Regulation

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While the coming fiscal debate looms in the background -- along with probable accompanying market volatility -- there are a number of other possible legislative and regulatory items that also affect the insurance and advisory industry.

An ex-Merrill Lynch advisor and his client face federal charges after allegedly setting up a network of offshore accounts to conceal an insider trading scheme.

The CFP Board extended a broad amnesty to hundreds of advisors who had been breaking its rules by calling themselves fee-only on the board’s website. The surprise move prompted calls for the board to reconsider and possibly rescind recent sanctions of other CFP holders for similar transgressions.

A complaint filed by the SEC accuses a former Merrill Lynch advisor and his client of making insider trades and hiding profits in offshore accounts.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., Barclays Plc, Credit Suisse Group AG and 10 other international lenders were sued by a U.S. credit union regulator alleging they illegally manipulated benchmark Libor interest rates.

During the crisis of 2008, service providers faced an environment in which they saw their clients' assets decline sharply. After the dust settled, a new order was born with clients demanding more for less with increasing scrutiny as regulators ramped up their efforts.

The FINRA Investor Education Foundation issued a new research report-Financial Fraud and Fraud Susceptibility in the United States-which reveals that over 80% of respondents have been solicited to participate in potentially fraudulent schemes, and over 40% of those surveyed cannot identify some classic red flags of fraud.

The CFP Board’s strategy of punishing some certificate holders over compensation disclosure issues in what critics charge is an arbitrary manner threatens the future of the CFP designation, according to one of the early leaders of the board who also chaired its disciplinary commission.

Executives at mutual fund companies, asset management companies and support providers rated client reporting--which included any reporting that is created for the purpose of distribution to clients--as their top challenge followed closely by risk management in Money Management Executive's third annual Operations Survey.