RJ and Makay

A deal involving the purchase of Grail Advisors LLC by Ameriprise Financial is imminent, say sources close to the matter. The acquisition will enable Ameriprise to plant its flag in the actively managed exchange-traded fund (ETF) space, which is fast-gaining in popularity.

Grail has established itself as a capable player in that space over the past couple years. It launched its first actively managed ETF in May 2009 and currently has five such ETFs with a combined total of more than $20 million in assets.

Confirmed job offers in the financial services sector were up double digits last month — 16% to be exact, shows new research from pre‐employment firm Powerchex. There were 82% more job offers in investment banking last month than in February, Powerchex also reports.

Stockbroker firms and investment management firms saw considerably increased recruitment levels, too, up 73% and 56% respectively. There were 23% more IT contractor placements in financial services than the previous month. However, recruitment at hedge funds and insurance firms was down 7% in March, according to Powerchex.

A recent inquiry by Senators Carl Levin and Tom Coburn has yielded 19 recommendations to deal with high-risk lending, regulatory failures, inflated credit ratings, and investment bank abuses. The recommendations, published on April 13, are as follows.

High risk lending:

1. Ensure "Qualified Mortgages" Are Low Risk - Federal regulators should use their regulatory authority to ensure that all mortgages deemed to be "qualified residential mortgages" have a low risk of delinquency or default.
2. Require Meaningful Risk Retention - Federal regulators should issue a strong risk retention requirement under Section 941 by requiring the retention of not less than a 5% credit risk in each, or a representative sample of, an asset backed securitization's tranches, and by barring a hedging offset for a reasonable but limited period of time.

3. Safeguard Against High Risk Products - Federal banking regulators should safeguard taxpayer dollars by requiring banks with high risk structured finance products, including complex products with little or no reliable performance data, to meet conservative loss reserve, liquidity, and capital requirements.