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Mayra Rodríguez Valladares, a financial risk consultant who trains bankers and regulators, said she expected banks to boost their dividend payouts and share buybacks — although she believed that would be premature. “We still do not know how many corporate or individual defaults are coming our way once all stimulus and Fed programs to provide respite during Covid end,” Ms. Rodríguez Valladares said. “Banks should not be excessive in dividend payouts and should make sure that they are well above minimum capital levels to protect them if defaults rise later in the year.” Read More

Freedom’s recommendation raises potential problems such as the improper inflation of the broker’s shares, said Mayra Rodriguez Valladares, who advises U.S. bankers and regulators on industry rules through her firm MRV Associates. Making different promises to different investors could also land the firm in trouble, she said. “All investors should be treated equally,” said Rodriguez Valladares, a former analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Read More

“Having people of color as financial advisors is very important because talking about money, insurance, savings, investments and estate planning is very personal,” said Mayra Rodriguez Valladares, managing principal of MRV Associates, a financial consultancy firm in New York City. “People need to be with people whom they feel can understand them, can empathize with them and are not judging them,” she said. People of color, especially immigrants, might not only be taking care of their immediate family but also other relatives as well, which may impact their ability to save and plan for retirement, she said. “If they are speaking to a financial advisor of their own culture, they may find it easier to share that information and give the advisor the full picture of their assets and liabilities,” she said. Read More

“The broader financial services industry might also face renewed regulatory pressure. “I think in the Biden administration, you can anticipate there will be emphasis on regulating private equity,” said Mayra Rodriguez Valladares, managing principal of MRV Associates, which provides consulting and training in finance regulatory compliance. “These non-banks are what the financial stability board ‘other financial institutions,” Valladares said, pointing to nonprofit watchdog organizations that have pushed “for better and more regulation of private equity.” That may not have reverberated with enough legislators when economic times were good, but things are different now. “About half the companies declaring bankruptcy right now are owned at least in part by private equity,” said Valladares. “The default rates have gone up a lot.” Read more here  

“The optics aren’t good” right now for large payouts, said Mayra Rodriguez Valladares, a former analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York who now trains bankers and regulators through her consulting firm, MRV Associates Inc. “The more you reward the big lenders, the big traders, they take on more risk,” which would attract criticism, she said. Read more here

While the US settlement requires the bank to make improvements on its compliance controls, Goldman managed to avoid any obligation of having a government-appointed monitor to oversee its compliance department, which had been an earlier priority for prosecutors and would have added enforcement heft to the probe’s resolution. “I would have insisted on having this imposed on Goldman,” said Rodriguez Valladares. “Having an independent outside monitor could expose weaknesses in their controls in multiple areas of the bank. Without an independent monitor, regulators and investors will never know all the details of how Goldman got away with this scandal.” Read More