Compliance

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

A federal court has ordered the freezing of assets of a Stamford, Conn., investment adviser and hedge fund manager that has been charged with using $53 million from investors for his own benefit.

The Virginia Attorney General’s Office is considering whether or not to sue The Bank of New York Mellon for allegedly defrauding the state’s public pension fund by overscharging for foreign exchange transactions.

So the results are in: The Securities and Exchange Commission announced last week, after six months of study, that brokers should be held to the same fiduciary standard as advisers because investors assume their brokers are acting in their best interests anyway.

"We welcome the clarity that the January SEC Staff Report brings to the retail financial advice industry,” said Mark Casady, LPL’s chairman and CEO. “ In particular, we agree with the report's recommendation for a uniform fiduciary standard, as we believe this is right for investors, financial advisors and the industry.”

The White House's removal of Joseph Smith as a nominee to be the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency does not bode well for an administration facing so many regulatory jobs to fill, observers said Friday.facing

The SEC study is only the first step in the path to a uniform fiduciary standard.

Private fund advisors with more than $1 billion in assets under supervision have a greater need for monitoring, especially after lessons learned during the recent financial crisis, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. So the commission proposed requiring all registered investment advisors that work with one or more private funds to complete a new document, the Form PF. Registered investment advisors who work with hedge and private equity funds, among others, would be required to file the new form periodically.

Commodity Futures Trading Commission member Bart Chilton told insittutional investors Wednesday that opponents of changes wrought by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act are trying to block implementation of resulting rules by starving regulators of funding.

The U.K.’s Financial Services Authority fined the firm $1.77 million on Wednesday, bringing its total fines against the firm this month to $13.97 million.

As the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act approaches its one-year anniversary, the focus on the law is shifting from the issues of extending coverage and insurance reforms to the structure of the upcoming insurance exchanges, accountable care organizations and the definition of "essential benefits."