Practice

Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) won dismissal of a lawsuit filed by pension plan beneficiaries challenging the company’s decision to shed $7.4 billion in obligations by buying a single-premium group annuity.

Some hedge-fund managers recently came under pressure from the American Federation of Teachers to quit the boards of certain organizations, such as Students First and the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, that favor the elimination of public-sector defined-benefit pension plans.

“It's a pretty big issue for us,” said Daniel Sibears, FINRA executive vice president for member regulation. “There are many dozens of complaints where there's been [a] compromise of customer information, particularly information that is needed to get into online accounts and to execute transactions and move money.”

Investors remain wary of the financial sector, which is bad news for advisors. But by examining the best practices of successful advisors, we can all learn valuable lessons about how to strengthen trust and build greater public confidence.

Thirty eight percent of fund firms across the country said that they will increase technology-related costs while a total of 17% of respondents said they expected no change in whether their firm's technology costs would rise or decline for the rest of this year.

Women are a growing economic force. They currently control the majority of wealth in the U.S. and are estimated to receive approximately 70% of the $41 trillion in intergenerational wealth transfers over the next several decades. It makes good business sense to learn how to attract and retain these economically powerful female clients.

Seeking a better way to share documents with wealthy clients, Exemplar Financial Network chose a Dropbox-like service with client-side encryption.

Government policy is becoming a more prominent topic of conversation between financial advisors and their clients, according to a recent study as well as anecdotal reports -- and remarks by the Federal Reserve chairman last week on the future of the Fed’s stimulus policy have spurred even more discussions about government policy.

Mercer has made three senior-level appointments to its global investments and retirement units in Europe and in the emerging markets.

FINRA's social media spot check notification last week shouldn't come as a terrible surprise to the industry. The announcement underscores the need for firms to thoughtfully develop clear policies to supervise and manage usage, content and engagement.