Accounting
Wall Street seizes opportunity to gut SEC trading surveillance
After 14 years of debate, the Securities and Exchange Commission is in the final stages of bringing a powerful new surveillance tool fully online. But Wall Street is seizing on the ideal political environment for a last-ditch attempt to kill it.
The
Citadel Securities is leading a suit seeking to have the CAT declared illegal, and Wall Street is rallying behind it. Though financial firms have long expressed skepticism about the project, they are now allying with Republicans in Congress to paint it as a dystopian nightmare that would allow the federal government to spy on the investment decisions of every American. The fight also comes as the U.S. Supreme Court has hinted that it’s inclined to rein in the SEC and other federal agencies.
‘Orwellian surveillance’
Ken Griffin’s market-making firm declined to comment for this article but pointed to its
In a
The SEC called the challenge “meritless” in an April 15 court filing and said Citadel Securities had never objected to the CAT before it filed its challenge last fall.
The regulator defended the CAT as a natural progression of its oversight powers and said the previously “cumbersome, time-consuming and frequently unsuccessful” process of tracking orders had become obsolete in today’s faster and more automated markets. The agency also said there were limits on the CAT’s access to and use of personal data and decried the “caricature” of the database being used “to snoop on Americans’ personal financial decisions.”
Wall Street has a specific beef with how the SEC wants to pay for the CAT — by imposing billions of dollars in fees on broker-dealers. The database is actually owned by CAT LLC, which is composed of stock exchanges and the industry-backed Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The current SEC plan is to allocate two-thirds of the costs of developing and operating CAT to broker-dealers as opposed to the exchanges and Finra.
But David Rosenfeld, a former SEC enforcement official now teaching law at Northern Illinois University, said there’s also clearly concern on Wall Street about enhancing the agency’s ability to examine trading activity.
“It gives the SEC not exactly real-time but close to real-time insight into what’s going on as far as trading is concerned,” said Rosenfeld. “That can give them a huge advantage in terms of ferreting out certain types of misconduct. There’s lot of things you can figure out just by looking at the data.”
One in a trillion
First proposed in the wake of the 2010 “flash crash,” the CAT’s data collection has proceeded in stages, starting with equity trades and non-complex options trades in 2020 and moving to complex options trades the following year. The May deadline is for market participants to submit client information to the CAT.
In December 2022, the SEC gave its first indication of how it would use CAT data for enforcement, quietly crediting the database with uncovering one of the biggest front-running schemes ever. Nuveen trader Lawrence Billimek was charged with tipping off Oregon retiree Alan Williams about stocks the asset-management giant was planning to buy, netting them $47 million in illegal profits.
Legal experts say the pair’s insider trading probably wouldn’t have been caught without the CAT.
Major insider-trading cases have often focused on single-market events like merger announcements. In the Nuveen case, the SEC used the CAT to track some 1,697 intraday equity trades made by Williams, finding he had a 97% “win rate” over a five-year period. The chances of that occurring randomly were less than one in a trillion, the SEC said.
Both men pleaded guilty to criminal charges last year, and Billimek is scheduled to be sentenced on May 20. He faces up to 20 years in prison.
“Before the CAT, it was literally like the SEC was in the horse-and-buggy era of the 19th century trying to catch the fastest race car drivers of the 21st century,” said Dennis Kelleher, co-founder of financial reform advocacy group Better Markets. “I mean, it just wasn’t a fair fight. This changes all of that.”
Supreme Court v. agencies
At an
“Stay tuned. More CAT in the future,” she said.
But that promise of stepped-up enforcement could be in jeopardy.
In November, the conservative
Citadel Securities filed its October suit in the federal appeals court in Atlanta, which is regarded as more conservative than its counterpart in Washington. The firm argues in its suit that a project as big and expensive as the CAT, with an estimated price tag of $1 billion to develop and then $200 million a year to maintain, can’t be pushed on the industry by the SEC without explicit congressional approval.
Congressional brief
David Slovick, a former SEC lawyer now at Barnes & Thornburg, said rulings on agency overreach by the Supreme Court could influence the judges in the CAT case.
“If there’s an avenue for a win here,” he said, “I think it’s the Supreme Court saying, ‘You’re acting outside of the scope of your regulatory authority and you need to go back to the congressional well and get legislative authority to do what you’re trying to do.'”
Citadel Securities’ arguments have already found a receptive audience on Capitol Hill. In February, Congressional Republicans led by Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas and including Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, filed a
‘Core values’
Republicans have expressed a particular fear that CAT data could be used to monitor investors’ political and religious beliefs.
“Economic transactions offer a window into a person’s deepest thoughts and core values,” SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, wrote in a dissenting
“That some investors undoubtedly are engaged in misconduct in our financial markets cannot justify amassing this information,” she added. A conservative think tank last month filed a
But Slovick says the concerns about investor privacy are overblown, since the data was already being collected by the exchanges and Finra. In his view, the finance industry is harnessing the political argument to cloak its true reason for opposing the CAT.
“It makes the SEC’s lift a lot lighter,” said Slovick. “Their cases against Wall Street are going to be more effective and, of course, Wall Street doesn’t like that.”
President Donald Trump backed a House budget plan calling for a $4.5 trillion tax cut, slapping back Senate Republicans’ efforts to rush through funds to help bolster his immigration crackdown in favor of a larger bill that will likely take months to negotiate.
Trump intervened in the ongoing budget conflict between House and Senate Republicans with a social media post Wednesday just before a key congressional vote.
The Senate plans to vote this week on a budget that would add $150 billion to military spending and increase immigration and border enforcement by $175 billion. Senate Republicans say they prefer to act on those priorities quickly and wait to resolve contentious disputes over tax cuts and the raising the debt ceiling.
Trump instead endorsed a more sweeping House budget plan that raises internecine Republican conflicts over how much to cut federal spending and how large a tax cut should be.
“We need both Chambers to pass the House Budget to ‘kickstart’ the Reconciliation process, and move all of our priorities to the concept of, “ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL,” he said.
Trump’s statement complicates Senate Republicans’ efforts to muster support for a planned budget vote this week.
Senate Republican leader John Thune said the president’s late intervention took him by surprise but he planned to proceed with the scheduled budget vote.
“I did not see that one coming,” Thune said of Trump’s statement.
Trump’s public declaration could help Speaker Mike Johnson gather the votes he needs to pass the budget. Some fiscal conservatives are holding out for deeper spending cuts while some GOP moderates in the House are already expressing reservations about the size of the cuts likely to be directed to Medicaid.
“House Republicans are working to deliver President Trump’s FULL agenda – not just a small part of it,” Johnson
The House is on a one-week break for the President’s Day holiday and Republican leaders are struggling to come up with enough votes for the budget plan because of the party’s narrow majority in the House. The House is planning to hold its budget votes next week, according to a person familiar with the plan.
Adopting the budget is the first step in a special process Republicans intend to use to bypass minority Senate Democrats on tax and spending legislation. A budget plan would allow Republicans to overcome procedural obstacles in the Senate with a simple majority rather than the 60 votes it would otherwise take.
The House has drafted a plan to allow $4.5 trillion in tax cuts in exchange for $2 trillion in spending cuts and a $4 trillion increase in the debt ceiling. The House plan would direct $300 billion to military and border spending but the larger bill is expected to take months to hash out.
The House plans to extend individual and business tax breaks enacted in 2017 that are set to expire at the end of this year. It is also looking to increase the $10,000 limit on the state and local tax deduction, and end taxes on tips and Social Security benefits as called for by President Trump. But the cost of doing all those items for a full decade exceeds $4.5 trillion so lawmakers would either need to find deeper spending cuts or have them expire sooner.
That plan was approved in committee ahead of possible floor votes later this month. House leaders say their tiny majority means it is much easier to pass one bill rather than breaking it into pieces.
Hiring and salaries grew more quickly for accountants than any other job group last year, according to a new report.
The
The shortage of accounting talent and the financial complexity of managing a global workforce resulted in accountants seeing bigger salary gains than software engineers last year.
The report aggregates data from Deel’s more than 1 million contracts and over 35,000 customers across more than 150 countries.
“For most of the past decade, companies couldn’t hire software engineers fast enough,” said the report. “The fierce competition drove up their salaries. While software engineers are still the most-hired occupation for Deel clients, accounting is becoming the new must-have skill for global organizations. Declining interest in the profession from early-career workers and the increasingly complex tax requirements of a global workforce have made accountants a precious, and increasingly pricy, commodity.”
The United States, Australia and Great Britain were the most likely countries to hire accountants abroad. Accountants are most likely to be hired in the Philippines, the United States and Argentina. Mexico and Singapore follow closely. Deel saw a 17% increase in salary over the year for cross-border workers, and 9% increase for domestic workers.
The report also found that while organizations are still hiring globally, there has been an uptick in the number of employers who are favoring candidates closer to home. Companies are especially focused on keeping younger workers happy, with Gen Z receiving bigger raises in 2024 than other generations.
When it comes to the digital asset world, one thing is certain: There’s never a dull moment! Take, for instance, President Trump’s announcement to implement high tariffs on goods from Canada, China and Mexico. This sent shockwaves through the digital asset market, causing bitcoin to fall below $100,000. Although the value eventually rebounded, chances are we’ll continue to see extreme price fluctuations.
As the digital asset landscape becomes increasingly unpredictable, it’s important to encourage clients to diversify their holdings across sectors and digital asset types. Not only will this help with tax planning, but it will also propel you into a more advisory role. Here are four strategies you can recommend to clients to diversify their digital asset portfolio:
Purchase different coin and token types
Perhaps the easiest way clients can diversify their digital asset portfolio is to acquire different types of coins and tokens. Advise clients to start with well-established cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin and ether. Because these cryptocurrencies have a large market cap, they’re typically considered lower-risk investments.
After that, encourage clients to consider altcoins. These are cryptocurrencies that aren’t bitcoin. Although altcoins are riskier, they have the potential to quickly appreciate in value. But be careful — their values can suddenly plummet as well. As a rule of thumb, when investing in lesser-known altcoins, clients should only put in what they’re willing to lose.
There are other types of coins and tokens that may help with diversification, including the following:
- Stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies whose value is tied to another asset. USD coin is a popular stablecoin that’s pegged to the U.S. dollar.
- Security tokens, which are tokens that represent ownership or participation in a real-world asset (like stocks, bonds or real estate).
- Nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, which are tokens that represent ownership of a unique digital item, such as art, music, animated GIFs, articles and social media posts.
Many clients will be unfamiliar with these items, so taking the time to explain the benefits and potential risks of each investment will solidify client relationships and elevate your advisory practice.
Invest in a crypto exchange-traded product
A crypto ETP is the digital asset world’s version of a mutual fund. It’s essentially a way to invest in cryptocurrency without purchasing the coins directly. Like other ETPs, crypto ETPs are securities that track the value of underlying assets. However, in this case, the underlying assets are cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin and ether.
To help get clients started, you can recommend a reputable broker. Most major online brokers offer crypto ETPs; however, ETP types and fees will vary. Also, it’s important to educate clients on the risks of investing in a crypto ETP. One potential drawback is trading can only occur during regular market hours, meaning your client may miss out if cryptocurrency values significantly change during the weekend (which, as we’ve seen, is highly likely). This wouldn’t happen if your client purchased cryptocurrency directly since online exchanges are always open (unless briefly shut down for maintenance).
Try a crypto-related exchange-traded fund
Clients who go down this route have two options to consider: a stock-based ETF and a futures-based ETF. In a stock-based ETF, the client holds a collection of crypto-related stocks. These are the stocks of corporations that operate in the digital asset space, such as Coinbase Global, Inc. If your client decides to invest in a futures-based ETF, they will be exposed to the price movements of cryptocurrency futures contracts, which are agreements to exchange the fiat-equivalent value of a digital asset (or the asset itself) on a future date.
As with ETPs, ETFs won’t give your clients direct ownership of cryptocurrencies — they will simply own units within the funds. This could be a problem if a particular cryptocurrency or company increases in value, but that growth isn’t fully reflected in the ETF. However, crypto-related ETFs are still a great way to diversify a digital asset portfolio.
Hold digital assets in a self-directed IRA
As a tax and accounting professional, you’re probably familiar with self-directed IRAs that hold real estate, precious metals, foreign currencies, commodities or hedge funds. But did you know they can also be used to hold digital assets? There are crypto IRA platforms out there that can help with the administrative burdens typically associated with self-directed IRAs.
Advising clients to establish a self-directed IRA can be a smart move; however, setting one up that invests in cryptocurrency is often complex. In many cases, you will need to direct the client to create an LLC that’s solely owned by the IRA. After that, a checking account should be opened in the LLC’s name. The LLC will also need to acquire a digital wallet. After the IRA is funded, the plan should be directed to transfer the funds to the LLC’s checking account to purchase cryptocurrency through the digital wallet. This isn’t always needed, however, as some account managers allow the IRA to invest directly in cryptocurrency without the need for an LLC. You can help your client find a cryptocurrency exchange that allows IRAs to open accounts.
Don’t forget the tax implications
In addition to advising clients on digital asset diversification, you’ll need to ensure clients fully understand how their investments are taxed. The guiding principle behind digital asset taxation is digital assets are treated as property for federal income tax purposes. This means that every time a digital asset is sold or exchanged for goods or services, gain or loss will be recognized (subject to limitations under the Internal Revenue Code, if applicable). Some clients have the misconception that cryptocurrency is treated just like cash for tax purposes. You can clear that up and, with proper tax planning, help clients efficiently manage their digital asset transactions.
Be strategic
Navigating the ever-evolving digital asset landscape requires a strategic approach to diversification. With your guidance, clients will be able to make informed decisions, mitigate risks and seize opportunities in a dynamic market.
High costs, economic worries have homebuyers retreating
PLTR, APP, SHAK, WMT and more
Trump backs $4.5 trillion tax cut in House GOP budget plan
New 2023 K-1 instructions stir the CAMT pot for partnerships and corporations
The Essential Practice of Bank and Credit Card Statement Reconciliation
Are American progressives making themselves sad?
-
Economics1 week agoDonald Trump wants states and cities to do as they are told
-
Economics7 days agoDefense stocks drop after Trump says Pentagon spending could be halved
-
Personal Finance1 week agoWholesale egg prices have ‘blown way past’ prior record
-
Economics1 week agoCut debt or face economic heart attack
-
Technology5 days agoReddit CEO Steve Huffman Unveils Monetization Strategy for 2025
-
Economics1 week agoPPI January 2025:
-
Leaders5 days agoAdebayo Ogunlesi – From Nigerian Roots to Global Financial Leadership
-
Blog Post5 days agoPower of Ratio Analysis in Business Performance Assessment