Boutique BrokerDealer Makes Memorial Day Pledge to Semper Fi Fund

Posted on May 13, 2015 by admin

Memorial Day Homage Extends Throughout Month of May For

Finra’s Oldest Service-Disabled Veteran owned Broker-Dealer

For Immediate Release

Newport Beach, CA & Stamford, CT, May 12, 2015–Mischler Financial Group (“MFG”), the securities industry’s oldest minority investment bank and institutional brokerage owned and operated by Service-Disabled Veterans announced that in recognition of the upcoming Memorial Day celebration, the firm has pledged a percentage of its entire May profits to The Semper Fi Fund, a nationwide organization that provides immediate financial assistance and lifetime support to post 9/11 wounded, critically ill and injured members of all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, and their families.

Since its establishment in 2004, the The Semper Fi Fund has issued more than 91,500 grants, totaling more than $107 million in assistance to over 13,800 of our heroes and their families. The Semper Fi Fund has been awarded the highest ratings from the leading charity organization watch dog groups, including an A+ Rating from CharityWatch.com, and 4-Star rating from CharityNavigator.com, the very highest ranking only given to 4% of all philanthropic organizations by the nation’s largest and most-utilized evaluator of charities. Semper Fi Fund is also considered “a top tier organization” by The Fisher House Foundation, one of the philanthropy community’s most recognized thought-leaders.

Dean Chamberlain CEO and Principal of Mischler Financial Group stated, “Given our firm’s legacy and growing role within the financial industry, we are mindful of the opportunities afforded to us and as such, our core principles are dedicated to continuously give back, support and pay homage to our community of military veterans who have made great sacrifices on behalf of all of us.”

Added Chamberlain, “Our month of May pledge to the Semper Fi Fund is part and parcel to year-round initiatives and we are very proud to include this highly-esteemed organization to the family of veteran-centric groups that can benefit as we succeed.” Mischler Financial Group also supports Fisher House Foundation, Children of Fallen Patriots, Bob Woodruff Foundation and other leading veteran-centric organizations.

Susan Reid, Manager of Donor Relations for the Semper Fi Fund stated “On behalf of our entire organization, and as the wife of an active duty Marine who was injured in Iraq, we greatly appreciate the commitment of Mischler Financial to take care of our injured and critically ill service members and their families.” A full description of the Semper Fi Fund is available via this link

About Mischler Financial Group

Mischler Financial Group is headquartered in Newport Beach, California with regional offices in Stamford, CT, Boston, MA and Chicago, IL. MFG is a federally-certified minority broker-dealer and a Service-Disabled Veterans Business Enterprise (SDVBE) that provides capital markets services, agency-only execution within the global equities and fixed income markets and asset management for liquid and alternative investment strategies. Clients of the firm include leading institutional investment managers, Fortune corporat and municipal treasurers, public plan sponsors, endowments, and foundations. The firm’s website is located at http://www.mischlerfinancial.com

2 SEC Commissioners To Exit

Posted on May 13, 2015 by admin

Brokerdealer.com blog update profiles the shake up in one of the brokerdealer’s governing bodies, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is about to get. The White House is already in search of a replacement for Democratic commissioner Luis Aguilar and now they will also have to find a replacement for Republican commissioner Daniel Gallagher. This brokerdealer.com blog update is courtesy of InvestmentNews’ article, “SEC’s Daniel Gallagher resigning as commissioner“, with an excerpt below.

Daniel Gallagher is resigning his post as a Republican member of the Securities and Exchange Commission after four years, a time marked by partisan battles over the regulatory response to the 2008 financial crisis,according to three people familiar with the matter.

The White House will now need to replace him as well as Luis Aguilar, the Democratic commissioner whose term expires next month. The departures herald a transformation at the agency, which has struggled to write dozens of new regulations arising from the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act.

Mr. Gallagher, 42, plans to remain on the five-member commission until a successor is confirmed, a process that could take several months, the people said. The White House has already identified candidates to fill both his and Mr. Aguilar’s seats.

A securities lawyer and ex-agency staff member, Mr. Gallagher has been a critic of many of the rules required by Dodd-Frank. Known for his forceful dissents and speeches, he frequently rapped the Federal Reserve for trying to impose its oversight on firms traditionally regulated by the SEC.

While Mr. Gallagher clashed with former Chairwoman Mary Schapiro on policy matters, he has a less-strained relationship with current SEC chief Mary Jo White. He was instrumental in negotiating a compromise overhauling rules for money market mutual funds in July 2014, passed during Ms. White’s tenure.

To continue reading about the leadership leaving the SEC, click here.

Mindbody IPO Continues In Recent Fitness Trend

Posted on May 12, 2015May 12, 2015 by admin

On the tail of FitBit’s IPO filing last week, brokerdealer.com blog update profiles fitness software company, Mindbody, filing for its own IPO, on Monday, May 11, 2015. Mindbody is a cloud-based software provider in the health, wellness and beauty industries. Their software is most commonly used in fitness-centered businesses such as gyms and yoga studios. Mindbody’s initial primary focus was on business management software for wellness and fitness boutiques, when it was founded in 1998, and since then they have expanded to spas and beauty salons as well. The way the business works is businesses, such as gyms, spas, and yoga studios, pay a monthly fee to use the software. Mindbody currently serves more than 42,000 local business subscribers in 124 countries and territories.

The Mindbody IPO will be listed under the symbol MB, but has not selected an exchange yet. Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and UBS Investment Bank are the joint bookrunners on the deal. No pricing terms were disclosed.

This update is courtesy of the Pacific Coast Business Times’ article by Elijah Brumback, “Mindbody targets global expansion with IPO“. An excerpt of the article is below.

Mindbody, best known for its business management software for health and wellness companies, is going public with a target of raising $100 million.

In a deal that’s been heralded as the first non-bank stock offering in decades for a company based in San Luis Obispo, Mindbody filed its offering statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 11.

An IPO has long been expected for the growing company, which recently debuted its new headquarters complex located on Tank Farm Road near the SLO airport. The company counts 42,000 local business subscribers in 124 countries, with revenues of $70 million in 2014.

Company CEO Rick Stollmeyer, who owns just over 11.2 percent of the firm, told the Business Times going public will help push the software firm’s global expansion.

“Our mission is to help wellness-based businesses be more successful,” he said. “This [IPO] enables us to do even more of that.”

After years of development, Mindbody rolled out a major corporate wellness platform last year and raised almost $100 million in venture capital to become San Luis Obispo County’s 11th-largest employer and fourth-largest private-sector job creator with about 900 employees on the Central Coast. The company’s headcount is expected to grow to roughly 1,100 in the next several years.

To continue reading about Mindbody’s IPO filing, click here.

SEC And Finra Team Up To Host BrokerDealer Compliance Outreach Program

Posted on May 11, 2015 by admin

Brokerdealer.com blog update profiling the SEC and Finra announced the opening of registration to attend their National Compliance Outreach Program for BrokerDealers this summer. The program will host regulators and industry professionals as they discuss ideas for compliance structures in the industry. This brokerdealer.com blog update is courtesy of LeapRate’s article, “SEC and FINRA to hold national compliance outreach program for Broker-Deale” by Andrew Saks-McLeod, with an excerpt below.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry National Regulatory Authority (FINRA) today announced the opening of registration for their 2015 National Compliance Outreach Program for Broker-Dealers. The program is intended to provide an open forum for regulators and industry professionals to discuss compliance practices and exchange ideas on effective compliance structures.

The SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE), in coordination with the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets, is sponsoring the program with FINRA. The program will be held on July 14 at the SEC’s Washington D.C. headquarters and will focus on 2015 priorities for OCIE and FINRA as well as current topics of interest including cybersecurity, anti-money laundering, and firms’ approaches to supervision and sales practices.

“This program provides an invaluable opportunity to facilitate discussions between regulators and industry participants on important issues affecting the brokerage industry, to promote compliance with federal securities laws, and to enhance investor protection,” said Kevin Goodman, National Associate Director of OCIE’s broker-dealer examination program. “Past programs have been well attended and well received, and we look forward to a candid exchange of ideas with participants at our upcoming event.”

To continue reading about this event hosted by the SEC and Finra, click here.

NASDAQ Now Noodling With Bitcoin Blockchain

Posted on May 11, 2015 by admin

BrokerDealer.com update profiling Wall Street’s latest Bitcoin initiative courtesy of extract from CNN.com.

The Nasdaq stock exchange is tapping Bitcoin’s powerful new transaction technology to create a more secure, efficient system to trade stocks. Step 1: Pilot to take place in fledgling Nasdaq Private Market

High-tech bankers are starting to realize Bitcoin could revolutionize trading. Nasdaq (NDAQ), a favorite exchange among many technology companies, is making the first move.

On Monday, the stock market announced it will start using a blockchain system to keep records for its Nasdaq Private Market, which handles trading of shares in the pre-IPO phase before a company goes public.

Nasdaq sees the blockchain’s perfect recordkeeping as a major step in the right direction for more transparency. The pre-IPO market doesn’t typically see as much trading and what does occur is often by a tight circle of employees and early investors.

“Blockchain technology will provide extensive integrity, audit ability, governance and transfer of ownership capabilities,” Nasdaq said in its public announcement.

This doesn’t mean Nasdaq is using actual Bitcoins. But by using Bitcoin’s core technology, this is a major acknowledgment of Bitcoin’s contribution to finance and trade. This is the first time the world has seen a trading system that doesn’t require a trusted middleman. It sounds boring, but in the banking world, it’s revolutionary.

Nasdaq’s experiment is a limited one. On Monday, the Wall Street Journal referred to Nasdaq’s pre-IPO market, which launched in January 2014, as “a fledgling marketplace.” But if it works out, expect to see it use the blockchain concept elsewhere.

“Utilizing the blockchain is a natural digital evolution for managing physical securities,” Nasdaq CEO Bob Greifeld said in a statement.