Regulation

A lawyer representing a former UBS investor said he proved to FINRA arbitrators that his client would have been much better off simply putting her money into the stock market.

Thirty advisors recruited by LPL Financial from Ameriprise had objected to a court order that they turn over their cell phones, computers and other devices to be searched by a third-party forensic examiner.

The proposal is part of what SEC Chairman Paul Atkins calls his "Make IPOs Great Again" agenda.

The policy was one of the signature efforts of Gary Gensler's leadership of the SEC, requiring companies to report material risks to their business due to a changing climate.

As judges have shown in other recent cases involving UBS and Stifel, firms have a high bar to clear if they want an arbitration award vacated.

A federal judge finds that the embattled brokerage Alpine Securities' argument that FINRA should answer to the federal executive branch amounts to " wishful thinking" that "collapses under the weight of spiraling aspiration."

The firms' collaboration shines a light on how the wealth management business works today and how it is evolving, as advisors weigh independence against the risks of "poking the bear" when they leave.

Court decisions vacated the Biden administration's DOL rule — but that didn't make rollover rules easy, experts say. Firms that get compliance right will have an edge in tapping a trillion-dollar-plus market.

David Woodcock is set to take the job as SEC leadership directs staff to focus on insider trading, accounting fraud cases, market manipulation and breach of fiduciary duty by investment advisors.

SEC regulators instead take aim at their predecessors in the Biden Administration, saying the outsized fines were partly the result of a desire to "pursue media headlines and run up numbers."