Practice

Congress is scheduled to return Thursday, with one of its top priorities a deal to avert the December 31 “fiscal cliff” deadline of looming tax increases and automatic spending cuts, but it will need to work quickly or reach some type of interim agreement.

Small businesses may be facing a variety of regulatory changes after January 1.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued an Investor Bulletin to help purchasers of municipal bonds better assess the bonds’ credit risks.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has ordered five firms to pay $4.48 million for unfairly using bond proceeds to pay reimburse themselves for membership fees they paid to the California Public Securities Association, a lobbying group.

The Investment Company Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce today filed a notice of appeal of a recent ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia upholding the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s rule requiring mutual funds with commodities investments to register with the agency.

Trades were placed one to two days after the orders arrived by fax or mail, causing some customers to get inferior prices from late 2003 until June 2011, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said in a statement.

Base salaries for hedge fund and mutual fund managers are projected to increase 3.5% and incentive pay is projected to rise by 0-10% from 2011 to 2012, according to a new study from Greenwich Associates and Johnson Associates.

Wealthy Americans say growing the economy matters more in the coming year than slashing federal spending.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has ordered Pruco Securities, a securities broker-dealer owned by Prudential Financial, to pay more than $10.7 million to customers who placed mutual fund orders via facsimile or mail and received an inferior price for their shares.

Defined contribution plan sponsors were hit with a number of initiatives this year including fulfilling the Department of Labor’s fee requirements and weighing the pros and cons of retirement income products.