Practice

The Financial Planning Coalition, a group that includes several organizations representing thousands of financial advisors, this week released a copy of a petition it sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission, asking the regulatory agency to extend the definition of fiduciary standard to include “anyone providing personalized investment advice to retail clients.”

ING’s U.S. retirement division is attempting to pursue the small- and mid-sized defined contribution business through the banking channel and with a convenience payroll strategy.

More 401(k) participants are invested in single target-date, balanced fund or managed account advisory services, according to Vanguard’s “How America Saves 2011” report.

FINRA, the Securities and Exchange Commission and five state regulators from Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee announced Thursday that they have settled with Morgan Keegan over improper bond fund sales. As a result, Morgan Keegan will repay $200 million to investors in seven affiliated bond funds, including the Regions Morgan Keegan Select Intermediate Bond Fund.

I guess if you wait long enough, everything that once was will come back to us again. Even the bad stuff.

European clearinghouse LCH.Clearnet confirmed market talk that it wants to enter the market and service alternative trading platforms.

The hand-wringing over bank capital levels is pulling the spotlight off a bigger issue: effective oversight of the largest firms. In the wake of the crisis, regulators have forced banks to hold both a higher level and a higher quality of capital. They've created a tangle of complicated rules.

Responding to frustrated lawmakers who have yet to see the Obama administration give out any funds from its $30 billion small business lending program, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Wednesday the fault lay with the banking regulators.

You might think that doing the most productive thing at every given moment means that you should always be working or always doing something tangible that moves you closer to your goals. In reality, top achievers realize that there are numerous “things” they can do, that on the surface may not appear to move them closer to their goals, but in fact actually do.

While the international millionaire population’s wealth rose past pre-crisis levels in 2010, wealth managers need to prepare as that demographic gradually shifts to younger clients, according to a new report released on Wednesday.