Regulation

The Senate Finance Committee's top two tax writers asked their 98 colleagues on Thursday to submit detailed proposals justifying which tax breaks should be kept in the code as they move forward on comprehensive tax reform.

OppenheimerFunds, the U.S. investment fund that manages about $208 billion, has sued Doux SA in New York, claiming it’s owed almost $74 million by the French poultry producer placed under administration.

A new FINRA rule aims to make information on brokers’ disciplinary actions more available and searchable.

FINRA has censured Securities America and fined it $100,000 for making inaccurate and misleading statements to clients via emails.

“It's a pretty big issue for us,” said Daniel Sibears, FINRA executive vice president for member regulation. “There are many dozens of complaints where there's been [a] compromise of customer information, particularly information that is needed to get into online accounts and to execute transactions and move money.”

FINRA's social media spot check notification last week shouldn't come as a terrible surprise to the industry. The announcement underscores the need for firms to thoughtfully develop clear policies to supervise and manage usage, content and engagement.

A South Florida man charged with running a $13.6 million scam involving nonexistent shares in companies including Facebook and Groupon was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Franklin Buys Remaining Stake in Alt Shop

Two U.S. Senate aides nominated to join the Securities and Exchange Commission will get a confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee on June 27, according to a Senate announcement today.

When advisors are asked to describe their compensation on the FPA website, they can choose to check one of four options: fee-only, commission-only, a combination of fee and commission, or salary. But as one prominent advisor recently learned, those options are dangerously limited, given the industry’s often complex business models -- and the answers that planners select can contain minefields for the advisors, their firms and their clients.