It was the year of the big fine—accompanied, in so many cases, by a phrase that beggars belief: “…without admitting or denying the allegations….”
Industry players coughed up monumental sums. Regulators boasted of record-breaking enforcement. And yet no one—officially, at least—did anything wrong.
Thankfully, the tide seems to be turning, but it was a busy year for our runner-up financial phrase of 2013.