Law and regulation

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is likely to radically alter how asset managers conduct business on a global scale. With final regulations to be issued in July, financial institutions must then take immediate steps to prepare for this game-changing legislation or risk stiff fines.

On June 15, 2012, the Northern Light Fund Trust and certain members of its current and former trustees as well as an unnamed chief compliance officer received a “Wells notice” from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The CFP Board disciplined 24 planners in its most recent thrice-yearly review of disciplinary or ethics allegations. In 13 cases, planners lost their rights to use the CFP designation permanently. Six other planners received suspensions for varying lengths of time, and five received letters of admonition.

You weathered the credit crisis. You got through the Flash Crash.

In testimony before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, the Fed chairman also highlights lawmakers' role in strengthening U.S. economy.

As the debate over regulatory reforms in the RIA sector has resurfaced on Capitol Hill, industry groups on both sides of the issue are making their case to lawmakers and staffers in the hopes of either advancing or derailing legislation that would establish a self-regulatory organization to oversee RIAs.

In testimony before members of a House committee on Wednesday, Richard Ketchum, the chairman and CEO of FINRA, offered an enthusiastic endorsement of a legislative proposal to establish a self-regulatory organization to oversee RIAs.

"I would first like to fully fund the SEC," Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the ranking member of the Financial Services Committee, said at a hearing this morning considering the Bachus bill. "The very fact that we're considering an SRO argues strongly against the inadequate funding this Congress has given the SEC."

Ninety-eight percent of advisers expressed concern that the estimated SRO membership fees would have a financial impact on their ability to run their firm. Of the 98%, 69% said the impact would be categorized as “severe.”

As lawmakers take up legislation that would reshape the regulatory landscape for retail investment advisers, industry groups are poised to present sharply contrasting visions for where expanded oversight authority should be housed.

After more than two decades urging the SEC to increase regulatory oversight of financial advisors, Barbara Roper stunned many on both sides of the debate by declaring herself open to the prospect of regulation coming from a self regulatory organization, such as FINRA.

Marie Chandoha, president of Charles Schwab Investment Management, told the SEC that a new study on money-market funds was “troubling” because it wrongly concludes that the funds are dangerously susceptible to runs and presumes more regulation is needed.

On June 4, 2012, Marie Chandoha, president, Charles Schwab Investment Management, has a few choice words for International Organization of Securities Commissions on its recently released Consultation Report.

Former U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd weighed in on JPMorgan Chase's much-publicized trading loss Thursday, pointing to it as validation of the need for the landmark financial reform legislation he co-authored.

The SEC has conducted routine inspections of FINRA’s advertising and arbitration programs, but not as frequently as it had planned.

On June 1, 2012, shareholders of the Invesco Commodities Strategy Fund this week approved a merger of the fund into the Invesco Balanced-Risk Commodity Strategy Fund.

What do you do when spouses who are both clients have very different interests?

The presumptive Republican nominee has given almost no details about his plan to replace the Dodd-Frank Act

Four major flaws in proposed FINRA legislation that will hurt independent financial advisors and those they serve, according to NAPFA.

The increasing popularity of electronic brokerage has led the MSRB to examine whether retail investors who trade municipal securities through broker-dealers' online systems have adequate protection under its rules.