Prior to 1999 banking law reforms, bank holding companies were permitted to engage as principals on cash-settled derivative contracts as well as derivatives that allowed for physical settlement, provided the holding company made good faith effort to avoid delivery of the commodity.The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations held a two-day hearing at the end of last week, "Wall Street Bank Involvement with Physical Commodities." This followed a two-year study of banks and their holding companies that own physical commodities or control warehouses, pipelines or power plants. The over 800-page analysis and supporting documents were released on Wednesday, but there was little discussion of that material as the hearing started Thursday w...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Wednesday. In July, the CPI rose 0.1 percent, seasonally adjusted, and rose 3.4 percent over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted. The index for all items less food and energy, or the “core” infla...
From WPI Consulting
Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming
WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.