Regulation

The decision by the Democratic Senator from Connecticut has frustrated investor groups who want the more stringent fiduciary standard to be applied to brokers as well as to financial planners who already abide by the rule.

Hidden, high 401(k) fees that do not decrease commensurately as plan balances rise are individually costing investors hundreds of thousands of dollars over a lifetime of saving, while enriching asset managers with billions.

The SPARK Institute has released the “Universal Small Employer Retirement Savings Program” report, in which it explains how universal plans would be less expensive and easier than automatic IRAs.

Proposed legislation by the Securities and Exchange Commission to have single family offices register as investment advisors is part of the financial regulatory reform negotiations currently being debated in the Senate.

Proposed new hedge fund rules in Europe would limit access to the market for fund managers and custodian banks outside the EU, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has argued. Nonetheless, the European Commission is pressing ahead with the new rules.

The Internal Revenue Service is collecting information on approximately 20 Swiss banks, according a letter from UBS, one of the main banks it has been investigating.

Firms are grappling with how to best use the technology while not running afoul of regulators.

Reserve Management submitted court documents Thursday denying that it, founder Bruce Bent or his son Bruce Bent II intentionally tried to mislead investors in the flagship $62 billion Reserve Primary Fund into believing the now-defunct fund that broke the buck was solvent.

A bill to end private lenders' role in government guaranteed student lending — assumed to be on its way to quick enactment — has suddenly become a hotly contested debate.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd's decision to try to negotiate a bipartisan regulatory reform deal with Republican Sen. Bob Corker was a mistake.