Regulation

BOSTON -- The Securities and Exchange Commission is about to get a lot bigger and tougher, once Congress approves significant funding increases in its financial reform legislation. The soon-to-be-bulked-up agency is also planning to restructure its resources to place heavy emphasis on inspections, examinations and prosecuting high-profile cases.

The uncertainty and confusion around the fiduciary standard has jolted the financial services industry leading hundreds to pack the rooms at FINRA’s annual conference in Baltimore.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has appointed Brian T. Croteau as its deputy chief accountant for the Professional Practice Group in the SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant.

The Internal Revenue Service plans to ask issuers of negotiated Build America Bond transactions, in a revised “compliance-check questionnaire,” if any investors who bought their bonds in the primary market paid more than the price the bonds were initially offered at.

The Obama administration continued to push its priorities Thursday on what provisions should be included in the final regulatory reform bill.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday unanimously approved amendments to its Rule 15c2-12 on disclosure that, like the ones proposed in July, will increase the quantity and timeliness of municipal issuers’ continuing disclosures.

Accounting standard-setters issued new rules Wednesday that could have profound effects, not just on how assets and liabilities get valued but on how banks do business.

New system would allow regulators to better track market trades.

The Internal Revenue Service plans to audit one of every two Build America Bond transactions, Steve Chamberlin, a senior manager in the IRS’ tax-exempt bond office, said during a teleconference Tuesday sponsored by the National Association of Bond Lawyers.

Insurers watch as accounting standard setters prepare to issue new rules that could have profound effects on their business.