Practice

Assets in 401(k) plans and other retirement accounts are up 18% from a year ago and have nearly erased losses from the recession as investors continue to pump money into their plans and take advantage of lower prices, according to a report from the Spectrem Group.

The collateralized debt obligation at the center of the fraud case against Goldman Sachs is known as ABACUS 2007-AC1, and a class of its debt was cut to "D" from "CCC-" by Standard and Poor’s in May 2009.

More than 18 months after the largest bank failure in U.S. history, regulators of the collapsed Washington Mutual Inc. faced a day of reckoning Friday, with a key lawmaker accusing them of gross incompetence.

The political pressure to enact financial reform intensified Friday as the government accused Goldman Sachs Group Inc. of defrauding investors and the Senate concluded two days of hearings highlighting the assertedly lax supervision that preceded the largest bank failure in the country's history.

SEC Charges Goldman With Civil FraudRegulator alleges misleading statements and omissions regarding subprime securities.By Lee Conrad, On Wall StreetThe Securities & Exchange Commission sued Goldman Sachs for securities fraud today, saying that the financial powerhouse made “materially misleading statements and omissions” regarding a structured product sold to investors.The product was tied to the performance of subprime residential mortgages and was structured and marketed in early 2007, just when the U.S. housing market first showed signs of strain, the suit said.The SEC alleged that investors were not told that hedge fund Paulson & Co. had a hand in the selection of residential mortgages that were part of the structured product. Paulson subsequently made a profit of about $1 billion from this product by betting that the housing market would fall.After the selection of the portfolio for this product, Paulson effectively shorted the residential mortgage backed market by using credit default swaps. The suit says that “Paulson had an economic incentive to choose [residential mortgages] that it expected to experience credit events in the near future.” And Goldman’s product did not disclose Paulson’s contrarian economic interests. Indeed, Paulson’s selection process for this product favored borrowers with adjustable rate mortgages, relatively low FICO scores, and who were located in states like Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada, which had recently experienced steep inclines in home value.Goldman said in a statement that the SEC’s charges are “completely unfounded in law and fact and we will vigorously contest them and defend the firm and its reputation.”The Securities & Exchange Commission sued Goldman Sachs for securities fraud Friday, saying the financial powerhouse made “materially misleading statements and omissions” regarding a structured product sold to investors.

Morgan Keegan Reassures InvestorsFraud probe won't harm accounts, CEO says.JMIn a letter to investors, Morgan Keegan & Co. CEO John Carson said that recent fraud charges against the company by state and federal regulators won't harm its accounts and added that the firm intends to defend itself against the charges."First and foremost, I want to reassure you of the safety of your accounts held with Morgan Keegan," Carson said last week. "These charges, which relate to a mutual fund management business that was sold in 2008, should not be construed as claims against the business of the firm as a whole."Morgan Keegan has been accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and a number of states of manipulating prices on subprime securities.In a letter to investors, Morgan Keegan & Co. CEO John Carson said that recent fraud charges against the company by state and federal regulators won't harm its accounts and added that the firm intends to defend itself against the charges.

The financial powerhouse allowed a short-selling hedge fund to help structure a product it then sold to investors, the SEC announced.

LIMRA’s 2010 Retirement Industry Conference in Washington D.C., this week was filled with doom and gloom, despite the recent surge of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

In the last of our three-part series, Hulett discusses the challenges to expect and the one thing no one talks about when discussing how to focus on a target market…

A lawmaker and a Treasury Department official Thursday pushed for a permanent extension of the Build America Bond program, but acknowledged that the greatest obstacle is finding a way to pay for it.