Puerto Rico Bond Funds

Congress Introduces Two Bills to Address $70B Puerto Rico Debt Crisis

Published on: December 10, 2015 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The United States Congress is considering two bills to help Puerto Rico out of its more than $70 billion debt crisis. The first bill, proposed by the Senate Finance Committee and spearheaded by Republican lawmakers, would offer the island’s government $3 billion in emergency cash, reduce the federal employee tax for the territory’s residents from 6.2% to 3.1%, and provide federal oversight to make sure that Puerto Rico continues to have debt plans in place that are sustainable.

While this bill would provide much needed relief to the island, Puerto Rico’s leaders would rather be able to restructure their debt in court. They want the U.S. territory to be able file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, a protection it does not have at the moment, unlike all 50 U.S. states. Because it cannot avail of this option, Puerto Rico is having to negotiate with each group of bondholders individually. This is proving a slow and arduous process that could go on for years.

Under the second Congressional bill, presented by U.S. Rep Sean Duffy (R – WI), Puerto Rico would be able to file for Chapter 9. However, this bill offers the territory no financial aid. And, as CNN points out, because a lot of the island’s debt belongs to the central government, much of what it owes wouldn’t fall under the Chapter 9 umbrella. To qualify, the debt has to be owed by local towns or institutions.

Puerto Rico has a $1 billion debt payment coming up on January 1, 2016. Already, Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla has warned that it would be “very difficult” to make that payment. After January, the next debt payment deadline for the island is in May.
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Santander Securities to Pay $6.4M Over Puerto Rico Muni Bond and Closed-End Fund Sales

Published on: October 13, 2015 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) says that it is ordering Santander Securities LLC (Santander) to pay $6.4M for supervisory failures involving the sale of Puerto Rico Municipal Bonds and Puerto Rico closed-end funds. Of the payment to FINRA, $2 million is a fine and censure and over $4.3 million is customer restitution.

The restitution will go toward certain customers who were solicited to buy the municipal bonds. Santander will pay $121,000 and make rescission offers to repurchase the securities from certain customers that were affected by the firm’s purported failure to supervise employees while they were trading.

FINRA said that between December 2012 and October 2013, Santander failed to make sure that its proprietary product risk-classification tool accurately reflected the risks of investing in Puerto Rico bonds. The regulator contends that the systems and procedures that were in place at Santander did not mandate an evaluation or review of this tool, which is what its representatives used when recommending financial products to customers.

For example, said FINRA, when “significant market events” occurred, such as when credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded a number of Puerto Rico bonds-including Puerto Rico General Obligation bonds-to a level just above junk, Santander did not re-examine the tool’s risk classifications for the bonds. Instead, one day after the credit rating agency issued its ratings downgrade, the firm stopped buying the municipal bonds that its customers in Puerto Rico wanted to sell and ramped up its efforts to lower the firm’s own Puerto Rico municipal bond inventory.
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UBS Puerto Rico to Pay $18.5M to Settle FINRA Sanctions Over Supervisory Failures Related to Closed-End Fund Sales

Published on: September 30, 2015 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is fining UBS Financial Services Incorporated of Puerto Rico (UBS PR) $7.5 million for supervisory failures involving its transactions in UBS sponsored Puerto Rican closed-end funds (CEF). The brokerage firm also must pay $11 million in client restitution for losses related to those shares.

According to FINRA, a self-regulatory organization for the brokerage industry, for over four years, UBS PR neglected to monitor the combined concentration and leverage levels in customer accounts to make sure transactions were suitable for the respective profiles and objectives of its customers. FINRA said that considering that the firm’s retail customers typically kept high concentration levels in the country’s assets and frequently used these concentrated accounts as cash loan collateral-and in light of the U.S. territory’s volatile economy-UBS should have put into place a system that could reasonably identify and prevent unsuitable transactions.

Instead, the regulator said, UBS PR persuaded certain customers to establish credit lines that were collateralized by their securities accounts. If the value of the account dropped under the required collateral level, the customer would have to deposit more assets or liquidate securities. A credit line that is collateralized by an account that is very concentrated could significantly increase an investor’s risk of loss. When the market dropped in 2013, and a lot of the CEFs lost value, customers were forced to sustain hefty losses to satisfy the calls they received notifying them that their account’s value was now under the required collateral level.
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UBS Puerto Rico To Pay the SEC $15M Over Closed-End Bond Fund Sales

Published on: September 29, 2015 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

UBS Financial Services Inc. of Puerto Rico (UBS PR) has consented to pay $15 million to resolve the Securities and Exchange Commission’s claims related to the brokerage firm’s supervision of the sale of its closed-end Puerto Rico bond funds (CEFs). The SEC contends that UBS PR did not properly supervise ex-broker Jose Ramirez, who is accused of increasing his compensation by at least $2.8 million when he allegedly had customers improperly borrow funds to invest in Puerto Rico bond funds. UBS fired Ramirez last year.

The funds came from UBS Bank USA, which is a bank affiliated with UBS PR. Under bank and UBS rule, the funds from UBS Bank are not allowed to be used to carry or purchase securities. According to the SEC, not only was using the funds from the Bank a violation, investors were placed at risk of losses while Ramirez profited. The SEC has filed a separate complaint against the ex-UBS broker.

The regulator claims that Ramirez misled customers about how safe the CEFs were, as well as misrepresented the risks involved. He purportedly lied to his branch manager when he was asked about suspect transactions.

To avoid getting caught, Ramirez allegedly told customers to move money from their credit line to an external bank account before placing the funds into their brokerage account at UBS PR and then buying the CEFs. The CEFs, which were heavily invested in Puerto Rico bonds, dropped in value when the Puerto Rican bond market started to decline in the Fall of 2013. Customers then had a choice of either paying down part of the loans or risk liquidation of their investments.

The $15 million settlement will be put into a fund for investors who sustained losses when the funds dropped in value. The Commission’s order instituting a settled administrative proceeding claims that UBS PR did not have the systems and procedures to prevent or detect the misconduct that Ramirez was engaging in. Even though UBS PR was allegedly apprised at least twice that customers of Ramirez might be violating the loan policy, the brokerage firm’s policies did not provide for reasonable follow up. UBS PR also purportedly lacked a system to make sure that credit line proceeds that were moved out of firm accounts were not used to buy securities.
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FINRA Orders UBS to Pay Investors Over $2.9M For Puerto Rico Bond and Fund Losses

Published on: September 1, 2015 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

UBS (UBS) must pay over $2.9M to investors Andres Ricardo Gomez and Ana Teresa Lopez-Gonzales for losses related to their investments in Puerto Rico securities. Mr. Ricardo, Ms. Lopez-Gonzales and their relatives filed an arbitration case with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) claiming breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, breach of contract, negligence, unsuitability, misrepresentation and omission, overconcentration, and failure to supervise under FINRA rules and Puerto Rican law.

Mr. Ricardo’s and Ms. Lopez-Gonzales’ relatives resolved the securities fraud case for an undisclosed sum before the FINRA arbitration panel issued its ruling. The allegations are related to investments in Puerto Rico municipal bonds, UBS proprietary closed-end funds, and the use of Claimants’ investments as collateral to borrow money through credit lines. UBS Financial Services and UBS Financial Services Inc. of Puerto Rico denied all claims.

The Claimants had initially sought $10 million in compensatory damages and other appropriate relief, the cancellation of all loan balances, disgorgement of fees and commissions earned by UBS, pre- and post-award interest, legal fees, expenses, and other fees. Claimants also sought punitive damages.

In response, UBS sought to have the Puerto Rico bond fund case dismissed. In addition, UBS requested that the FINRA panel order Mr. Ricardo and one of the other claimants pay $500,000 in damages.
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Puerto Rico Delays $750M Bond Sale

Published on: August 25, 2015 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

According to The New York Times, Puerto Rico is again delaying a recent proposed bond issuance latest decision to stall the bond sale, this time because of trouble in the global markets. However, said the newspaper, the island’s government also seems to have come to the conclusion it could not borrow the $750 million by issuing the bonds at an interest rate that was affordable.

The delay in the Puerto Rico bond sale comes just two months after Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla declared the territory’s debts unpayable. Not only are the territory’s three big public utilities unable to pay off their debt but also they cannot shut down their operations. Earlier this month, the island defaulted on the bulk of a bond payment due on debt belonging to the Public Finance Corporation, which is another one of Puerto Rico’s government agencies.

On Tuesday, Puerto Rico asked the U.S. Supreme Court grant it the use of bankruptcy protection as the Commonwealth attempts to restructure $20 billion in public utility debt. Garcia Padilla and Secretary of Justice Cesar Miranda Rodriguez submitted a petition requesting that the court overturn previous rulings striking down the 2014 Puerto Rico Public Corporation Debt Enforcement and Recovery Act.

The Act granted Puerto Rican utilities and public companies bankruptcy protection not included under U.S. Chapter 9 bankruptcy laws. Meaning, while the territory awaits that decision, the September 1 deadline for Puerto Rico to outline its restructuring plan is just days ahead.
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UBS Puerto Rico Branch Manager Had Warned that Brokers Were Pushing Improper Loan Practices

Published on: August 16, 2015 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

According to Reuters, internal correspondence records show that in 2012, a former branch manager at UBS Puerto Rico (UBS) warned the Swiss banking giant’s officials that its brokers were encouraging customers to get involved in improper loan practices. In a number of emails, Carlos Capacete, who was a branch manager at the time, wrote to at least two bank officers noting his suspicions of misconduct.

Reuters says that in the documents it reviewed, Capacete told regional manager Doel Garcia that he had encouraged Mariela Torres, a UBS Puerto Rico compliance director, to look into suspect loans. In another email, Capacete followed up with his inquiry to see if the loans had been investigated for possible misuse involving the bank’s credit lines.

Then, in yet another email, Capacete documented what he knew about the loans, which he believed were fraudulent, explained how he discovered the purported wrongdoing, and noted his efforts to notify Torres about the alleged misconduct. Capacete also wrote that a UBS attorney had told him that the firm had conducted an audit and found that his suspicions were wrong.

Despite this alleged audit, late last year UBS reached a $5.2 million municipal bond settlement with Puerto Rico’s Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions to resolve allegations of improper loan practices. The bank settled that case without denying or admitting to the charges. It did, however, consent to enhancing its supervision of several brokers whom regulators said may have steered clients toward improperly borrowing money to purchase more funds. UBS also terminated a broker for the same allegations and received an arbitration award of $2.5 million against it in an early case concerning the same broker.
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Edward Jones to Pay $20M to Resolve Municipal Bond Sales Overcharges

Published on: August 13, 2015 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Edward D. Jones & Co., the brokerage firm subsidiary of Jones Financial Companies, has consented to pay $20 million to resolve U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission allegations accusing the firm of overcharging clients by at least $4.6 million on new municipal bond sales. The regulator contends that the brokerage firm offered bonds at a higher price than what securities laws require.

Underwriters are supposed to sell new bonds at an initial offering price that was negotiated with the bond issuer. The SEC claims that instead of offering municipal bond sales to customers at the worked out a price, the firm allegedly brought the bonds into its own inventory and then later sold them at high prices. Also, said the Commission, in certain instances the bonds were offered to customers after they had already started to trade in the secondary market at higher prices than what was initially offered.

The regulator said that at the very least Edwards Jones was negligent with the overcharges and its behavior was “inconsistent” with the standards and written agreements that govern municipal underwriting. The SEC says it will continue its probe into the matter.
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UBS Ordered to Pay Over $2.5M to Retired Couple in Puerto Rico Bond Fraud Case

Published on: August 11, 2015 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

UBS Financial Services, Inc. and UBS Financial Services of Puerto Rico (collectively “UBS”) must pay over $2.5 million to Orlando Rodriguez Gonzales and Milagros Vila Maldonado for their investment losses related to the proprietary closed-end bond funds that they bought in Puerto Rico. The funds were sold to them by former UBS broker Jose Gabriel Ramirez, Jr., who is often referred to as “The Whopper.”

The San Juan, Puerto Rico couple, who are in their seventies, claim that they gave their liquid savings to UBS to invest. According to their complaint, the Whopper recommended they take out a $3 million loan and reinvest $2 million of that in the closed-end funds.

The result was that Gonzalez and Maldonado lost roughly $2.1 million in assets after the funds abruptly and swiftly dropped in value in 2013. Gonzalez and Maldonado filed a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration claim alleging breach of fiduciary duty, unsuitable investment, fraud, and negligence related to the Puerto Rico closed-end mutual funds.
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UBS Warns Investors to Stay Away from Puerto Rico Bond Funds

Published on: July 27, 2015 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

In a complete turnaround, UBS AG (UBS) is now telling clients to step away from Puerto Rico bond funds. Reuters reports that in a recent letter, the firm’s Puerto Rico arm told clients that they would be contacted shortly regarding alternative investments.

Reasons cited for the warning is that the funds can no longer be used as loan collateral in the wake of the U.S. territory’s financial woes. Puerto Rico is currently $72 billion in debt. Concerns over its economy were not eased when Governor Alejandro García Padilla recently asked the island’s debt holders for help in postponing bond payments and restructuring the Commonwealth’s debt.

Reuters also reported that in the letter to UBS customers – issued on July 13 – UBS said the firm would lower the collateral value given to every Puerto Rico closed-end fund share to zero. However, noted the news agency, despite the declaration of zero value for the funds’ shares, the brokerage firm continues to list share prices on its website.

UBS Puerto Rico’s decision to reject the funds as collateral shows just how high risk the firm now views these investments. According to Sam Edwards, a partner in Shepherd, Smith, Edwards & Kantas, who is currently representing dozens of Puerto Rico investors, “UBS came up with the scheme to use the Closed-End Funds as collateral for loans from UBS Bank since they were not eligible for margin loans. It was that leverage against already internally leveraged losses that causes some of the worst losses on the island. UBS is now pulling the plug on its own plan and effectively admitting this was a faulty idea and not only too risky for investors, but now, too risky for UBS, who designed the plan in the first place.”

Once again, the evidence appears to support that UBS is protecting itself at the expense of its customers.
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