University of Oklahoma Foundation Hires Consultant as CIO

Brad Johnson1 Brad Johnson, University of Oklahoma FoundationThe University of Oklahoma (OU) Foundation has appointed a veteran consultant to head up its $1.4 billion endowment.

Brad Johnson, currently director of quantitative research and the derivatives implementation group at Cambridge Associates, will join the foundation this summer. The OU Foundation aims to manage and support charitable gifts made to the university.

Leading a staff of two investment professionals, Johnson will report to the foundation’s President Guy Patton, a spokesperson confirmed. He will also be responsible for the OU Foundation’s entire investment process.

“We believe Brad will provide a wealth of knowledge and skill in investing to the foundation and the university,” Patton said in a statement. “His combination of skills and experiences will bring terrific value to the foundation’s investment process.”

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According to the foundation’s documents, the endowment beat its benchmarks for both trailing three-year and five-year periods, with 12.7% and 10% returns respectively.

The diversified portfolio—with more than 42% in global equity and 28% in hedge funds, among other allocations—also gained 19.5% in fiscal year 2014 and 14.3% in 2013.

“The growth and stability of the foundation’s financial assets will have a lasting impact on the university’s teaching, research, and mission for public service,” Johnson said regarding his move to Norman, Oklahoma.

Prior to his seven-year tenure at Cambridge Associates—where he began as investment director—he worked as a portfolio manager for WR Ericksen & Associates in Portland, Oregon.

Johnson holds an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Puget Sound in Seattle. He is also a chartered financial analyst.

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Six of the world’s largest banks have been fined a total of $5.8 billion for charges of manipulating foreign exchange rates over a five-year period.

According to the US Department of Justice (DoJ), Citigroup, JP Morgan, Barclays, and the Royal Bank of Scotland pleaded guilty to colluding to “push the exchange rates in directions favorable to their banks but detrimental to others.”

“These unprecedented [fines] appropriately reflect the conspiracy’s breathtaking flagrancy, its systemic reach, and its significant impact.” —Attorney General Loretta LynchIn addition, UBS pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and involvement in rigging the LIBOR. The Federal Reserve also separately fined Bank of America $205 million for similar violations.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch called these violations committed by traders at these banks—dubbed “The Cartel”—“brazenly illegal behavior.”

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“These unprecedented [fines] appropriately reflect the conspiracy’s breathtaking flagrancy, its systemic reach, and its significant impact,” she said.

The Justice Department said “The Cartel” communicated through a chat room, using coded language, to collude and manipulate the market’s exchange rate between euros and dollars since December 2007.

Their illegal actions inflated the banks’ profits, Lynch said, harming other investors including pension funds, corporations, and even the banks’ clients.

“The banks pleading guilty today are not ordinary market participants,” said Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer. “They are ‘market makers’ representing 25% or more of dollar-euro exchange rate transactions each year. As such, they were uniquely positioned to manipulate the market.”

In the settlement with the DoJ, Citigroup will pay $925 million, Barclays $650 million, JP Morgan $550 million, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) $395 million, and UBS $203 million.

The Federal Reserve also issued fines of $342 million each for UBS, Barclays, Citigroup, and JP Morgan, and $274 million for RBS. The regulators also issued the firms cease and desist orders to improve their oversight and controls policies over FX sales to deter any “unsafe and unsound conduct.”

In addition, Barclays also reached settlements with four other regulators in the US and the UK, it said, with total penalties reaching nearly $2.3 billion. This included a £284.4 million ($445.3 million) fine from the Financial Conduct Authority, the largest penalty ever imposed by the UK regulator.

All firms involved stated they have taken “appropriate disciplinary actions” against individuals involved and made efforts to improve compliance and oversight systems.

“The behavior that resulted in the settlements we announced today is an embarrassment to our firm, and stands in stark contrast to Citi’s values,” said Citigroup’s CEO Michael Corbat. “Fostering a culture of ethical behavior has been, and continues to be, a top priority for Citi.”

According to a survey released Tuesday, ethics and integrity has yet to improve on Wall Street since the financial crisis.

One in three of 1,200 financial executives surveyed said they witnessed unethical and illegal behavior first hand. One in five said they believed cheating was part of the recipe for success in the current market environment.

“Despite numerous reform efforts and severe fines levied against industry Goliaths, one-third of those surveyed do not believe the financial services industry has changed for the better,” the report said.