Regulation

Fidelity Investments has closed off one of its funds to new investors.

It all started with Goldman Sachs, which began publishing the daily market value of the assets held in its money market mutual funds in the United States on January 9.

Wealth manager Peter J. Eichler Jr., once had more than $10 billion in assets under management. Following his RIA’s bankruptcy filing in November, however, the SEC has filed a lawsuit against Eichler and Aletheia Research and Management for alleged securities fraud and for allegedly violating fiduciary duties to clients and to the funds Aletheia managed.

As regulators continue their work implementing the numerous provisions of the Dodd-Frank financial reform act, a leading Wall Street trade group is hoping that 2013 will see movement on the controversial effort to implement a uniform fiduciary duty for investment advisors and broker-dealers when providing personalized advice to retail clients.

A Securities and Exchange Commission member said Wednesday that many improvements to the municipal securities market can be made by the SEC without seeking regulatory authority over municipal issuers from Congress.

A rise in schemes targeting advisors has prompted the SEC to seek new protections. But it’s not clear how far the proposed rules would go.

A proposal to tighten regulation of foreign banks in the U.S. would also significantly expand the central bank's oversight of foreign broker-dealers, effectively snatching supervisory responsibility from the SEC.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has tapped David Grim for the No. 2 spot in the Division of Investment Management, the bureau that oversees federally registered investment advisors.

The TCW Group has appointed Meredith Jackson as General Counsel, effective January 15.

The collective voice of independent financial advisors just got a little bit louder.