Regulation

FINRA has reconstituted its board of governors, adding three new members and re-appointing three others.

Money-market fund companies obtained permission to support 155 of their funds during the financial turmoil of 2007 and 2008, and six more funds got the same go- ahead since the crisis, according to a list provided to Congress by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Market timing and late trading scandals in 2003 led to a substantially more demanding regulatory environment. This has included the adoption of a rule requiring funds to designate a compliance officer and implement a comprehensive program for complying with federal laws and regulations on investment fund operations.

The last decade has been rough for the mutual fund industry. This means boards of directors must have the tools for overseeing compliance and take on the oversight.

On August 10, 2012, The Securities and Exchange Commission Friday charged a Florida-based investment manager and his firm for failing to provide SEC examiners with records of a mutual fund advisory business that invested in NASCAR-related stocks.

FINRA levied almost $40 million in fines in the first half of the year and will likely doll out as much or more through the end of the year.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board released a proposal Thursday aimed at increasing protection for retail investors who trade municipal bonds online.

A key government witness against three former UBS AG municipal-bond executives in a bid-rigging trial called one of the defendants an "idiot" and was asked today whether he disliked him so much that he put photos of tortured cats on his desk.

On August 8, 2012, Mary Schapiro, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, is looking to turn $2.6 trillion money-market mutual-fund industry on its head.

A former UBS AG municipal-bond executive told an ex-colleague to forget about a transaction as they discussed how to handle an expanding government probe of bond big rigging, the second man testified at trial.