Practice

Commission says FINRA is Congress’ best bet for policing advisors.

UBS plans to hold its branch managers and complex directors to stricter standards for individual measurements for their bonuses in the coming year.

A greater number of U.S. households are at risk of falling short of money in retirement because of the housing and financial crisis, according to a report by EBRI.

WASHINGTON — The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has censured and fined Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. $500,000 for failing to establish and maintain written supervisory procedures to ensure that its representatives considered customers’ state income-tax benefits in their suitability analyses of 529 college saving plans.

Four came from UBS, two from independent shop Ingalls & Snyder, one from Chase Investment Services.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has fined BNY Mellon $24 million and has banned a former manager of institutional trading at Mellon Securities from associating with any broker-dealer firm after carrying out what it called an “eight-year best execution fraud.”

On Wednesday The Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund and the Association of Small Foundations announced a new white paper titled “The Best of Both Worlds: Using Private Foundations and Donor-Advised Funds” to inform donors and advisors about how these two giving vehicles complement each other.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has censured and fined Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. $500,000 for failing to establish and maintain written supervisory procedures to ensure that its representatives considered customers’ state income-tax benefits in their suitability analyses of 529 college saving plans.

Most regulations already cover financial planning activities, but designations need another look.

Estate tax reform in 2010 was marked by significant disagreement from both the House and Senate on whether any changes should be temporary or permanent.