Regulation

The three founders of Concord Equity Group Advisors, a firm LPL bought in 2011 after the RIA allegedly hid commissions from its institutional clients, settled with the SEC.

Concerns about an over-proliferation of ETFs, curiosity regarding how market demand will shape product innovation and questions about the direction of regulation are expected to punctuate discussions among those attending the 19th annual IMN global Indexing and ETF Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., that begins on Dec. 7.

An ex-Ameriprise franchise advisor was fined and suspended by FINRA for allegedly copying and pasting client signatures onto documents.

Supplying Chinese equity demand is not a simple process of deciding to launch an ETF product, providers say. There are a number of operational challenges that a firm must navigate to make the offering available, including managing a complex system of global exchange that involves precise timings and potential risks for clients.

Members of the Financial Planning Coalition fire back at lawmakers' call for the SEC to shuffle existing resources and tap a third party to increase examinations of advisors.

FINRA's CARDS proposal and the DoL's proposed fiduciary standard are cited as potential threats to the industry and investors.

Legal experts explain what made an advisor's arbitration victory against Morgan Stanley an unusual victory.

"He confessed that he had never invested my money. ... He had been lying to me all along," alleges a relative of the ex-advisor named in an SEC complaint.

ARCP filed the suit after RCS didn't complete an agreed purchase of shares in Cole Capital Partners and Cole Capital Advisors.

At a roundtable with federal and state regulators in Los Angeles this week, bankers offered some fresh ideas about possible regulatory relief. Here is a sampling.