During the period from 2006 to 2008, more than $35bn in securities class actions and regulatory settlements were finalised. It is fairly well settled that an institution cannot abandon (without reason) a claim to recover funds in a securities class action settlement, though an institution could, consistent with its fiduciary obligation to maximise the value of its beneficiaries’ assets, decide not to file a claim on the basis of comparing the costs to submit the claim with the expected award from the settlement.

"Balyasny Asset Management has taken steps to loosen liquidity terms and improve transparency, underscoring the clout investors gained after hedge funds suffered sharp losses last year."

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The financial crisis has highlighted shortcomings in the use of risk management technology. The lessons are proving a useful guide towards strengthening internal risk management practices at Asian financial institutions. By Wietske Blees

By providing a uniform way to understand the effect of two, otherwise unrelated, issues, CreditManager not only allows users to subject their portfolios to stressed market conditions, but also to check the validity of their stress testing.

RiskMetrics' research on excise tax gross-ups featured on Anderson Cooper 360 on January 1

Wall Street Journal Asia

Hong Kong's legislature recently began an investigation into retail sales of complex credit derivatives linked to Lehman Brothers. Small investors in Hong Kong have lost potentially millions of dollars on these products, known as "minibonds," and many claim they were misled about the risks involved. These events highlight serious potential shortcomings in investor education, risk transparency and suitability of retail structured-product investments. It's time for market participants to address these gaps.

By Scott Morrison
Wall Street Journal

Silicon Valley is drowning in "underwater" options. But with the stock market in turmoil, investors might be uneasy bailing out high-tech employees.

Employees at scores of companies, including Yahoo Inc. and Google Inc., are holding stock options, the right to buy shares at a preset price, that have been rendered virtually worthless because those companies' shares have fallen below the exercise prices.

Leonie Wood
The Sydney Morning Herald

AS AVERAGE weekly earnings for most Australians rose by a little less than a third between 2001 and 2007, the amount their bosses took home soared.

A new survey of 69 chief executives at top-100 companies has revealed their average fixed remuneration - excluding cash bonuses and share sweeteners - more than doubled in that period, rising from $888,407 to $1.83 million.

By Alistair Barr
Dow Jones Newswires

The U.S. Treasury's plan to invest $125 billion in nine of the country's largest banks will do little to advance the corporate governance movement, experts said on Friday.

Some of the corporate governance and executive compensation rules in the original bailout legislation have since been softened by interim final rules drawn up by the Treasury as part of its plan to inject capital into banks, they added.

By Katherine Heires
Securities Industry News

RiskMetrics Group, a provider of risk management and corporate governance services, has entered the fast-growing performance attribution business by purchasing U.K.-based start-up Applied4 Technology, which touts a state-of-the-art, multi-asset-class platform but, as yet, no clients.

"Performance attribution and risk management are two sides of the same coin," said Jorge Mina, co-head of RiskMetrics’ risk division.

By Saul Hansell
Bloomberg.com

So where were the quants?

(Credit: Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times)

That’s what has been running through my head as I watch some of the oldest and seemingly best-run firms on Wall Street implode because of what turned out to be really bad bets on mortgage securities.

By Laurie Kulikowski
TheStreet.com

Editor's note: Our new "On the Brink" series will provide daily insight into the financial firms facing capital shortfalls and the growing pressure from short sellers in the market.

As the credit crisis drags on into its second year, many experts are saying financial companies need to beef up the level of relevant experience on their boards to help steer clear of such pitfalls down the road.

By Joann S. Lublin
The Wall Street Journal

More U.S. corporate boards are going green.

By Alison Tudor
The Wall Street Journal

Tokyo -- For years, activist foreign investors have had little success in bringing about change in Japanese companies by openly confronting management. They are taking a new tack: Working behind the scenes.

HedgeFund Intelligence

Technology catering solely to funds of hedge funds has only developed over the last 10 years or so, with the last two years of institutional asset growth in the hedge fund industry sparking a massive amount of software development from a growing number of firms. But now that technology experts realise that funds of funds are investors with clout - 151 of the largest funds of funds run more than $1 trillion of hedge fund assets - they are starting to court this market with gusto.

VIX Picks Up

But Not to Level

Of Stocks' Licks

It felt like a panic.

As the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled to a 2008 low, spooked investors flocked to the relative shelter of Treasury bonds. Gold, another place where investors search for safety, also jumped in price. In all, the moves were reminiscent of wild selloffs in January and March.

Last year, directors of fund manager Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. looked at the roughly $70 million Chief Executive Henry Herrmann had collected in stock, pension benefits and deferred compensation over his 36-year career, and deemed it "sufficient" for retirement, according to its proxy statement. The board stopped extra contributions to Mr. Herrmann's retirement fund.

For the shareholders of Regis Corp., 2007 was a bad hair year.

Profit at the hairstyling company, which owns the Vidal Sassoon and Supercuts chains, fell 24 percent on slower sales growth and higher expenses.

But that limp performance didn't stop the company's board from awarding CEO Paul Finkelstein a $1.06 million salary -- up 19 percent over 2006 -- and a $747,000 bonus, up 118 percent from a year earlier.