Legalized Looting: Investment Companies, Colonial Law, and the Making of a Captive Market

Regulatory Foundations and Market Structure Enabling the UBS–Banco Popular Investment Fund Collapse in Puerto Rico Description:This dataset contains primary legal and financial documents that form the regulatory and promotional backdrop to the UBS–Banco Popular investment fund collapse that severely impacted retail investors in Puerto Rico. Specifically, it includes: The Puerto Rico Investment Companies Act of 2000 (Act 158-2000): This amendment to the 1954 law allowed greater flexibility for investment companies to invest in taxable securities and lowered registration fees. It contributed to the expansion of domestic fund structures that would later be used to package and resell Puerto Rico government debt. The Puerto Rico Investment Companies Act of 2013 (Act 93-2013): A major legislative overhaul designed to stimulate local investment post-Section 936, this law incentivized fund growth while relaxing regulatory oversight. Despite its stated goals of transparency and job creation, it opened the door for conflicts of interest, excessive leverage, and opaque risk disclosures—key elements in the later UBS fund crisis. UBS Puerto Rico Investors Funds Disclosure Brochure: A marketing and disclosure document produced by UBS Asset Managers of Puerto Rico. It explains the investment logic, tax advantages, and structural differences of Puerto Rico mutual funds—none of which were subject to U.S. SEC regulation. It also outlines how UBS and Popular Asset Management co-managed closed-end funds that lacked liquidity, included high concentrations of Puerto Rico government debt, and traded in a secondary market controlled by UBS itself. Together, these materials demonstrate how Puerto Rico's unique legal and financial infrastructure—deliberately exempt from key U.S. federal protections—was exploited by financial actors. These documents serve as a critical foundation for understanding the systemic and regulatory failures that enabled the UBS–Banco Popular fund collapse, resulting in billions in investor losses. Keywords:Puerto Rico, UBS, Banco Popular, investment fraud, closed-end funds, Puerto Rico Investment Companies Act, financial regulation, securities law, mutual fund collapse, legal infrastructure, SEC exemption, investor protection Related Papers or Use Cases: Law review articles on mutual fund regulation in colonial jurisdictions Empirical analyses of retail investor losses in the UBS Puerto Rico fund collapse Studies on the regulatory capture and legal carve-outs in territorial finance促使波多黎各瑞银（UBS）-大众银行（Banco Popular）投资基金崩盘的监管基础与市场结构 描述：本数据集收录了构成瑞银（UBS）-大众银行（Banco Popular）投资基金崩盘事件监管与宣传背景的一手法律与金融文件，该事件曾严重损害波多黎各个人零售投资者的利益。具体包含以下内容： 1. 2000年《波多黎各投资公司法》（法案158-2000，Puerto Rico Investment Companies Act of 2000 (Act 158-2000)）：该法案作为1954年版法案的修正案，赋予投资公司投资应税证券的更大灵活性，并降低了注册费用。其推动了本土基金架构的扩张，这类架构后续被用于打包转售波多黎各政府债务。 2. 2013年《波多黎各投资公司法》（法案93-2013，Puerto Rico Investment Companies Act of 2013 (Act 93-2013)）：这是一项旨在936条款（Section 936）实施后刺激本土投资的重大立法改革法案，该法案在激励基金发展的同时放松了监管监督。尽管其宣称的目标是提升透明度与创造就业，但却为利益冲突、过度杠杆操作以及不透明的风险披露大开方便之门——这些均是后续瑞银基金危机的核心诱因。 3. 瑞银波多黎各投资者基金披露手册（UBS Puerto Rico Investors Funds Disclosure Brochure）：由瑞银波多黎各资产管理部门出具的营销与披露文件。该文件阐释了波多黎各共同基金（mutual fund）的投资逻辑、税收优势与架构差异——这类基金均未受美国证券交易委员会（SEC，Securities and Exchange Commission）监管。文件同时详述了瑞银与大众银行资产管理部门如何联合管理缺乏流动性、高集中度持有波多黎各政府债务且在由瑞银自身掌控的二级市场交易的封闭式基金（closed-end funds）。 上述材料共同揭示了波多黎各独特的法律与金融架构——刻意豁免于美国核心联邦投资者保护条款——如何被金融机构所利用。这些文件是理解催生瑞银-大众银行基金崩盘的系统性与监管性失灵的关键基础，该崩盘造成了数十亿计的投资者损失。 关键词：波多黎各，瑞银（UBS），大众银行（Banco Popular），投资欺诈，封闭式基金（closed-end funds），波多黎各投资公司法，金融监管，证券法，共同基金崩盘，法律架构，SEC豁免，投资者保护 相关论文与应用场景： - 针对殖民辖区共同基金监管的法学评论文章 - 瑞银波多黎各基金崩盘事件中个人投资者损失的实证分析 - 领地金融领域监管俘获与法律豁免条款的研究