Practice

FINRA fined Jefferies & Co. $1.5 million, ordered the investment bank to repay $425,000 in ill-gotten commissions and fees and suspended a pair of its brokers for failing to disclose additional compensation to institutional clients and other conflicts of interest related to shady sales of auction rate securities between August 2007 and March 2008.

Four in 10 working Americans say they will never be able to afford to retire, a Harris Interactive survey of 1,005 adults for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants found.

AXA Equitable has launched two new “virtual consultation” calculators accompanied with videos of licensed and experienced financial consultants to help individuals determine how much life insurance they may need and how long their retirement savings will last.

Wealthy women want three things from their financial advisors: honesty, trustworthiness, and transparency, according to “Wealthy Women Investors,” a Spectrem eZine report released on Thursday.

Despite the first quarter being a slower time for charitable giving, Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund announced on Thursday that it had its strongest first quarter in its 20-year history.

Investors under the age of 46 (“Gen X/Y”) have become more optimistic about investing, but those ages 46 to 64 (“Boomers”) are holding back, according to the latest MFS Investing Sentiment Survey.

The National Association for the Self-Employed advised small business owners who have put off doing their tax returns not to panic.

Small business owners reported an increase in hiring, but a decrease in optimism last month, according to a new survey by the National Federation of Independent Business.

President Obama announced the framework of a plan Wednesday to shrink the deficit $4 trillion over 12 years, and urged House and Senate leaders to appoint teams to negotiate a final bipartisan plan by the end of June.

Success of the Office of Financial Research is critical to curbing TBTF, and if it flops, the next set of solutions may be much harsher than living wills and orderly liquidation authority.