1. Former NYS Insurance Chief Lands in Private Practice.
2. optionsXpress Shares Popped.

    1.  Former NYS Insurance Chief Lands in Private Practice.   Debevoise & Plimpton announced that Eric Dinallo, former New York State Superintendent of Insurance, joined the firm as a New York-based Partner and a member of the Financial Institutions Group.  He'll represent clients throughout the financial services sector and provide counseling on a broad range of matters, including government and internal investigations, enforcement actions, litigation and compliance matters, and regulatory and strategic legal advice on mergers and acquisitions and other corporate transactions.  Mr. Dinallo has experience in both the public and private sectors:  (i) NYS Superintendent of Insurance;  (ii) General Counsel of Willis Group Holdings;  (iii) Managing Director and Global Head of Regulatory Affairs of Morgan Stanley.   Earlier this year, Mr. Dinallo ran unsuccesfful for the Democratic nomination for NYS Attorney General.  [Debevoise PR, 12/6]

    2.  optionsXpress Shares Popped.   Shares of online broker optionsXpress jumped as much as 10% in early trading on 11/29, before settling back down to a more modest 2% gain.  The market was reacting to an announcement that optionsXpress will pay out a $4.50 special dividend.  The company, which currently has a debt-free balance sheet, will be returning a total of $259 million to its shareholders.  The payout, interesting enough, will be funded with a 4-year loan with extremely low borrowing costs.  The loss of the cash and the addition of debt will bring down the company's earnings a bit, while investors are likely to adjust down the stock price by the full $4.50 post-dividend.  All-in-all, the Motley Fool sees this as a pretty savvy move - putting cash in shareholders' pockets ahead of potential tax changes, while the dividend-related drop in the stock price may make it look cheap next to competitors, Schwab and E*TRADE.   [MotleyFool.com, 11/29]