Practice

The Securities and Exchange Commission has begun to seek comment on the fiduciary standard of care that broker-dealers and investment advisers are to provide customers in giving advice about investing in securities.

If the administration was looking to the more than 300 public comments for guidance in crafting a future for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it better have a Plan B.

CHICAGO — CIFG Assurance North America Inc. on Monday sued Assured Guaranty Corp., charging it with breach of contract violations for reneging on its obligation to cover the policy on $83.3 million of Xenia Iowa Rural Water District bonds as part of its 19-month-old reinsurance agreement.

As Federal Express first indicated last November, it announced Monday that it will restore 401(k) matches. But the wait is still a long way off: The matches don’t start until Jan. 1, 2011.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday asked the financial services industry to comment over the next 30 days on whether there should be different sets of rules for broker-dealers and investment advisors vis-à-vis personalized investment advice to retail investors.

Younger investors heed financial advisors and information gleaned online

Investors being duped into pouring tens of millions of dollars into fake high-yield opportunities being touted all over the social mediascape.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is wrestling with how much it needs to increase its staff, technological capability, and funds to implement provisions of the new financial regulatory reform law that require it to make the most expansive changes since its creation in 1975.

International banking regulators said Monday they reached broad agreement on the overarching principles that will shape capital requirements and liquidity rules for banks in the coming years.

The legislation by Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., would establish a regulatory framework for covered bonds, including a regime to handle the failure of a bond issuer.