Compliance

President-elect Barack Obama has named regulatory veteran Mary Schapiro to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission after he takes office next month.

Fidelity Investments has been taking advantage of new changes to 403(b) regulations to expand its presence in the higher education retirement business, adding more than 50 new plans this year.

The U.S. could see a 70% decline in the number of mutual fund families over the next five years unless regulations are changed to put them on a more equal footing with hedge funds, according to a new report by the Boston research firm Celent, titled: “The Global Credit Crisis: Implications for North American Wealth Management.”

In a final year-end push, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted 4-1 Wednesday to require mutual funds and the top 500 largest public companies to begin filing financial reports using eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL).

By overturning a lower court's dismissal of a case against former Columbia Funds executives James Tambone and Robert Hussey, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit is permitting the Securities and Exchange Commission to proceed with its market-timing lawsuit against the two men.

Ready or not, the deadline to update 403(b) plans is here.

Financial industry analysts are anticipating a wave of new regulations to come out of this financial crisis, but with any luck, mutual funds will escape a direct hit.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday fined eight former Fidelity traders $1.04 million for accepting lavish gifts from brokers, not least of which included trips on private jets and courtside sports tickets.

Mark-to-market accounting has merit, but financial institutions need better clarity on its application for very distressed assets, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox said.

By overturning a lower court’s dismissal of a case against former Columbia Funds executives James Tambone and Robert Hussey, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit is permitting the Securities and Exchange Commission to proceed with its market-timing lawsuit against the two men.

David R. Holst, 43, a mortgage broker in Tucson, Ariz., pleased guilty of fraudulently collecting $350,000 from mutual fund investor clients and recklessly, illegally gambling the money, the Arizona Daily Star reports. He accepted the charges of securities fraud and filing a false income tax return.

NEW YORK - "There is so much stimulus in the economy. The punchbowls are at the party, they're spiked-but no one is drinking yet." That was the apt summary of the current economic and investment picture by Rodney Olea, manager of the AHA Limited Maturity Fixed Income Fund, speaking at SunStar's press briefing for Lipper Leaders here last week.

Reserve Funds has added insult to injury, literally, to the investors in its Primary Fund. The fund, which broke the buck on Sept. 16 and has been struggling to return investors’ assets ever since, is now valuing the remaining balance at 98.5 cents per share.

The Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations at the Securities and Exchange Commission reminded fund companies that with all of the staffing and operational cutbacks taking place, compliance is an area where shortcuts cannot be tolerated.

CIBC announced Friday that it has finally settled 2004 charges that former trader Paul Flynn permitted hedge funds to market time mutual funds.

Reserve Funds will distribute $14 billion to investors in the Primary Fund on or around Dec. 5.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed two- to four-page mutual fund prospectus profiles will only provide investors with the “quick-and-dirty lowdown,” charges Dow Jones columnist Chuck Jaffe. “It seems a bit inappropriate to have investment decisions based on information that can accurately be called ‘quick and dirty,’ rather than ‘thorough and complete,’” Jaffe said.

If investors have learned one thing from the financial crisis, it is that, eventually, level heads and long-term investing will prevail. In that spirit, sister publication Investment Dealers' Digest recently spoke with a man known for having one of the most level heads in the industry, John Bogle, founder of Vanguard Investments, about what he sees for mutual funds and other investment firms in the years ahead.

The financial turmoil in the markets is far from over, and mutual fund firms can expect assets to continue to decline further, investors to remain skittish, and regulators to be reactive well into 2009, experts say.

In a widely anticipated move last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission unanimously approved a requirement for mutual funds to send investors a short-form, summary prospectus.