Compliance

“Something has gone very wrong in Washington,” said Tom Giachetti of Stark & Stark Attorneys at Law. “You cannot catch criminals through more regulation. Investment advisors will be burdened with more costs and it’s not protecting the investing public. This is a knee jerk reaction to Bernie Madoff.”

The $10 million is part of a settlement announced Thursday with the SEC, which charged the company with "failing to reasonably supervise its registered representatives" when the Reserve Yield Plus Fund saw the value of its shares fall below $1 in the midst of the credit crisis erupting at the time.

International regulators worked hard, agreed in December to impose tough standards and then gave bankers eight years to meet them. But the reality is something much less concrete.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission both say they lack the resources to implement the responsibilities thrust upon them by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act. Here are the numbers. You judge how they stack up.

Firms have been tracking the adjusted cost basis of the equities and mutual funds bought and sold by investors for years. The challenge now is how best to capture this data and accurately report it to the IRS and investors.

The Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday said it would start the process of setting rules for how security-based swap execution facilities will operate and how registration of such facilities will work.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this out: Without a new tax on the securities industry, there won’t be reform of same.

If only the administration's task in fixing housing finance was as easy as choosing plan A or plan B. Instead, part of the Treasury Department's challenge is just sifting through all the ideas.

Now that the SEC has thrown down the gauntlet on reform of the securities industry, what can independent broker-dealers and advisors expect to happen next? A lot of studies. And more rules.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved an all-public panel option for FINRA arbitrations. But that could result in more costs for all sides to pay for expert witnesses, one expert said.

PHOENIX-- Who will create and enforce a new, uniform fiduciary standard for not just brokers, but investment advisors, as well?

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Monday that investors can for the first time access detailed information that money market funds file with the SEC under changes to Rule 2a-7 that it implemented last year.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus continued criticism Monday of the administration's delay in offering reforms for the GSEs.

SIFMA wants federal agencies to set realistic deadlines so firms can adjust their compliance practices.

The president of the North American Securities Administrators Association talks about his group's goals for the year.

High-net-worth families can leverage the $5 million exemption.

Our legal expert answers your questions.

Who will create and enforce a new, uniform fiduciary standard for not just brokers, but investment advisers, as well?

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Connecticut hedge fund Michael Kenwood Group and its principal, Francisco Illarramendi, with misappropriating $53 millino on investors’ funds.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board plans to seek public comment on a series of new rules and interpretive guidance in the next four to six weeks, most of which stem from its new oversight of muni advisors