Compliance

Critics claim it will hurt securitizations, limit flow of credit

Vice President Joe Biden unveiled the Middle Class Task Force's new report on the middle class Friday, in which he outlined plans to offer automatic Individual Retirement Accounts to most Americans, provided clarification for giving advice to plan participants, and offered a proposal to allow plans to provide guaranteed retirement income products.

As if working for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities wasn’t stigma enough, benefits consulting firm Hooker and Holcombe is using 6% of the money in the bankrupt company’s 401(k) plan to cover the $100,000 cost of winding it down. Across the board, every account in the plan is being deducted by that percent.

If the U.S. mutual fund industry would like a clearer picture of what would happen to sales if fees—particularly up-front, sales load, 12b-1 or 401(k) fees—were disclosed, it need only take a look at the disastrous results in India.

The result of not having a uniform fiduciary standard for advisors across the board is the harm that investors will experience

The International Organization of Securities Commissions, of which the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.K. Financial Services Authority are members, starting in September will ask hedge funds to provide high-level, bi-annual snapshots of: their stock and bond holdings, geographic and underlying currency exposure, leverage levels, sales and redemptions, investor classifications, primary marketing channels, recent performance, and operations and technology details, including turnover, clearing mechanisms and risk measures.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged one of Bernard Madoff's key operatives with falsifying accounting records to enable the multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme and illegally enrich himself, Madoff, and Madoff’s family and employees.

A former Deloitte tax professional has agreed to pay approximately $144,000 to settle insider trading charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Wyden, Gregg ­Address Munis

WASHINGTON — The regulatory reform debate has now come full circle.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. chief executive Jamie Dimon said during his company's annual investor day Thursday that he has been turned off by the "capricious, arbitrary and punitive behavior" of regulators since his company accepted $25 billion in aid as part of the bailout of the financial industry in 2008.

In an effort to boost confidence in the market, the Securities and Exchange Commission decided to place restrictions on short-selling, the controversial trading practice of betting on a stock's decline.

Ask a broker why 12b-1 fees exist and you’ll get a variety of answers. The SEC's chairman said there should be greater transparency around the fees, which could be as high as 1%.

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously to issue a statement affirming support for a single set of high-quality globally accepted accounting standards and ongoing consideration of incorporating International Financial Reporting Standards into the financial reporting system for U.S. issuers.

The Baltimore fund company is considering fixed income and equity strategies and is not planning on cloning any existing funds.

"Almost Hard to Fathom," Mier Said.

WASHINGTON — A day after the release of regulatory data that showed the worst decline in lending in 67 years, lawmakers pressed Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke Wednesday on what he and the other agencies were doing to reverse the trend.

Legislation would create powerful new regulator

The Securities and Exchange Commission has received just over 200 comment letters since it posted its proposed roadmap for transitioning to International Financial Reporting Standards on its Web site in 2008, and it’s now receiving some extra suggestions as it prepares to publicly deliberate Wednesday on the roadmap.

WASHINGTON — The worst of the financial crisis has passed for most institutions, but new Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data shows aftershocks are still being felt.