Law and regulation

The former UBS trader accused of unauthorized deals that cost the Swiss bank $2.3 billion pleaded not guilty to four fraud and false accounting charges in a London court.

FINRA issues an alert warning investors to guard against a two-step process where “fraudsters” gain access to their email accounts and then instruct the firms involved to transfer money out of their brokerage accounts.

The SEC said a trader based in Latvia broke into online brokerage accounts of customers at large U.S. broker-dealers and manipulated prices in more than 100 New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market securities.

The head of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations called for an end to private letter rulings from the Internal Revenue Service which have “essentially opened the floodgates” for mutual funds to speculate in commodities from offshore tax havens such as the Cayman Islands.

Merrill Lynch agreed to pay a $1 million fine for failing to arbitrate disputes with employees about retention bonuses related to its 2009 merger with Bank of America Corp., the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said.

Former Major League Baseball player Douglas Mirabelli and his wife, Kristin Mirabelli, hit a home run in an arbitration dispute with Merrill Lynch this week when a FINRA panel ordered the firm to pay the couple more than $1.2 million.

A FINRA arbitration panel has ordered Citigroup to pay $24 million to a team of financial advisors formerly employed by the firm.

Amid record attendance and formidable growth in its membership ranks, the leaders of the Financial Services Institute insisted that ensuring the organization’s potency as lawmakers define a fiduciary standard for the industry is chief among their strategies and challenges for the coming year.

"I cannot think of a time when ICI faced more top-tier issues that could directly affect mutual fund investing,'' Gregory E. Johnson, incoming chairman of the Investment Company Institute, says.

The regulators charged with implementing the Volcker Rule have posed 1,300 questions to the public, but on Wednesday, at a House subcommittee hearing, they fielded one query they seemingly hadn't considered.

The CFP Board is seeking input and guidance from planning professionals as it considers changing the way it currently investigates bankruptcies among planners.

More than 14 years ago, Jane Norberg worked with confidential informants in planning, organizing and conducting investigations of federal crimes. Now she's the SEC's new deputy chief of the Office of the Whistleblower.

The Financial Services Institute has gained another 225 members, as Mountain View, Calif.-based broker-dealer and RIA Foothill Securities announced it has signed up all its advisors.

FINRA has fined Citigroup Global Markets $725,000 for failing to disclose conflicts of interest in its research reports and public appearances by analysts.

The SEC has charged an investment advisory arm of UBS with overstating the prices of securities in three mutual funds, some times by more than 100%.

With great wealth comes great responsibility. That’s the thinking of most American millionaires, according to a survey released today by PNC Wealth Management.

Financial services industry groups are ready and willing to help the Labor Department do a formal study of the potential impact of a redefinition of fiduciary responsibility, according to a new letter several trade organizations wrote to the department.

Gregory Fleming, president of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and Morgan Stanley Investment Management, was elected to replace former Bank of America Merrill Lynch wealth management head Sallie Krawcheck on the SRO’s Board of Governors.

A federal arbitration panel has fined the brokerage firm Morgan Keegan & Co. for mishandling the account of an Atlanta charity.

Lawmakers show deep interest in staying involved with 'Volcker Rule' during the implementation phase and regulators may actually be grateful.