Practice management

Market volatility is pushing fund managers to look for robust investment risk management systems, says a report from financial consultancy Celent.

Even in the digital age, nothing beats the “see the people” approach. This week, marketing expert Marie Swift shares two advisor success stories and how they are automating the referral process and supplementing their in-person communications with new media.

This may feel like the time to be generous, but registered broker-dealers should be extra cautious when giving gifts. Here are 13 ways that registered broker-dealers can run afoul of the rules during the holiday season.

More than 80% of investment advisors would prefer to pay user fees to fund greater SEC oversight than to be overseen by a self-regulatory organization, a major new study found.

Before the Department of Labor rewrites its proposal to redefine fiduciary responsibility — a new proposal is expected in the first half of 2012 — there are three changes SIFMA would like to see in the rulemaking process.

FINRA also orders the firm to make restitution for not providing breakpoints on unit investment trust sales and for unsuitable sales of reverse convertibles to older customers.

The 11th quarterly Allstate-National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll found that near-retiree Baby Boomers have pushed back initial plans to retire from an average of age 60 to 66. Additionally, 68% of Baby Boomers expect to work in some form after retirement, the survey of 1,200 Americans found.

Joe Russo has been elected chair of the Financial Services Institute’s 2012 Board. Russo, founder of Advantage Financial Group, is the first financial advisor to chair the board.

The FBI said it had 2,500 active corporate and securities fraud investigations under way at the end of its 2011 fiscal year.

Despite the historic equity market decline of 2008-2009, most 401(k) participants earned positive investment returns in the five-year period ended 2010, according to Vanguard. In fact, the average return was 3.76% a year, not including the impact of continued contributions.

Americans of all political leanings are showing signs of increased anxiety about having enough money to make ends meet during retirement, a recent survey commissioned by the Americans for Secure Retirement found.

A new Wells Fargo retirement study focusing on affluent Americans reveals that women are much less confident than men when it comes to their retirement savings.

Nasdaq OMX Group and a European provider of direct access to securities markets said they will provide “dynamic” pre-trade, at-trade and post-trade controls to broker-dealers serving high-speed trading firms.

The new Department of Labor 401(k) fee disclosure rules that go into effect on April 1 will radically shake up the industry, according to Tom Gonnella, senior vice president of corporate development at Lincoln Trust, who gave six predictions for the defined contribution industry in 2102.

Bank of the West has hired senior marketing executive Brian Katz to head up the Wealth Management Group’s newly created Banking and Sales Strategy unit.

Cloud computing, software-as-a-service and Big Data cited by Fidelity’s technology portfolio managers as the high-tech trends to watch.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch said it will market a broker-neutral trading platform named Thunder, to institutional customers in Asia.

In nearly 90% of high-net-worth households, women are either the sole decision maker or equal partners in decisions on charitable giving, according to a Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey in conjunction with The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Fidelity Investments has added an automated, end-to-end, web-based validation and notification service to its corporate actions service, ActionsXchange.

Marketing expert Marie Swift says financial advisors who publish articles and engage with the press increase their credibility and give clients and potential clients something to talk about.