Regulation

The review is likely to start with broker-dealers and their platforms; It will coincide with a second, more targeted phase of the commission's cybersecurity sweep.

Community and regional banks should be subjected to simpler rules than very large banks, the chairman and CEO of the Buffalo, N.Y., company said. In fact, size is the wrong determinant for risk-based regulation, he said.

The SEC acknowledges that cybersecurity requirements vary from one practice to the next, but insists that the tone from the top is critical.

This week's items of note includes a Fed warning on potential misperceptions of liquidity with ETFs, a report on clients defecting at an unprecedented rate from Pimco's developing-nation mutual funds, a study showing underlying investment fees have declined at small retirement plans, and exchange operator BATS naming a new CEO.

"I live in fear, quite honestly, of FINRA assuming the responsibility of examining investment advisors," a former SEC attorney told advisors at the Investment Adviser Association regulatory and compliance conference.

The firm agreed to pay $225,000 for failing to adequately supervise its registered representatives, one of whom allegedly bilked elderly clients of over $300,000.

The IRS is continuing its enforcement push against refund fraud and identity theft, and today announced the top ten identity theft prosecutions for fiscal year 2014.

Neil Hennessy says he has managed to secure loyalty and productivity from every employee by providing creature comforts while also holding them to strict performance standards.

The Institute for the Fiduciary Standard is asking for input from the industry in its effort to help consumers distinguish between fiduciary advisors and "product sellers."

Firms and their advisors are paying increasing attention to the rising threat of cybercrime.