Law and regulation

In a keynote address kicking off the Insured Retirement Institute's Government, Legal and Regulatory conference, Atkins, now the CEO of Patomak Global Partners, offered a round critique of the Dodd-Frank Act and the myriad rulemaking proceedings that it set in motion.

RiverPark Funds is closing the RiverPark Short Term High Yield Fund (RPHIX, RPHYX) to new investors on June 21.

A top official for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority resigned after the agency was informed he was indicted for felony theft and charitable bingo fraud in 1993, the year he joined the agency.

A new Portland, Ore.-based investment shop has bagged its first sub-advisory mandate courtesy of its affiliate.

Delaware Investments’ Optimum Large Cap Growth Fund (OCLGX ) is dropping Marsico Capital Management, as a sub-adviser to the fund on June 19, according to a regulatory filing.

Franklin Resources yesterday announced that Charles Johnson will retire as chairman of the board and director, effective June 13. In his stead, the firm's board of directors approved the appointment of his son, Gregory Johnson, as chairman and he will continue in his roles as president and chief executive officer.

Eight former directors overseeing mutual funds for Morgan Keegan & Co. settled, without paying any penalties, U.S. regulatory claims that they allowed assets backed by subprime mortgages to be overvalued as the housing market collapsed in 2007.

In an exclusive interview, Skip Schweiss, managing director of advisor advocacy at TD Ameritrade Institutional, spoke about the tensions, dangers and future outlook of the fiduciary standard being debated in Washington -- and how the decision might drastically alter the advisory landscape.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved new FINRA rules that prevent mutual fund and hedge fund industry personnel from serving as public arbitrators, effective July 1.

The future of a uniform fiduciary standard regulating the broker-dealer and RIA space is unlikely, according to Barbara Roper, director of investor protection for the Consumer Federation of America.

Regulators are focusing attention on ensuring community banks have proper security systems in place in the wake of a string of cyberattacks on megabanks.

A new Portland, Ore.-based investment shop has bagged its first sub-advisory mandate courtesy of its affiliate.

With the passing of Dodd-Frank, the SEC is paving the the way to adopt a uniform fiduciary standard for broker/dealers and investment advisors. Barry Glassman of Glassman Wealth says that there's no feasible way for brokers to uphold the same fiduciary standard to which RIA are held. He writes, "for them to come under the fiduciary standard as it currently exists, their businesses would have to split up into so many micro pieces that it would be disastrous for them." But the alternative, as it is being proposed, is for the very meaning of the fiduciary standard to change.

San Francisco-based Forward Funds is once again looking to scale down its alternative mutual fund offerings liquidating.

A Detroit investment adviser will pay $3.1 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claims that he stole money from a police pension fund to finance his purchase of two California strip malls.

BTS Asset Management announced today the conversion of the BTS Tactical Fixed Income Fund (BTFAX, BTFCX) from a hedge fund to a 1940 Act mutual fund. The Tactical Fixed Income Fund.

“Nothing I did in the last five years had anything to do with selling on a commission basis,” he told Financial Planning.

The Driehaus Large Cap Growth Fund (DRLGX) is closing to new investors on June 11 and will liquidate on July 19, according to a regulatory filing.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has improved how it justifies new regulations after at least five recent court defeats faulted its use of economic analysis, according to an audit by the agency’s inspector general.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has paid $580,000 to settle claims by a former internal watchdog that he was fired in an effort to quash his investigations.