Compliance

The SEC has obtained a $1.1 million settlement from Portland, Ore., based planner Christopher Keil Hicks and two of his companies on charges they failed to disclose a revenue-sharing agreement and other conflicts with his clients.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has settled an administrative proceeding against two Portland, Oregon-based investment advisory firms regarding their failure to disclose a revenue-sharing agreement and other potential conflicts of interest to clients.

The SEC filed a cease-and-desist order against noted investment advisor and radio personality Ray Lucia, alleging a series of misleading statements in retirement-strategy seminars plugging Lucia's "buckets of money" strategy.

Stephen Luparello, vice chairman at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, is leaving after more than 16 years to take a job at a Washington law firm, the brokerage industry's self-regulator said in a statement.

Despite improved efficiencies and reduced costs, the increased complexity of service provider arrangements has made it more difficult for plan sponsors and ERISA fiduciaries to understand how and how much compensation should be paid to service providers.

After more than a year of battling it out in Washington, D.C., and around the country, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro called off her proposed second round of reform for money market mutual funds.

The Internal Revenue Service's list of the most common errors it sees from taxpayers and paid preparers on tax returns is a sobering reminder that nobody is perfect. Here's what the IRS had to do to fix the most prevalent mistakes.

Who would've thunk it?

Many Wall Street experts think that the JOBS Act will fundamentally change the hedge fund industry. But will it lead to the consolidation of existing funds and the creation of others?

Programs to strengthen bank liquidity, facilitate credit and buy mortgages were good moves, though it is hard to say how much worse things would have been in their absence, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke said at the Jackson Hole summit.

Romney wants to make it easier for Congress to veto the proposals from regulators, and he vows to put a cap on new regulations. Both plans could have a big impact on financial regulation.

Our legal analyst explores one state's new rules on employment agreements.

Suitability infractions were the most common source of FINRA's disciplinary actions

In a litigious era, planners need to be able to prove that they proceeded prudently.

Instead of fighting against bad proposals, shouldn't the RIA community be proposing better alternatives?

The two Republican members of the Securities and Exchange Commission said they are not opposed to further reform of the money fund industry, but that changes advocated by Chairman Mary Schapiro "were not supported by the requisite data and analysis.''

Late on the evening of August 23 Chairman Mary L. Schapiro decided to punt on the biggest issue of the year for the investment fund industry.

Who would've thunk it?

She said, he said. A pair of financial planning organizations are dueling over designations.

The horserace politics of the run-up to the November presidential election may be the order of the day, but just around the corner in Washington lurk what promise to be contentious debates over fiscal issues of major significance for financial advisors and their clients.