Law and regulation

The news media is breathlessly counting down the days until the arrival of the fiscal cliff on December 31. It may make for good television (tune in tomorrow) but it’s not good economic (or good political analysis.) Here’s why:

The rule has been the most common ground for disciplinary action so far this year, according to an analysis by the law firm Sutherland Asbill & Brennan.

The SEC has pulled from within its ranks, tapping Jennifer B. McHugh as senior advisor to the director in its division of investment management.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has initiated cease-and-desist proceedings against the former board members of five registered investment firms, alleging that they failed to maintain appropriate fair-market valuations of debt securities that comprised a substantial portion of the companies' portfolio.

The leading accounting firms that conduct audits on the financial statements of publicly traded companies suffer from a significant and growing number of deficiencies, according to a new report by an industry oversight organization.

U.S. lawmakers and lobbyists who once backed repeal of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act are now pushing for technical fixes to the law, and they’re getting a skeptical reception from the measure’s advocates.

FINRA announced Saturday that it will seek comment in a regulatory notice on the proposed mandatory disclosure of bonuses.

While the U.S. Congress views the convergence of more than $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts set for Jan. 1 as a “fiscal cliff,” the metaphor misses the economic reality of what could follow.

As the week winds down with lawmakers and the White House still at odds over dueling proposals to avert the fiscal cliff, a growing number of voices in the debate are suggesting that the year-end deadline could pass without a deal, initiating a set of across-the-board tax increases and automatic spending cuts.

The Board of Trustees of BNY Mellon Funds Trust is looking to add another sub-advisor to the 3-star rated, $1.2 billion BNY Mellon Mid Cap Multi-Strategy Fund.

The SSgA Tuckerman Active REIT Fund is starting the New Year with a new sub-advisor.

Wall Street’s cost cuts and dismissals, which have helped erase more than 300,000 financial- industry jobs in the past two years, are far from over.

Late night comedian David Letterman joked, “Everybody is talking about the fiscal cliff. And I'd be talking about the fiscal cliff too, if I knew what the hell it was.” Your clients and prospects are probably just as worried, and twice as confused.

Mark Cahn, general counsel at the Securities and Exchange Commission, is leaving the agency at the end of the year to return to the private sector.

A top White House official reiterated on Tuesday that President Obama is committed to the 28% cap on the value of tax exemptions for high income earners, which includes municipal bond interest.

The Litman Gregory Masters Smaller Companies Fund has made a roster change.

The new platform will allow advisors to spend less time managing regulatory and compliance issues, and more time growing their businesses.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she would try to use a procedure known as a discharge petition to bring a Senate-passed bill for extending the middle-class tax cuts to the floor of the House.

CFOs in the U.S. remain uncertain about the future of the economy and their own businesses, according to a new survey.

For the better part of two years, Mary Schapiro told anyone who would listen that the federal government could not afford another bailout and that the money market mutual fund industry would have to backstop itself.