Practice

Susan Markel, chief accountant for the Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement division, will leave the agency in January after 14 years of service to become a managing director in the corporate investigations practice of AlixPartners LLP, a global business advisory firm.

Thanks to an independent effort by New York insurance regulators, MetLife expects to reduce by about $1.8 billion, or more than 30%, the amount it must post to back up its variable annuity living benefit guarantees, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The Securities and Exchange Commission may bring enforcement action against the Reserve Management Company and its managers for possible violations of federal securities laws.Reserve Management president Bruce Bent and his two sons Bruce Bent II and Arthur Bent III, who are senior executives at the firm, have said they will cooperate with an SEC investigation, but "expect to defend vigorously against the allegations."The Reserve's Primary Fund nearly created a panic in mid September when it announced that it "broke the buck," falling below the implied guarantee of $1 per share. Billions of dollars in assets flew out of other money market mutual funds in the following days, but money fund assets have since recovered at most shops, in some cases soaring.Since then, virtually all of Reserve's funds have frozen withdrawals and announced plans to liquidate.Investment firm Ameriprise Financial Inc. is suing the Reserve in federal court for allegedly telling some of its investors in advance that it was in danger of breaking the buck.A few weeks ago, Reserve admitted it gave inaccurate information to investors, saying the Primary fund actually broke the buck five hours earlier than initially reported.

Fidelity Investments has released New Year’s retirement savings resolutions for people in three different age brackets—those 25-35 who are just getting started; those 36-54 who are in the midst, or should be in the midst, of saving; and those 55 and older, who are heading into retirement.

Class-action lawsuits are projected to reach 267 this year, a 37% increase from 2007 and the largest annual total since 2002, according to NERA Economic Consulting, which attributes the sharp rise to the credit crisis.

Relief for retired seniors may come too late if the Treasury Department doesn’t change the rules on mandatory withdrawals from 401(k) plans this year.

In a speech this week at the National Press Club in Washington, Investment Company Institute President Paul Schott Stevens reported that only 3% of 401(k) plan participants stopped contributing to their plans in the first 10 months of 2008, despite a staggering 40% decline in the stock market. The ICI based its figures on an analysis of the records of 22.5 million plan participants.

Former hedge fund Bayou Management executive Samuel Israel III was ordered on Friday to undergo medical and psychological tests at the Devens Federal Medical Center prison in Massachusetts in the last week of December. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas ordered the tests to determine whether Israel is competent to have pled guilty to bail jumping.

One-quarter of 401(k) participants have money invested in a lifecycle fund, but, on average, only 7% of DC plan assets are invested in such funds, according to a joint report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute and Investment Company Institute.

President-elect Barack Obama has named regulatory veteran Mary Schapiro to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission after he takes office next month.