Practice

While middle America struggles to save for retirement, one would expect wealthy people to be in far a better position to save.

So the results are in: The Securities and Exchange Commission announced last week, after six months of study, that brokers should be held to the same fiduciary standard as advisers because investors assume their brokers are acting in their best interests anyway.

First Republic Bank, a San Francisco private banking and wealth management firm, announced Monday it hired Lucas Newman and Michael Tinney as portfolio managers and managing directors for First Republic Private Wealth Management in Portland, Ore.

"We welcome the clarity that the January SEC Staff Report brings to the retail financial advice industry,” said Mark Casady, LPL’s chairman and CEO. “ In particular, we agree with the report's recommendation for a uniform fiduciary standard, as we believe this is right for investors, financial advisors and the industry.”

The White House's removal of Joseph Smith as a nominee to be the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency does not bode well for an administration facing so many regulatory jobs to fill, observers said Friday.facing

The SEC study is only the first step in the path to a uniform fiduciary standard.

The National Commission on the Causes of the Financial and Economic Crisis in the United States cast blame wide and far, in releasing its report Thursday on the causes of the 2008-2009 financial crisis. But not once in the 662-page report did high-frequency traders come up.

While endowments for the last fiscal year were able to post an 11.9% investment return, Commonfund President and CEO Verne Sedlacek said yesterday that most funds are “probably still 25% below where they were in 2007.”

The Investment Management Consultants Association announced that the cumulative pass rate for its CIMA qualification exam was 63% and the for the CIMA certification exam was 58%.

There seems to be a lot of "energy" (and sometimes anger) around the idea that some people provide full-service financial planning and some people call themselves planners while actually selling products or managing assets for a living.