Compliance

linkedFA's launch comes amid a debate over how advisors can use social networking to expand their businesses, while still following compliance rules under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934.

The Managed Funds Association is planning to create the largest database on hedge funds and use the information to lobby Washington. The database will amass each hedge fund’s assets, number of investors, location and various strategies—but encrypt the information so each fund’s information is anonymous.

On the heels of the IRS’s plan to begin regulating tax preparers, the Justice Department announced that it has filed six lawsuits this week to stop preparers charged with generating fraudulent income tax returns.

WASHINGTON — The notion that holding company oversight should be entrusted to a bank's primary supervisor is gaining traction on Capitol Hill.

WASHINGTON — The details are still sketchy, but an idea to tie compensation plans to deposit insurance premiums is already dividing the banking industry.

Regulators, with their reputations on the line and anxiety about the future, are forcing some banks to hold on to much of the capital. In recent months, some banks that wanted to fully repay the Troubled Asset Relief Program were allowed to return a fraction.

With the economy still on life support and inflation an increasing threat, the Federal Reserve will continue to act like a “sugar daddy” and leave interest rates untouched until 2011, predicts PIMCO Co-Chief Investment Officer and founder Bill Gross.

The average 2010 fund clawed its way back in 2009, with a 20% return, easing investor worry about these retirement funds and moving the push for regulation to the back burner.

The agency provided no further details on the action. The agenda for the meeting of the FDIC's board includes an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on "employee compensation."

WASHINGTON — Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd's decision not to seek reelection strengthens his ability to enact regulatory reform, but the final bill is also expected to be more moderate, observers said Wednesday.

He was previously a partner in the financial services regulatory practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where is was also known for his expertise in corporate governance, enterprise risk management and regulatory compliance and ethics.

The American Bankers Association made a pitch Tuesday to the Senate Banking Committee on its wish list for regulatory reform legislation, highlighting its opposition to a separate consumer agency for banks, efforts to gut federal preemption of state standards and taxing large institutions in advance for resolution costs.

WASHINGTON — With rock-bottom interest rates expected to begin rising soon, regulators and industry representatives are increasingly concerned about institutions' ability to weather a boomerang effect on their funding costs.

Because the Internal Revenue Service has not yet determined the market rate of interest return for so-called “DB(k)” plans—hybrids of pensions and 401(k)s—many companies eligible to begin offering them as of Jan. 1 are first waiting on the information.

The tax preparation company agreed to pay as much as $20.2 million to customers that bought its Express IRAs.

William Dudley wasn't the first regulator to endorse the idea of allowing banks to convert debt into equity if they need capital in a pinch, but the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has gone further than any other policymaker in making the case that "contingent capital" is key to averting another banking crisis.

Since the recession hit two years ago, 80% of mutual fund firms have laid off tens of thousands of people, as total assets under management dropped from $11.999 trillion at the end of 2007 to $10.688 trillion as of October. In line with this 11% decline in assets, fees have undoubtedly plummeted by at least $1 billion a year.

The House Ways and Means Committee has introduced a bill that would streamline and modernize the tax code for mutual funds and their shareholders. For the past 50 years, the code has been adjusted piecemeal, and an entire review of the rules hasn't occurred for more than 20 years.

Since the recession hit two years ago, 80% of mutual fund firms have laid off tens of thousands of people, as total assets under management dropped from $11.999 trillion at the end of 2007 to $10.688 trillion as of October. In line with this 11% decline in assets, fees have undoubtedly plummeted by at least $1 billion a year.

As regulators work to converge U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), several key differences remain, most notably the different measurement attributes of financial liabilities, the timing and approaches to projects and the difference between fair value and amortized costs.