Puerto Rico owes investors $5.4 billion of bond payments in the next 12 months. A lot of this debt is for COFINA, which is sales tax debt, and securities that were sold by the Government Development Bank. As a result of the upcoming payments and overall debt of the Commonwealth,…
OppenheimerFunds Inc. (OPY) is disputing Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro García Padilla’s contention that the island cannot pay back its $72 billion debt. The New York-based mutual fund company said that based on data about income growth, sales-tax collection, and unemployment, the U.S. territory’s economy can withstand repaying creditors. According to…
Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro García Padilla says that the U.S. territory cannot pay back its $72 billion debt without concessions from its creditors, including U.S. mutual funds and hedge funds. According to the Governor, the Commonwealth’s efforts to restructure its debt and cut spending have failed. Following the Governor’s announcement,…
A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Panel (“FINRA”) has ordered UBS Financial Services Inc. of Puerto Rico and UBS Wealth Management (collectively “UBS”) to pay a client from Puerto Rico $1 million to repurchase the Puerto Rico portfolio of proprietary bond funds sold to him and many other Puerto Rico investors.…
A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) panel has ordered UBS Financial Services, Inc. and UBS Financial Services of Puerto Rico (collectively “UBS”) to pay an investor $200,000 for losses she sustained by investing in UBS’s Puerto Rico closed-end bond funds. This is the first known ruling from a FINRA arbitration…
Standard & Poor’s (“S&P”) has just downgraded the general obligation rating of Puerto Rico from a rating of B to a rating of CCC +. The ratings agency said the downgrade was because the market access prospects for the U.S. territory have weakened even further and Puerto Rico’s ability to…
According to The Wall Street Journal, the government of Puerto Rico and the hedge funds that own its bonds are looking to ex-International Monetary Fund officials to help solve the U.S. territory’s growing debt problem. Meantime, Puerto Rico is talking to the funds and other investors about borrowing some $3…
Siblings Teresa and George Bravo, who formerly worked as financial advisors at UBS Financial Services Inc. of Puerto Rico (UBS-PR), have filed a $10 million Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration claim against the firm. The Bravos, both were senior vice presidents at the broker-dealer, claim that management deceived not…
Credit rating agency Fitch Ratings (“Fitch”) has downgraded the general obligation and related debt of Puerto Rico to “B”, rating it even further into junk territory and three notches under investment grade, because of worries about the U.S. territory’s ability to go through with planned financing. As a result of…
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced that The Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions of Puerto Rico has shut down Doral Bank in San Juan. The FDIC is now the bank’s receiver. Many investors have lost money through the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust Fund. Banco Popular de Puerto Rico…