Compliance

Nearly three years since the financial crisis began, lawmakers appear consumed again with a very precrisis topic: Is overregulation driving financial institutions overseas?

After trading accusations in an arbitration dispute, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has been ordered to pay one of its former financial advisers $1.55 million in compensatory damages and expunge his Form U5.

While recent legislation has sparked debate about suitability versus fiduciary standards, a majority of investors do not understand the difference between the two, a survey by J.D. Power and Associates found.

Two years after proposing rules to avert misuse of client assets on the scale of the Madoff ponzi scheme, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed amendments that would strengthen oversight of broker-dealer audits.

Two years after proposing rules to avert misuse of client assets on the scale of the Madoff ponzi scheme, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed amendments that would strengthen oversight of broker-dealer audits.

The question of whether some banks are still "too big to fail" will not be settled until the next crisis. That, in a nutshell, was the takeaway from a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Tuesday, where lawmakers fought with each other over whether the Dodd-Frank Act adequately addressed the problem.

When Congress threatened to cap the interchange fees that banks collect on debit card transactions, the industry argued that such a move would force it to kill off its own debit rewards programs. As it turns out, the demise of those programs might inconvenience consumers but it is unlikely to deal banks much of a financial blow.

The Supreme Court has ruled 5-4 that Janus Capital Group is not liable for false statements in a prospectus for the Janus Investment Fund made at the time of the 2003 market-timing scandal.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon's scolding of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke had broad support among bankers reeling from a re-defeat on the Durbin amendment and renewed anxieties about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. With "300 rules coming," as Dimon lamented, there are plenty of things for bankers to hate.

Bankers lost the Senate fight over interchange fees, but they are hoping the vote will help convince the Federal Reserve Board to raise its proposed 12-cent cap.

Investors and regulators aren't the only ones wanting to know how a fund will mitigate its operational risk.

Two former Morgan Stanley Smith Barney brokers have been ordered to pay about $4.28 million plus interest to their former employer for the breach of promissory notes and other agreements.

The Treasury Department has swapped the carrot for the stick for three of the largest participants in the administration's foreclosure prevention program.

Although banks failed in their attempt to convince Congress to delay an interchange fee cap for debit cards, the financial services industry is not giving up, just changing venues.

Banks appeared to be gaining the upper hand in their battle against retailers to delay pending interchange fee caps, but the fight was far from over.

A former employee pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to helping Bernie Madoff create false records for investors.

ICI Urges DOL to Make Electronic Delivery Default for 401(k)s

With implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act about to shower hundreds of new rules on capital markets, it's easy for other legislation to take on a cloak of invisibility.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has adopted rules that could reward individuals who blow the whistle on illegal activity in securities markets, with bounties on successful prosecutions.

The Los Angeles City Council two weeks ago passed a $6.9 billion budget. The council closed a $336-million revenue shortfall by cutting police overtime pay and some fire engine teams.