Mina Mar Group

Deposit Trust Company (DTC) is the largest securities depository in the world, created by securities industry to imporove efficiences and reduce risk in the clearence and settlement of securities transactions. It was founded in 1973 and based in New York, DTC is organized as limited purpose trust company meaning it is charted by state to perform specific trust functions, acting as a depositor or safekeeper for securities and mortgages. Basically DTC holds securities for banks and investment firms. DTC alos acts as clearing agency, registered with SEC for securities transactions in the U.S. market, invloving equities, corporate and municipal debt, money market instruments, American depositary receipts and exchange traded funds. All movements of securities are made electronically with book-enry adjustments. Most large U.S broker-dealers and banks are DTC participants, menaing they deposit and hold securities at DTC. Individual investors cannot be participants.  DTC appears i...

Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Customer Protection Act  was signed into law in 2010 as a response to financial crisis of 2008 by targeting sectors that caused the crisis, banks, mortgage lenders and credit reporting agencies. It reshaped U.S. regulatory system, especially financial sector. From the beginning Dodd-Frank received  criticism that it limits growth potential of financial firms and lovers overall market liquidity. On February 3, 2017 Donald Trump signed an executive order that asked the U.S. Treasury to propose Dodd-Frank changes and a year later on May 24, 2018 President signed into law Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act. With this Act, Dodd-Frank wasn't repealed but some of its regulations were loosened. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau still has the control over mortgage lending and credit reporting agencies. It was argued that regulations proposed by Dodd-Frank impose a burden on community banks and ...

Futures contract or just futures is an agreement between two parties to buy or sell assets at a predetermined price at a specified date in the future. Underlying asset can be stock market index, currencies or most common commodities - oil. gasoline and gold. Buyer of the future has the obligation to buy the underlying asset when the future contract expires just like the seller has the obligation to provide the asset at the expiration date. Futures that are traded on commodity future exchanges are more standardized and regulated like Chicago Mercantile Exchange or  New York Mercantile Exchange. Standardized contract means that for instance, one future oil contract is for 1,000 of oil and one gold contract is for 100 troy ounces of gold. The Commodities Futures Trading Commission regulates the exchanges and require buyers and sellers to be registered. Futures are used by two types of market participants - hedgers and speculators. Guarantees to buy or sell at a cert...

Derivative is very complex complex to explain but at its most it is financial contract between two or more parties and it derives its price from an underlying asset. Basically buyer agrees to purchase the asset on a specific date at a specific price. There are numerous types of derivatives and underlying assets can be almost anything but the most common are commodities (oil, gasoline, oil), currencies, stocks, bonds, interest rates and market indexes. They can be traded on unregulated over-the-counter market where transactions happen between private parties or they can be traded on exchange where they are highly regulated and standardized. Bear in mind that OTC constitutes major portion of  derivative market and it caries great counterparty risk - possibility that one of the parties involved might default. Common derivatives are options, futures,swaps and forwards.  Options give the buyer right but not the obligation to sell or purchase underlying asset at a ce...

Blank-check company is development stage company without specific business plan or purpose or that has business plan to engage in a merger or acquisition with an unnamed company. These type of companies are bound by Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 419 to protect investors therefore they may be subjected to additional requirements if they are registering securities for public offering. Because SEC views them as penny stock  or microcap stock there is more rules and restrictions imposed upon them. For instance blank-check companies are not allowed to use Rule 504 of regulation D that exempts companies from registration of securities for offerings up to $1 million. Companies are also required to fully disclose all terms and condition of the offering. Popular type of blank-check company is special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), created to pull funds in order to finance merger or acquisition within certain time frame. It is publicly listed company that rises money...

Roll -Up is a type of Merger&Acquisition strategy. It happens when smaller companies in the same market or industry sector are merged into one large entity. Reasons for consolidation include economy of scale, expanded geographical coverage, better name recognition and increase in value. Merger of smaller companies happens in fragmented industries where there is no dominant company or where is one dominant player and none of the small companies can challenge its dominance. Usually it is the private equity firm that does investment thesis, using analysis to identify target companies for an acquisition. If you as an owner want to buy more smaller companies and merge them into one entity the deal is most often done as a combination of cash and equity in exchange for ownership stake at the acquired company. Before the deal is done there are several very important questions that need to be answered. Are the target companies good match? What additional products/services/value...

Dodd-Frank Act, officially called Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Customer Protection Act was signed into law by President Barack Obama on July 21, 2010. The Act is voluminous and complex peace of legislation that reshaped U.S regulatory system in many sectors, including consumer protection, trading restrictions and credit ratings. It was the response to financial crisis of 2008 as Dodd-Frank put regulation on financial sector and created laws that stopped mortgage companies and lenders taking advantage of customers. The Act generated criticism that it inhibits growth of the economy and puts to much burden on the U.S. companies. Many experts blamed the lack of oversight and financial regulations for the crisis. It was the worst economic disaster since Great Depression of 1929. Fall in the interest rates allowed people with poor credit score to pursue their dream of buying a house. Problems appeared when interest rates started rising and many defaulted their payments. This cr...