The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) fined UBS for infractions related to risky Puerto Rican debt, an issue that exploded by orders of magnitude when the island’s debt became unsustainable. UBS clients loaded up with risky Puerto Rican bonds, face margin calls when credit collapses UBS AG’s Puerto Rican unit was fined $7.5 million and ordered compensate its clients to the tune of $11 million for allowing investors to borrow against risk-laden Puerto Rican bonds. In August 2013 when the closed-end funds experienced a significant market sell-off, UBS customers experienced significant losses to meet the bank’s margin calls, a MarketWatch…
UBS Fined Over Risky Puerto Rican Bonds
Mark Melin
Mark Melin is an alternative investment practitioner whose specialty is recognizing the impact of beta market environment on a technical trading strategy. A portfolio and industry consultant, wrote or edited three books including High Performance Managed Futures (Wiley 2010) and The Chicago Board of Trade’s Handbook of Futures and Options (McGraw-Hill 2008) and taught a course at Northwestern University's executive education program.