Compliance

What effect will a massive regulatory penalty have on future cases?

OppenheimerFunds is paying $100 million to settle a class-action lawsuit against two of its funds, the Oppenheimer Champion and the Oppenheimer Core Bond funds

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to require large traders to register and to share more information. The rule, yet another measure in response to the Flash Crash of May 2010, will take effect in 60 days, with traders given an additional two months to begin registering.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has a message for investors considering lesser-understood investments as an alternative to traditional fixed-income and equity investments: caveat emptor.

In a presidential race dominated by fights over the debt limit and job creation, it is unusual for a candidate to devote much attention to the impact of Dodd-Frank on small banks. But Newt Gingrich has rarely taken the conventional route.

On the one-year anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Act, Democratic lawmakers and key financial regulators called on Congress to resist Republican efforts to cut funding to implement and enforce the law's sweeping new regulations.

Broker Suspended for Excessive Trading in Mutual FundsBy Tom Steinert-ThrelkeldAn Arizona broker has been suspended for excessive trading in mutual funds.William Bailey, formerly a broker with the NEXT Financial Group in Mesa, Ariz., has been put on the sidelines for two years by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for switching customers in and out of mutual funds, for average of two months per investment.Bailey also engaged in discretionary trading without receiving prior written approval from his customers, the independent regulator of brokers said.Bailey recommended 484 short-term switch transactions in seven customer accounts, in 2006 and 2007, FINRA said. He “repeatdly sold mutual funds less than one year after purchasing them, and purchased new mutual funds with the proceeds,’’ the regulator said.With the frequent switches, his customers held their mutual funds for only 60 days, on average. The seven customers ranged in age from 66 to 93 and “were all unsophisticated investors,’’ FINRA said.Bailey could not be immediately reached for comment.FINRA said the customers paid more than $147,000 in sales charges and trading fees. Bailey received more than $120,000 in commissions, from those payments.Bailey, the regulator said, frequently traded in his customers' accounts without first obtaining their permission and improperly completed customer account forms to make it appear the customers approved of the trading. “Bailey rapidly switched his elderly and unsophisticated customers in and out of mutual funds with high costs, providing a benefit to Bailey instead of to his customers,’’ said Brad Bennett, FINRA Executive Vice President and Chief of Enforcement, In settling the case, Bailey neither admitted nor denied the charges, but consented to its findings, FINRA said.An Arizona broker has been suspended for excessive trading in mutual funds.

So far so good. That’s the word from the Council of Institutional Investors, a non-profit association of pension funds, retirement funds, endowments and foundations, regarding the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act passed by Congress and signed into law a year ago this week.

Implementing the Dodd-Frank Act was never going to be easy. While lawmakers generally acted like the fighting was finished when the law was signed on July 21, everyone knew it was just the beginning. At 2,300 pages, the law left most of the heavy lifting to some 30 different federal agencies, which had to write roughly 400 rules or studies, more than half of them not due until 2012 or later.

One year into the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, regulators need to work to ensure the future competitiveness of the U.S. market as the watershed legislation takes shape, industry officials said Wednesday.

While investors feel that some cautionary fences have gone up around the industry and some are more confident about working with financial advisers, the Dodd-Frank Act has not delivered substantial changes to the financial advisory industry since President Obama signed it into law almost a year ago.

While investors feel that some cautionary fences have gone up around the industry and some are more confident about working with financial advisors, the Dodd-Frank Act has not delivered substantial changes to the financial advisory industry since President Obama signed it into law almost a year ago.

One of Wells Fargo Advisors former brokers has won $6.83 million in an arbitration dispute after alleging he was wrongfully terminated and defamed by the firm after cooperating with a regulatory investigation.

A hedge fund services unit of Citigroup in Bermuda has become the latest in a line of third-party middle- and back-office service providers to be sued by the trustee liquidating Bernard Madoff's firm to recoup collect funds for disgruntled investors.

After months of complaints to Congress about overzealous examiners, frustrated community bankers took the matter one step further on Friday by pressing a House panel to pass legislation that would force regulators to be more lenient.

Bank of America subsidiary Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corp. has been ordered to pay hedge fund clients Rosen Capital Partners and Rosen Capital Institutional $63.7 million plus interest for an arbitration case dating back to the height of the financial crisis.

Did the Treasury Department act inappropriately when it sent a highly publicized — and very critical — comment letter to its own bureau objecting to a pending proposal? That's the question that was sparked in policy circles this week after the Obama administration blasted the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's preemption plan, arguing it violated the intent of the Dodd-Frank Act.

Depending on who you talk to, early August will either be a colossal financial disaster, or just another week of good beach weather. It comes down to whether you think that Congress will reach some sort of deal to raise the national debt limit.

Regulator changes exam process to spend more time at branches.

Our legal expert answers questions on company-issued tablet devices.