Law and regulation

The Treasury Department and the IRS said they will treat 19 countries that have reached agreements with the U.S. on the FATCA as having those agreements in effect until the end of 2014.

Transamerica Financial Advisors, one of the nation's largest independent broker-dealers, is reimbursing more than 2,300 accounts in a settlement with the SEC after being charged by the regulator with improperly calculating advisory fees and overcharging clients.

Lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle reached a rare accord, pledging to further investigate allegations of retaliation and discrimination among employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Only 40 banks have their own brokerage units, a mere 2% of the 1,809 banks that offer investment services.

As regulatory scrutiny intensifies, advisors must design and support policies and processes to avoid compliance missteps. New technology tools can help.

Lawyers and clients are considering legal action to obtain new arbitration cases or revisit decisions amid allegations that a former FINRA arbitrator lied about being an attorney during his 15-year tenure.

Attorney, author and financial fraud expert Kathy Phelps offers advice on how to protect clients from falling victim to a Ponzi scheme.

Under FINRA rules, plaintiffs may be able to demand a trial.

As service models shift, dually registered advisors have been making big competitive gains. Now the SEC has them in its regulatory sights.

FINRA continues to tighten its rules to make sure investors get suitable advice. Meanwhile, advisors are trying to keep their heads above water.

A former executive of Weymouth Bank’s brokerage division and a former representative of M&T Bank Securities were barred from the industry for serious misconduct.

The U.S. Postal Service's inspector general defends a proposal - that the Postal Service should get into banking - that has come under fire from many in the financial industry.

Former UBS banker Mark Zaino walked out of court a free man Thursday after a federal judge chose to impose no further sentence on him for his role in rigging municipal bond contracts.

For investment advisors with a small pool of clients, the threat of a cyber attack that could compromise investors' personal identifying information is especially acute, says one IT expert.

The Federal Reserve Board denied the capital plans of Citigroup, HSBC, RBS Citizens, Santander and Zions in its second round of stress tests this year.

A former Baird advisor won an arbitration case against his old employer, resulting in a FINRA arbitration panel awarding him $170,000 in damages for defamation.

Bernard Madoff's victims are set to get $349 million in a fresh round of payments by the trustee unwinding his firm, a day after five of its ex-employees were convicted of aiding the con man's $17.5 billion Ponzi scheme.

Errors and omissions insurance premiums are rising. A proposed fiduciary standard for advisors would drive the cost up further, according to insurance specialists.

Almost two months after a court order, the CFP Board has failed to produce the required documents, Florida planners say.

FINRA found that LPL didn’t have a reasonable system in place to determine whether purchases of alternatives would cause a customer’s account to be unsuitably concentrated.