Regulation

The $10 million is part of a settlement announced Thursday with the SEC, which charged the company with "failing to reasonably supervise its registered representatives" when the Reserve Yield Plus Fund saw the value of its shares fall below $1 in the midst of the credit crisis erupting at the time.

International regulators worked hard, agreed in December to impose tough standards and then gave bankers eight years to meet them. But the reality is something much less concrete.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission both say they lack the resources to implement the responsibilities thrust upon them by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act. Here are the numbers. You judge how they stack up.

Firms have been tracking the adjusted cost basis of the equities and mutual funds bought and sold by investors for years. The challenge now is how best to capture this data and accurately report it to the IRS and investors.

The Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday said it would start the process of setting rules for how security-based swap execution facilities will operate and how registration of such facilities will work.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this out: Without a new tax on the securities industry, there won’t be reform of same.

If only the administration's task in fixing housing finance was as easy as choosing plan A or plan B. Instead, part of the Treasury Department's challenge is just sifting through all the ideas.

Now that the SEC has thrown down the gauntlet on reform of the securities industry, what can independent broker-dealers and advisors expect to happen next? A lot of studies. And more rules.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved an all-public panel option for FINRA arbitrations. But that could result in more costs for all sides to pay for expert witnesses, one expert said.

PHOENIX-- Who will create and enforce a new, uniform fiduciary standard for not just brokers, but investment advisors, as well?