Kenneth Corbin

Fidelity Investments is telling investors and advisors that clients' data appears not to have been captured by the hackers who infiltrated the systems of JPMorgan Chase earlier this year. And while clients aren't yet worried, advisors say, such threats are unlikely to go away.

The SEC has yet to produce or even propose any binding rules regarding cybersecurity, but officials have been sending strong signals that they expect firms of all sizes to put in place policies and procedures to protect sensitive information.

As advisors look to mergers and acquisitions to fuel growth strategies and succession plans, firms need to look beyond the transaction itself and think strategically about how a combined firm will operate, experts said this week at the FSI's financial advisor summit.

President Obama has blasted the tactic as unpatriotic while the Treasury Department has announced steps aimed at limiting the tax benefits. But beyond the headlines and sound bites, how should advisors evaluate inversions when developing investment strategies for their clients?

Regulators in other countries are able to act more easily because there are "just fewer decision makers.”

FINRA has issued a long-awaited regulatory notice outlining the proposal for a controversial data-sharing system known as CARDS, asking for comments from the industry and other stakeholders.

At an advisor summit, the industry group urges members to reach out individually to lawmakers to fight regulatory plans.

FSI sees the new insurance coverage as an added benefit the group hopes will help it increase membership and amplify its advocacy efforts.

Should small and midsize RIAs be required to have a succession plan in place for their firms? State securities regulators are asking for input from practitioners as they wrap up the rulemaking process.

The SEC has initiated an administrative proceeding against an advisor who allegedly misappropriated around $2 million of investors' funds in a scheme dating to 2008.

Unknown health care costs are regarded by many as the biggest threat to retirement plans. At the same time, shifts in the industry are changing advisors' options to help clients plan for the costs of extended health care. Here are the most critical factors advisors should keep in mind about long-term care.

"One thing we can tell you is our opposition was there before us," says FPA's director of advocacy. "We heard over and over again the argument that if a fiduciary standard were extended to broker-dealers the middle market would be hurt."

"Any effort to put broker-dealers and advisors into the same box is probably not going to work," says a former deputy director of the SEC's Division of Investment Management.

TD Ameritrade's online hub will offer information and action alerts to advisors as lawmakers and regulators weigh hot-button issues.

Americans over 50 are particularly worried about one major threat to their retirement plans and advisors must do more to help, a new survey finds.

Supporters of a broader and more rigorously enforced fiduciary standard are rallying behind a set of best practices they would like to see advisors and brokers incorporate into their practices.

The financial services sector as a whole is chasing short-term gains and in the process saddling investors with the costs of higher trading volumes and often not acting in their best interests, says Vanguard founder John Bogle.

John Taft, head of RBC wealth management in the U.S., weighs in on extending fiduciary responsibility to broker-dealers, saying any extension must account for the distinct business practices of the sector.

Advocates are calling on the head of the SEC to move forward with a uniform fiduciary proposal, even if that means pushing the rules through a divided commission split along party lines.

To prevent another meltdown of the market that helped spur the global crisis in 2008, large broker-dealers should receive access to Federal Reserve loans to enhance liquidity in the sector, according to a new report.