Imposing half a gag – a ban on published research but no limit on conversations with privileged clients – is asking for trouble.
A1 MFS Company Under Scrutiny MFS Investment Management, under fire from the S.E.C., says it allowed privileged clients to trade quickly in and out of its biggest funds while otherwise restricting the practice.
Called late-day trading, the practice gives privileged clients the opportunity to buy fund shares after the market has closed and is illegal according to securities laws.
As if aware that Chanel's privileged clients can lend a musty scent of rosewater to couture, Mr. Lagerfeld seems determined to make the clothes connect with the pace of modern life.
MFS Investment Management, the oldest mutual fund company in the country, allowed privileged clients to trade quickly in and out of its biggest funds while saying it restricted the practice for the vast majority of its shareholders, according to a memorandum from a senior company executive.
At the same time, the Financial Supervisory Service denied any bias against foreign brokerage firms in response to criticism of its decision this week to reprimand two foreign firms, UBS Warburg and Merrill Lynch, for favoring privileged clients by providing copies of reports in advance of their general release.
As well as French investigations, the Swiss branch of HSBC is facing charges of fraud and money laundering in Belgium after the Brussels authorities claimed it had "knowingly eased and promoted fiscal fraud by making offshore companies available to certain privileged clients".
The more than 250 objects on view include examples of one of the firm's specialties, micromosaics: minuscule, highly labor-intensive mosaic insets on gold that depicted classical, religious and other motifs; carved gems like cameos and intaglios, and stagey productions of shimmering gems in ornate, drop-dead settings for its really privileged clients.
In a statement, Belgian authorities accused HSBC of "having knowingly eased and promoted fiscal fraud by making offshore companies available to certain privileged clients".
