Practice

Since the beginning of the year, Wall Street firms, trade associations, and municipal bond issuers have significantly stepped up their lobbying efforts to get lawmakers to extend the Build America Bonds program before it expires at the end of December.

Following a June swoon dive, U.S. pension plan funded statuses proved to replete some of their diminished assets thanks to a rising equity market, which returned nearly 7% last month, a new study claims.

No one knows what housing market reform — especially the reshaping of the government-sponsored enterprises — will look like, but Wall Street certainly is paying close attention to its impact on a kee source of fee income.

Even as they begin dropping credit ratings as a supervisory source, regulators signaled Tuesday they are worried about abandoning their use altogether, suggesting that potential alternatives are not much of an improvement.

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A supplier of risk management software to bulge bracket firms on Wall Street has proposed that the Securities and Exchange Commission rely on real-time data stored in a nationwide cloud of computing power and networks to create an effective audit trail of stock market activity.

Morgan Stanley & Co. has been fined $800,000 by FINRA for failing to make public disclosures required by the agency’s rules governing research analyst conflicts of interest.

FINRA fined the financial services company for deficient conflict of interest disclosures in equity research reports and public appearances.

I ventured forth with predictions about what's in store for 401(k) plans in 2010 and beyond ("The shape of things to come for 401(k) plans," available at ebn.benefitnews.com).

WASHINGTON — Four major municipal market groups are urging the Treasury Department to issue guidance confirming that the existing regulatory framework on issue price for tax-exempt bonds also applies to Build America Bonds and stating that if issuers follow certain long-standing practices, they can be confident they are complying with the rules in this area.