congress enact legislation granting the Securities and Exchange Commission explicit authority to mandate that all nationally recognized statistical rating organizations register with the SEC, and to establish minimum standards for their designation. Finally, the Comment examines First Amendment concerns associated with the regulation of …

How Big A House Of Cards-Private Actions And Insiders Under Rule 10b-5, Steven E. Briggs, Donald Bolles

San Diego Law Review

Today, the federal court interpretation of Rule 10b-5, promulgated by the SEC (under the authority of a federal statute, section 10b of the Securities Exchange Act) have become the cornerstone of a federal common law of corporations. Recently there has been expansive use of the rule to afford a private civil remedy for a "defrauded" buyer or seller of securities. The right to sue for either damages or rescission was not explicitly given by the statute or the rule, rather it has been implied by the courts. The dimensions of this new judicially crated right of action are still developing …