Regulation

A new rule proposed by FINRA to help carrying and clearing firms transfer customer accounts if they go bust will be too cumbersome and costly to follow.

The Securities and Exchange Commission brought civil charges Friday against former Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd, 53, former Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron, 68, and four other ex-officers. The charges were brought in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

FINRA hit Wells Fargo Investments with a $2 million fine and ordered the firm to pay restitution for making unsuitable sales of reverse convertibles to elderly clients and for not providing breakpoints on unit investment trust sales to eligible customers.

This may feel like the time to be generous, but registered broker-dealers should be extra cautious when giving gifts. Here are 13 ways that registered broker-dealers can run afoul of the rules during the holiday season.

More than 80% of investment advisors would prefer to pay user fees to fund greater SEC oversight than to be overseen by a self-regulatory organization, a major new study found.

Before the Department of Labor rewrites its proposal to redefine fiduciary responsibility — a new proposal is expected in the first half of 2012 — there are three changes SIFMA would like to see in the rulemaking process.

FINRA also orders the firm to make restitution for not providing breakpoints on unit investment trust sales and for unsuitable sales of reverse convertibles to older customers.

Joe Russo has been elected chair of the Financial Services Institute’s 2012 Board. Russo, founder of Advantage Financial Group, is the first financial advisor to chair the board.

The FBI said it had 2,500 active corporate and securities fraud investigations under way at the end of its 2011 fiscal year.

PHOENIX-A member of the President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers as the mortgage-led global credit crisis erupted said that the last big weapon in the Federal Reserve Board's arsenal to create strong growth is to avoid "tinkering around the edges" of the economy and aggressively reset expectations.