Law and regulation

The advisors allegedly overstated the value of two hedge funds by as much as $160 million.

Seven groups representing state securities regulators, investors, and investment advisers are urging leaders of the Senate Banking Committee not to water down language in its draft financial regulatory reform legislation that would require every individual that provides investment advice to be held to a fiduciary duty under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

N.Y. attorney general requests data on compensation practices at eight banks that received Tarp funds

A bank spokesman said the SEC did not find that any specific individual had intentionally misguided investors. So the new charges, if approved by U.S. District Court Judge Rakoff, will be for negligence instead of fraud, the spokesman said.

Despite an overwhelming consensus among the scientific community that human activity is causing climate change, most of the world's largest investment managers do not factor climate-related trends into their short- and long-term investment decision making, a new study finds.

NEW YORK -- U.S. and international regulators are widely credited with having saved the global economy from plummeting into a second Great Depression, and the fragile, recovering economy can expect to see continued support for much of 2010, experts say.

linkedFA's launch comes amid a debate over how advisors can use social networking to expand their businesses, while still following compliance rules under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934.

On the heels of the IRS’s plan to begin regulating tax preparers, the Justice Department announced that it has filed six lawsuits this week to stop preparers charged with generating fraudulent income tax returns.

WASHINGTON — The notion that holding company oversight should be entrusted to a bank's primary supervisor is gaining traction on Capitol Hill.

WASHINGTON — The details are still sketchy, but an idea to tie compensation plans to deposit insurance premiums is already dividing the banking industry.

Regulators, with their reputations on the line and anxiety about the future, are forcing some banks to hold on to much of the capital. In recent months, some banks that wanted to fully repay the Troubled Asset Relief Program were allowed to return a fraction.

The average 2010 fund clawed its way back in 2009, with a 20% return, easing investor worry about these retirement funds and moving the push for regulation to the back burner.

The agency provided no further details on the action. The agenda for the meeting of the FDIC's board includes an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on "employee compensation."

WASHINGTON — Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd's decision not to seek reelection strengthens his ability to enact regulatory reform, but the final bill is also expected to be more moderate, observers said Wednesday.

He was previously a partner in the financial services regulatory practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where is was also known for his expertise in corporate governance, enterprise risk management and regulatory compliance and ethics.

The American Bankers Association made a pitch Tuesday to the Senate Banking Committee on its wish list for regulatory reform legislation, highlighting its opposition to a separate consumer agency for banks, efforts to gut federal preemption of state standards and taxing large institutions in advance for resolution costs.

WASHINGTON — With rock-bottom interest rates expected to begin rising soon, regulators and industry representatives are increasingly concerned about institutions' ability to weather a boomerang effect on their funding costs.

The tax preparation company agreed to pay as much as $20.2 million to customers that bought its Express IRAs.

William Dudley wasn't the first regulator to endorse the idea of allowing banks to convert debt into equity if they need capital in a pinch, but the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has gone further than any other policymaker in making the case that "contingent capital" is key to averting another banking crisis.

As regulators work to converge U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), several key differences remain, most notably the different measurement attributes of financial liabilities, the timing and approaches to projects and the difference between fair value and amortized costs.