Regulation

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined Merrill Lynch $500,000 for failing to file or promptly file certain required disclosures that the independent regulator argues resulted in hidden investment risks and possible harm to investors.

While legal experts still question the suit now taken up by Michigan, Oklahoma and South Carolina, their participation helps to build momentum in the legal fight over Dodd-Frank.

The U.S. Department of Labor's new regulations on 401(k) fee disclosures will serve as a wake-up call to plan sponsors and participants alike, once they stop hitting the snooze alarm, that is.

CEO John Stumpf offered candid views on monetary policy, the housing crisis, capital rules and even consumer protection during a panel discussion late Wednesday.

For those in the business of providing investment advice, the situation in the nation's capital is getting serious. With Washington gridlocked and steeped in uncertainty over a series of tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year, members of the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee met for a joint session to consider a critical and contentious facet of the tax code: capital gains.

Tim Pawlenty, the former Republican governor of Minnesota who criticized Wall Street while running for president last year, is joining the Financial Services Roundtable as president and chief executive officer.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has ordered five firms to pay $137,500 in fines for violations of trade reporting and other municipal securities rules.

The agency is targeting Summit Wealth Management, a registered investment advisor, and Angelo Alleca, who is charged with defrauding investors in what the SEC describes as a scheme that sought to conceal losses from trades that went bad through the creation of new private funds that were used to repay the original investors.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday charged a Chicago-based investment advisory firm with misleading investors in connection with a pair of private-equity offerings.

William Steward, a former accountant in product control for UBS AG, said he began looking into trades by Kweku Adoboli in August 2011 after receiving a report of a $3.57 billion discrepancy.