Practice

A complaint filed by the SEC accuses a former Merrill Lynch advisor and his client of making insider trades and hiding profits in offshore accounts.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., Barclays Plc, Credit Suisse Group AG and 10 other international lenders were sued by a U.S. credit union regulator alleging they illegally manipulated benchmark Libor interest rates.

The Logic Behind Annuities

Two veteran founders of well-heeled financial planning firms—Richard “Richie” Lee of Lee Financial in Dallas, Texas and Michael Leonetti of Leonetti & Associates in Buffalo Grove, Ill.—readily confess that luck as much as deliberate strategy has contributed to their firms’ success.

Planners have readily adapted to the changing needs of their clients since the recession. Yet they need to engage clients in even more personal, meaningful conversations.

ManulifeInvestments has launched Manulife RetirementPlus, designed for people who are between five and 15 years from retirement.

During the crisis of 2008, service providers faced an environment in which they saw their clients' assets decline sharply. After the dust settled, a new order was born with clients demanding more for less with increasing scrutiny as regulators ramped up their efforts.

Although Annapolis, Md., advisor Mike Scarborough's traditional services have long included investment management, retirement income management, estate planning and risk management, Scarborough says it was his focus on 401(k) and 403(b) savings plan management services (for clients participating in company-sponsored retirement plans) that helped set his firm apart.

The FINRA Investor Education Foundation issued a new research report-Financial Fraud and Fraud Susceptibility in the United States-which reveals that over 80% of respondents have been solicited to participate in potentially fraudulent schemes, and over 40% of those surveyed cannot identify some classic red flags of fraud.

The CFP Board’s strategy of punishing some certificate holders over compensation disclosure issues in what critics charge is an arbitrary manner threatens the future of the CFP designation, according to one of the early leaders of the board who also chaired its disciplinary commission.