Law and regulation

Financial services firms admitted that they invited negative public perception by their actions, or inactions, according to the 2012 Makovsky Wall Street Reputation Study.

In order to make better financial decisions, investors need simple, easy-to-understand disclosures written in plain English and provided before they hire a planner, the CFP Board recommended to the SEC.

The SEC is focusing on computer-driven exchanges, including BATS Global Markets, as platforms for high-frequency trading firms to gain an unfair advantage over other investors.

The more than 1,300 registered representatives and financial advisors at Ameritas Investment will now be able to breathe easy as they tweet.

Here is the three-part playbook to consult, as advisors and brokers get serious about communicating through social media.

A series of victories by Morgan Keegan & Co. is calling into question who can be considered a "customer" in securities arbitration cases.

A series of victories by Morgan Keegan & Co. is calling into question who can be considered a "customer" in securities arbitration cases.

The SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and its Division of Enforcement are getting 'increasingly collaborative.' That may be turning routine exams into launchpads for enforcement actions.

Some seniors paid extra for riders that no longer applied because of their age, FINRA says.

Omnibus accounts consolidate the trade activity of multiple shareholders in an investment vehicle into a handful of trades, making it difficult to identify individual shareholder activity. How do in-house counsel and mutual fund boards make sure that their omnibus accounts are on the up and up with regulators?

Financial services firms, advisors and brokers can get themselves caught in their own tracks on social media, worrying excessively about SEC rules on disclosures, marketing and communication, but Rajib Chanda, a partner with the Boston-based Ropes & Gray regulatory law firm, says the guidance out there is actually “pretty flexible.”

A former Morgan Keegan registered rep agreed to be barred permanently from the industry for putting 10 of his middle-class clients into “unsuitable” investments –- highly leveraged ETFs, regulators said.

Because of its increasing complexity and impacts on financial firms beyond banks, firms that run registered investment funds are suggesting that the Volcker Rule gets ‘re-proposed’ before it goes into effect in July.

The operator of the Frankfurt Exchange, Eurex derivatives market and Clearstream clearinghouse plans the suit in order to recoup some of its merger costs and to clear the way to potentially make a future deal in which it could expand its derivatives operation.

FINRA slammed Citi International Financial Services with a $600,000 fine for charging excessive markups and markdowns on corporate and agency bond transactions.

Commissioner Elisse Walter told fund industry executives Monday to re-engage with the Securities and Exchange Commission on a new round of reform of money market mutual funds – and end its “unconstructive disengagement’’ on the subject.

On April 6, the comment period on FINRA’s proposed changes to its BrokerCheck system will close, though there is still much debate and controversy about some of the proposed changes. Compliance consultant and securities attorney Jennifer Woods Burke shares her thoughts on the subject with Financial Planning.

Mutual funds may soon report not just to the Securities and Exchange Commission but the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as well, in some circumstances.

One giant leap for entrenching investor and consumer fraud in our financial system after a federal appeals court rules that a federal judge overstepped his authority in rejecting a settlement between Citigroup and the SEC.

Rex Staples’ securities enforcement experience and his background in securities law will be “a great asset” to the CFP Board, said Kevin Keller, the board’s CEO.