Regulation

A key point of contention in the Senate regulatory reform bill comes down to a critical question: How much flexibility should the government have when a systemically important firm falters?

Victory Capital Management, the asset management arm of KeyCorp's KeyBank, says it is positioned to quickly expand the assets it manages in collective investment trusts, or CITs, for defined contribution plans, but the effort will not lack challenges.

ING plans to launch a registered indexed annuity called Select Multi-Index next month and is voluntarily registering it with the Securities and Exchange Commission in anticipation of Rule 151A.

A key banking industry argument against the creation of a consumer protection agency — that the new division would write rules that conflict with safety and soundness standards — is shaky.

Thanks to their robust disclosure policies, mutual fund companies are generally well-protected against investor lawsuits, but that won't stop lawyers from trying anyway.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is concerned that some mutual funds and actively managed and leveraged ETFs, in particular, may be investing too heavily in swaps and derivatives. If the staff determines that the investments are inconsistent with the leverage, concentration and diversification provisions of the Investment Company Act, it will cease granting exemptions going forward. Funds that already received exemptions would not be impacted, the SEC said.

Even though Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd introduced his financial regulatory reform bill earlier this month without a key provision on the fiduciary standard, some industry observers who support a more stringent standard are cautiously optimistic that tighter reforms will be implemented.

Even though Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, introduced his financial regulatory reform bill earlier this month without a key provision on the fiduciary standard, some industry observers who support a more stringent standard are cautiously optimistic that tighter reforms will be implemented.

The Obama administration plans to announce Friday that it is revamping its foreclosure prevention plan to encourage lenders to offer principal write downs to troubled borrowers.

FINRA has flexed its enforcement muscle several times in recent days but there is still a high level of anticipation to see more regulatory oversight.