Compliance

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved new rules to significantly enhance the level of information companies are required to provide shareholders in proxy statements, but many leaders worry that these changes will do little more than add to the expenses that shareholders pay.

Three mutual fund industry leaders, including Investment Company Institute President Paul Schott Stevens, will release new research showing how 401(k) participants are behaving and faring one year after the market calamity of 2008 and outline ways to improve the nation’s retirement system at the National Press Club in Washington on Friday, Jan. 8 at 10 a.m.

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panel in North Carolina has rejected claim of raiding and unfair competition by Wachovia Securities LLC against broker Stifel Nicolaus & Co. Inc., and ordered Wachovia to pay $1.11 million in attorneys’ fees.

Corporate greed, moral hazard, lax oversight and foolhardy underwriting all contributed to the crisis in finance. Another factor, less useful for sloganeers but no less insidious, was the simple mispricing of risk.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is adjusting fees for some transactions as part of its requirement to keep collections stable.

Regulators have agreed to delay plans to treat equity-indexed annuities like securities, but many bank-affiliated brokerages are already doing so.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has adopted rules that substantially increase protections for investors who turn their assets over to investment advisers, which hopefully will prevent another massive, Madoff-like Ponzi scheme.

Industry groups across the independent advisory channel expressed approval over a proposed rule by the Securities and Exchange Commission that would exclude advisors whose only access to client funds is to deduct fees from surprise audits. The groups insist, however, that they are waiting to see the final rule – due out in several days at the earliest – before making any judgments.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., dropped efforts to temporarily extend the estate tax at its current level in the face of Republican opposition.

WASHINGTON — Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wa., and John McCain, R-Ariz., introduced a bill Wednesday that would repeal the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 by restoring the walls between the banking, securities and insurance industries.

The SPARK Institute has released draft guidelines that help 403(b) retirement plans comply with new regulations, including Form 5500.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced the Fair Fund distribution of approximately $418 million to more than a million investors who were harmed by market timing activities in certain Invesco mutual funds managed by Invesco Funds Group, Inc.

Thirty years after the Securities and Exchange Commission allowed an exemption to help mutual funds pay for promotional sales and marketing expenses, the agency is once again considering revising or renaming these controversial charges, known as 12b-1 fees.

The House passed a regulatory reform bill 223 to 202 on Friday that would significantly reshape the financial framework.

The House of Representatives refused to give rule-making authority over many investment advisory firms to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

The Insured Retirement Institute is applauding the confirmation from Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro that her staff is developing a variable annuity summary prospectus. IRI has long called for—and officially petitioned—the SEC to develop such a document to advance the interests of the investing public, and to reduce the burden placed on its members, which includes insurers, to produce lengthy documents that consumers traditionally ignore because of their complexity.

U.S. Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and Herb Kohl (D-WI) have introduced a bill aimed at helping Americans save enough so that they will not be in danger of outliving their retirement savings.

While it may be too late for the Securities and Exchange Commission to pass any new regulations before the end of the year, financial experts anticipate major financial legislation and regulation to occur sometime in early 2010.

A group of Democratic lawmakers has introduced legislation that would impose a tax on Wall Street securities transactions.

The House’s decision to extend the current estate tax rate did not come as a surprise to industry observers, who never believed the government would allow the tax to expire altogether and give up the much needed revenue.