Regulation

You weathered the credit crisis. You got through the Flash Crash. You are watching Europe (and the U.S.) struggle to make sure its debt doesn't implode from the global economic downturn. So you're ready for the next big threat to financial markets, right?

In testimony before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, the Fed chairman also highlights lawmakers' role in strengthening U.S. economy.

As the debate over regulatory reforms in the RIA sector has resurfaced on Capitol Hill, industry groups on both sides of the issue are making their case to lawmakers and staffers in the hopes of either advancing or derailing legislation that would establish a self-regulatory organization to oversee RIAs.

In testimony before members of a House committee on Wednesday, Richard Ketchum, the chairman and CEO of FINRA, offered an enthusiastic endorsement of a legislative proposal to establish a self-regulatory organization to oversee RIAs.

"I would first like to fully fund the SEC," Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the ranking member of the Financial Services Committee, said at a hearing this morning considering the Bachus bill. "The very fact that we're considering an SRO argues strongly against the inadequate funding this Congress has given the SEC."

On June 6, 2012, The Securities and Exchange Commission charged OppenheimerFunds Inc. and its sales and distribution arm with making misleading statements about two of its mutual funds struggling in the midst of the credit crisis in late 2008.

Ninety-eight percent of advisers expressed concern that the estimated SRO membership fees would have a financial impact on their ability to run their firm. Of the 98%, 69% said the impact would be categorized as “severe.”

As lawmakers take up legislation that would reshape the regulatory landscape for retail investment advisers, industry groups are poised to present sharply contrasting visions for where expanded oversight authority should be housed.

After more than two decades urging the SEC to increase regulatory oversight of financial advisors, Barbara Roper stunned many on both sides of the debate by declaring herself open to the prospect of regulation coming from a self regulatory organization, such as FINRA.

Marie Chandoha, president of Charles Schwab Investment Management, told the SEC that a new study on money-market funds was “troubling” because it wrongly concludes that the funds are dangerously susceptible to runs and presumes more regulation is needed.