Practice

Sen. Maria Cantwell announced late Thursday that she intends to support regulatory reform, giving a boost to the bill's prospects in the Senate, which plans to take up the legislation later this month when Congress returns from a Fourth of July recess.

Bankers have spent months saying they are making every good loan possible, and now regulators are demanding more information to prove it.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday unanimously adopted rules designed to prevent investment advisors from making political contributions to elected officials to obtain business from state and local pension funds, investment pools and college savings accounts.

Back in March, sister publication Financial Planning wrote about the potential long-term care crisis that could plague Boomers during their later years.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday unanimously adopted rules designed to prevent investment advisers from making political contributions to elected officials to obtain business from state and local pension funds, investment pools and college savings accounts.

Bankers and some lawmakers reacted with a mix of uncertainty and outrage on Wednesday after the conference committee opted to raise deposit insurance premiums on large institutions in an effort to pay the costs of the regulatory reform bill.

The House passed a mammoth financial reform bill late Wednesday 237 to 192, sending the bill to the Senate, which is not expected to act until later this month.

For employers with 401(k) plans, auto enrollment is growing, and target-date funds are an increasingly popular default option. But concern is building over what happens when the two trends meet.

The Securities and Exchange Commission late Wednesday said it plans to expand its circuit-breaker program to include all stocks in the Russell 1000 Index and some exchange-traded funds.

Fifty seven percent of employers automatically enroll workers in 401(k) plans, but slightly less than half of those that reduced or suspended matching contributions when the financial crisis hit in September 2008 have restored them, according to a survey released Wednesday by Towers Watson.