Compliance

This week's notable news from the asset management industry includes a recent SEC roundtable meeting where some participants discussed the potential "unintended consequences" of universal proxy ballots, global ETP flows in February reached a record $50 billion, the fastest start to any year on record, and leadership at Vanguard were tasked with new roles within the firm.

F-Squared Investments, which last year admitted to misleading investors about its performance, has eliminated about 25% of its staff, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

The IRS is reminding taxpayers who turned 70-1/2 during 2014 that they most likely need to start taking required minimum distributions from their IRAs and other retirement plans by April 1.

A FINRA arbitration panel also orders the expungement of the advisor's termination records.

As fiduciary debate heats up, Garrett takes advantage of presidential spotlight to tell advisors to sign a fiduciary pledge.

The wealth manager was ordered to pay back Wells Fargo, while he still faces seven client complaints coinciding with UBS' Puerto Rico bond troubles.

An advisor's initial instinct when notified of a pending examination may be to worry or be nervous. We recommend that you take fear out of this process, though. Once you receive notification of a regulatory examination, stay calm and follow these seven steps.

The IRS issued a consumer alert warning taxpayers to beware of tax preparers who tell clients to give them their health insurance paymen

The Senate Finance Committee heard testimony about the increasing prevalence of tax scams and identity theft, with senior citizens finding themselves especially vulnerable to callers impersonating IRS employees.

Thomas Buck and his daughter, an NFL cheerleader, left the firm for unknown reasons.

A wealth manager has been hit with 14 customer disputes since entering the industry in 2005, FINRA records show.

The finance industry faces a steep, uphill battle in trying to convince the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that the long-standing use of arbitration agreements is beneficial for consumers.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's second arbitration study indicates the bureau's intent to regulate financial institutions' inclusion of clauses that prevent customers from suing.

Differences are to be expected, but the gaps were large enough to worry analysts. The big question now for JPM is whether the results could affect its comprehensive capital analysis and review due out later today.

Client behaviors, preferences and expectations have undergone some big changes. Old ways of engaging with prospects and clients fall flat in this new world. That's why reinventing their client engagement models - and the supporting business processes - must be a high priority for asset management and wealth advisory firms.

As federal regulators mull rules to extend anti-money laundering requirements to advisors, industry members might want to act on their own to set up formal programs to screen for suspicious activity.

The review is likely to start with broker-dealers and their platforms; It will coincide with a second, more targeted phase of the commission's cybersecurity sweep.

Community and regional banks should be subjected to simpler rules than very large banks, the chairman and CEO of the Buffalo, N.Y., company said. In fact, size is the wrong determinant for risk-based regulation, he said.

The SEC acknowledges that cybersecurity requirements vary from one practice to the next, but insists that the tone from the top is critical.

This week's items of note includes a Fed warning on potential misperceptions of liquidity with ETFs, a report on clients defecting at an unprecedented rate from Pimco's developing-nation mutual funds, a study showing underlying investment fees have declined at small retirement plans, and exchange operator BATS naming a new CEO.