Compliance

BlackRock’s Fink Says Leveraged ETFs May ‘Blow Up’ Industry

Critics of the DoL's effort to extend fiduciary responsibilities to retirement plan advisors scored a victory this week when the agency disclosed that it is pushing back the rollout of its proposal until at least next year.

Advisors recount efforts to help troops, being rebuffed by the military and their hope for change.

Following an investigation by Financial Planning that showed a strong link between money woes and troops taking their own lives, a lawmaker pushes for additional funding to help them get comprehensive financial advice.

Morgan Stanley sued to recover more than $3.6 million it paid to defend a former broker who was imprisoned for his role in a kickback scheme.

Two issues that advisors have been closely watching are near the top of the commission’s list; namely, efforts to expand oversight of RIAs and enacting stabilizing reforms for money market funds.

The world’s biggest bond dealers, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley, failed to properly report trades to the industry’s price-tracking system more than 11,000 times. JPMorgan’s penalty: About three minutes of its annual profit.

The fund association maintains the industry is already heavily regulated, and in the event of failure a single fund can exit the market in an orderly process with little disruption, unlike banks.

'We were not as proactive as we should have been,' the CFP Board says, rolling out two initiatives aimed at resolving advisors' incorrect fee-only disclosures on its website.

FINRA CEO Richard Ketchum praised one SEC commissioner for floating a new proposal to beef up examinations of the RIA industry independently of Congress.

Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association president and chief executive officer Kenneth Bentsen criticized recent efforts by the Securities and Exchange Commission to further regulate the muni market, telling issuer officials on Tuesday that a new rule and initiative could undermine productive relationships between municipalities and underwriters.

Just a day after a top SEC official hinted at discord within the commission about an expansion of fiduciary rules to include brokers, a voting member of the agency spoke out in opposition to the proposal, at least until supporters can build a stronger case.

The contentious issue of harmonizing fiduciary responsibilities remains high on the agency's to-do list, though a timeframe for when a proposal might materialize is far from certain.

FINRA pledges more vigorous enforcement while at the same time dropping an information submission requirement for brokers from the controversial proposed data-collection program known as CARDS.

With Credit Suisse Group AG poised to become the first bank in more than a decade to admit to a crime in the U.S., regulators have been reaching out to some of the firm’s biggest business partners to avert a panic, according to a person briefed on those communications.

The board offered individual counsel to NAPFA members in violation of board rules, an ongoing conflict without imminent resolution.

Democratic lawmakers on the Senate Banking Committee sounded off against bipartisan legislation to overhaul the mortgage finance system on Thursday, opposition that likely all but ruins the bill's chances of making it to the chamber floor this year.

Social media isn't verboten, but it's crucial that planners know the rules.

The House Ways and Means Committee may have broken the law when it publicly disclosed confidential taxpayer information in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder.

Judge tells board to produce documents, denies Camardas their request for sanctions; CFP Board sends documents to plaintiffs.