Sergey Aleynikov, a former Goldman Sachs computer programmer, pleaded not guilty to charges that he stole computer codes used in the firm's proprietary high-frequency trading program. Aleynikov's lawyer declined to comment after the hearing. (Wall Street Journal)
John Liu, New York City Comptroller, was slated to propose partially lifting the ban on placement agents that was imposed in the wake of kickback allegations surrounding several pension funds. The new rules being proposed by Liu would allow middlemen registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission or Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to do business with city pension funds holding about $98 billion in assets. (Wall Street Journal)
Christine Lagarde, the French finance minister, said derivatives trading must be subject to more regulation and that there was “lots to do” to change the credit default swap market. In the future, banks will make less money from their trading operations, because new rules on capital holdings will discourage risk taking, she said. (Bloomberg via BusinessWeek)
The Obama administration and the Senate are getting closer to an agreement on setting up a council of regulators, led by the Treasury secretary, to identify systemic risk to the nation’s financial industry, officials said. Assigning the U.S. Department of the Treasury the task of spotting trouble and addressing it quickly has support among senators from both parties. (New York Times)