Law and regulation

While community bankers mostly agree that stronger restrictions on a bank's ability to expand into complex activities are necessary, the details are a matter of some debate.

How long must a broker-dealer keep records of accounts that have left the firm?

Are firms doing all they can when it comes to handling material non-public info?

If we want uniform rules on investing recommendations, why stop at advisors?

The CFP Board continually seeks to amplify its message to policymakers by joining with other, similarly focused groups to form a broader advocacy base. Those partnerships, together with the strategic counsel from a clutch of outside experts, have helped the board establish its presence in Washington, even with only a meager staff of three.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro today made the following statement in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

State securities regulators brought 399 enforcement actions against investment advisor firms in 2011, nearly double the total from 2010.

Last week, the Board of Trustees of AIM Sector Funds voted to revamp the Invesco Utilities Fund’s mandate, subject to the approval of the fund’s shareholders at a special meeting to be held in February 2013.

The CFP Board prides itself as the issuer of a leading credential for financial planners, and that means that certificants are expected to adhere to a rigorous set of professional standards.

A delegation of fund firms, including BlackRock and Fidelity Investments, who are meeting with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Treasury Department officials today to discuss proposals for a potential compromise on money market fund reforms.

Neil Barofsky, a former special inspector general overseeing Troubled Assets Relief Program aimed at strengthening financial institutions during the financial crisis, calls the program a failure.

By almost any measure, trust in financial services firms have fallen to new lows or close to them.

Securities and Exchange Commission officials downplayed the potential for the so-called budget "sequestration" Thursday, but said dealers selling Build America Bonds should inform investors of any potentially risky call provisions.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is not pursuing the idea of imposing a three-strikes-and-you're-out system for issuers with disclosure failures, like the one floated last week by an SEC commissioner, John Cross, the director of the SEC's Office of Municipal Securities said here on Thursday.

The executive listed a few areas where the organization is targeting rule-breakers.

Morgan Keegan & Co., the brokerage firm acquired by Raymond James Financial Inc., was ordered by a federal appeals court to pay a group of 18 investors a $9.2 million arbitration award.

SEC chairman Mary L. Schapiro said there is not a substantive effort to review the agency’s “clearly erroneous” trade rules, even though Knight Capital took $457.6 million in losses after a flood of erroneous trades on August 1.

Principal Funds’ president and CEO Nora Everett has been elected to the Investment Company Institute's Board of Governors.

Raymond James Executive Chairman Thomas James said he is optimistic that the financial services industry can work more closely with regulators, even as evolving regulations such as a uniform fiduciary standard and the Volcker Rule have started off with the wrong approach.

Raymond James executive Chet Helck called for a year of working to restore public trust and confidence in the financial services industry, economy and nation at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association annual conference on Tuesday.