Week InReview
Friday | May 24, 2019
Buy the 'Summa de Arithmetica' for the accountant in your life.
In 1494 Luca Pacioli, known as the Father of Modern Accounting, wrote the first practical how-to book on succeeding in business. It introduced many bookkeeping methods that are used today and is considered to have prefigured many aspects of the modern business world. Now the Italian mathematician’s book is set to go on the auction block — and Christie’s specialists claim it could fetch as much as $1.5 million.

—  CHRISTIE'S SALE 17644
in case you missed it...
Federal Reserve officials are in agreement a patient approach to interest rates is the right course to take "for some time," according to meeting minutes. Many members support Chair Jerome Powell's opinion that recent weakening of inflation is "likely to be transitory." (BNN Bloomberg - Canada | May 22)

The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued guidelines that make it harder for exchanges to increase fees for data and high-speed connections. The guidance requires that exchanges submit detailed analysis to the SEC to explain why higher fees are justified. (Reuters | May 22)

Growth of shadow banking could bring systemic risk, Fitch Ratings said in a report. A liquidity crisis in the shadow-banking sector could force cutbacks in corporate borrowing and could boost asset-price volatility, Fitch said. (ThinkAdvisor | May 21)

Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Randal Quarles has disagreed with a warning by former regulators that proposed procedures for designating nonbanks systemically important would extend the review period to six years. "The conclusion that the designation process would take six years was highly dependent on a number of contingent assumptions," he said. (MLex | May 21)

The “alpha dog” regulator who spearheaded Washington’s effort to write new rules for Wall Street after the 2008 financial crisis said his successors are making a mess of the road map he left for them. (Bloomberg Markets | May 21)
Mnuchin hopes Congress will work on Fannie, Freddie changes
(May 22)  —  Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told the House Financial Services Committee there’s an opportunity for a “significant” bipartisan overhaul of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Mnuchin also says that many changes can be done administratively and will be made that way if Congress doesn’t act. Mnuchin has made similar comments previously. See also:  Fannie regulator wants firm ready to boost capital by 2020
FINRA reminds firms to register for CAT reporting
(May 21) — FINRA has issued  Regulatory Notice 19-19  to remind firms they must register with FINRA CAT, LLC (FINRA CAT) for reporting to the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT). CAT registration commenced on March 18, 2019, and will run through June 27, 2019. All Industry Members, as defined under the CAT NMS Plan, that will have a CAT reporting obligation must register during this window. 

All questions regarding CAT registration should be directed to the FINRA CAT Helpdesk at (888) 696-3348 or  help@finracat.com . 
the cyber cafe
Global hackers thwarted by FBI, Europe in $100 million heist
U.S. and European law enforcement officials said they had dismantled a global organized cybercrime network, which used malware to steal banking login details in an attempt to pocket about $100 million from thousands of businesses. A federal grand jury in Pittsburgh charged 10 members of the network, and other criminal prosecutions have begun in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, the European Union’s agency for law enforcement cooperation Europol said in a statement. Five Russian nationals charged in the indictment are on the run, the agency said, including the developer of the malware.

Model cybersecurity rule published by NASAA
The North American Securities Administrators Association has made public a model cybersecurity rule for investment advisers registered with state regulators. The proposed rule would require advisers to adopt written cybersecurity and physical-security policies to safeguard clients' information.

Ransomware threats grow more sophisticated
Ransomware attacks are declining, but hackers using the method are tailoring attacks more specifically and are using new methods to avoid detection, states Fortinet's  Q1 Global Threat Landscape Report .
—  Infosecurity
binge reading disorder
17 great getaways for this Memorial Day weekend
Detailed, pleasure-packed itineraries for a long-weekend escape, from Nantucket to Puerto Rico.

Wealth detective hunting hidden money finds secrets of the rich
America’s top wealth detective probes the secrets of the super rich in a tidy, white-walled office with an enviable view of the San Francisco Bay. His methods are unusually brute-force compared with those of recent-vintage U.S. economists, relying not on powerful computers, regression analyses, or predictive models, but on simple, voluminous spreadsheets compiling the tax tables, macroeconomic datasets, and cross-border-flow calculations of central banks.

Thanks to Facebook, your cellphone company is watching you more closely than ever
A confidential Facebook document shows that the social network courts carriers, along with phone makers — some 100 different companies in 50 countries — by offering the use of even more surveillance data, pulled straight from your smartphone by Facebook itself.
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