Practice

WASHINGTON – House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank is preparing a $35 billion housing package that would expand the government's role in combating the sub-prime mortgage crisis.

Oppenheimer & Co. has been ordered to pay $250,000 for failing to supervise the improper market timing of mutual fund shares from January through September 2003, according to FINRA. The firm has also been ordered to pay $4.25 million in restitution to more than 60 mutual fund companies.

The Supreme Court has ruled that participants in 401(k) retirement plans can sue their providers for losses if their instructions are ignored or their account is mismanaged.

MIAMI - As the burden of responsibility for retirement planning continues to shift toward the individual, investors should be cautious about "fast analysis" investment advice, a top financial executive said Tuesday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said it wants to require investment advisers to provide clients with online brochures describing their services, fees and conflicts of interest in a reader-friendly format.

Investors holding municipal bonds directly or through mutual funds could see their returns diminished by ratings agencies' recent downgrades of troubled bond insurers, according to a report prepared for Congress.

The credit crunch is crunching another corner of the market: securities tied to student loans, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The huge burden of meeting new Internal Revenue Service retirement plan regulations just got a lot easier.

Average investors are getting cheated out of thousands of dollars in earnings for their 401(k) plans by hidden fees and expenses, according to Bloomberg.

WASHINGTON-Democratic leaders of the House Financial Services Committee are exploring creating a federal regulator or modifying a multi-state compact to increase oversight and provide more uniform standards for insurers of municipal bonds and other financial products.