Practice

Much as we'd like to move along to something else, we're forced by current events to end the year with yet another discussion of compliance jobs. One year ago, we had Eliot Spitzer to thank for moving the noble profession of compliance professional out of the wings and directly onto center stage. Here we go again.

Franklin Templeton Investments filed "false and misleading statements" with the Securities and Exchange Commission by not admitting to wrongdoing in settling its mutual fund case, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin has charged.

The NASD has fined Citigroup Global Markets $250,000 for distributing inappropriate hedge fund sales literature. The penalty marks the agency's heftiest fine for abusive hedge fund sales practices by broker/dealers.

The Securities and Exchange Commission reportedly fears that investment companies may have paid retirement-plan consultants in order to steer business their way. A probe that began last December looking into possible conflicts of interest in the financial-services industry has uncovered troubling evidence of improper payments to the pension planners, according to the SEC.

It's official. In a highly anticipated move, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted 3-2 in favor of requiring hedge fund managers to register as investment advisors with the agency last week.

Larry Lasser: $78 million.

NEW YORK -- Some fund investors have lost that loving feeling.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's ban on funds directing trades to brokers in exchange for shelf space, or directed brokerage, has mutual fund companies scurrying for new ways to compensate distributors.

Who says there is no such thing as a free lunch? While regulators are pushing to clean up the fund industry, some short-term shareholders are continuing to eat away at returns of other investors by driving up costs and benefiting from an inefficient system.

Marsh & McLennan is under the regulatory gun again, and although the new probe is not related to business at its mutual fund unit, Putnam Investments is sure to suffer some fallout, industry experts say.