Portfolio

WASHINGTON — The Senate Agriculture Committee has voted 13 to 8, mostly along party lines, to approve a bill to regulate over-the-counter derivatives. The bill would impose a fiduciary duty on dealers who pitch, advise or enter into swaps with localities, endowment funds, or pension funds.

The country's two largest custody banks said they will keep looking for acquisitions, of whatever size, as they wait for higher interest rates to spur organic growth.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) actions against Goldman Sachs have sent credit default swap spreads spiraling wider not only for Goldman, but for the entire banking sector, according to Fitch Solutions.

The company, known for its socially responsible investing strategy, launched a global water fund in October 2008 that is already paying dividends.

The two funds are focused on current market opportunities in taxable securities and selectively across the fixed income universe.

The German bank has strengthened its emerging-market debt units in Latin America with seven new hires

Former President Bill Clinton now says he had an inadvertent role in the credit crisis and the SEC’s civil fraud case against Goldman Sachs by signing the Commodity Futures Modernization Act in 2000, exempting the $58 trillion credit default swap industry from meaningful regulation.

The U.K.’s Financial Services Authority is finally cracking down on how prime brokers protect client assets.

Bernie Madoff's legacy is still influencing the regulatory community. Fraud is as much a part of Wall Street's history as the closing bell on the New York Stock Exchange, but the Securities and Exchange Commission's recent amendments to its custody rule are intended to make life trickier for any future Madoff.

Despite increasing optimism about the economy, affluent investors remain concerned about retirement savings and the rising costs of healthcare.