Practice management

Financial services professionals and firms need to do a better job of implementing globally accepted international standards for financial reporting, according to a new report from a task force led by the International Federation of Accountants.

Automatic enrollment greatly increases participation in 401(k) plans for all racial and ethnic groups, with particular success for blacks and Hispanics, even among low earners, Vanguard research shows.

Steve Sanduski, the Prosperous Advisor, says advisors should use the English language in inspirational ways to motivate prospects and get them off the fence to become a client. He’s not talking about slick manipulation but about choosing your words carefully so you succinctly impart your message and create a positive feeling and mental picture in your prospect’s mind.

Among financial planners’ greatest concerns in this turbulent environment is retaining valued clients. In this high-tech era, marketing expert Marie Swift says planners should balance high-tech communications with truly “high-touch” communications.

New regulations requiring traders to post initial margin when clearing swap contracts through clearinghouses and outside of clearinghouses will cost financial firms $1.4 trillion in new capital charges, according to a research report released on Monday by Tabb Group.

Direct Edge said it is preparing to deliver a database of trade and quote history that is available anywhere, online.

Anova Technologies said it is rolling out a technology that will encrypt trading instructions in under one millionth of a second.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has unveiled a new set of features for its 401(k) and employee financial benefit programs including new mobile access to retirement account information.

In July, forward-thinking fund managers were trying to figure out what might happen to their holdings if -- heaven forbid -- the unimaginable might occur. In this case, the unimaginable was whether a major ratings agency might downgrade U.S. debt, given the fractiousness of American political decision-making.

NYSE Euronext said activity on its U.S. stock exchanges fell 19.8 percent in September from August.

Risk management software firm Algorithmics said that it will work with Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking to develop a counterparty credit valuation adjustment product that SocGen can use to actively price and manage counterparty credit risk across all asset classes.

A majority of married couples in their 60s lack the knowledge about how to maximize their Social Security benefits and whether or not to expect Social Security advice from a financial planner.

BNY Mellon Shareholder Services has launched Mobile Proxy Voting, enabling client companies to extend electronic proxy voting to smartphones, tablets and other web-connected mobile devices.

ING knows people of all ages are now virtually tethered to their smartphones and tablet PCs, so it’s rolling out a new program to help employees instantly enroll in their employers’ retirement plans.

A senior executive with FINRA sought to tamp down the concerns that many investment advisors have raised about empowering the self-regulatory organization with oversight of the sector, pledging that significant reforms would accompany any such transition.

Barclays Wealth has continued its hiring streak of U.S.-based professionals focusing on Latin American ultra-high-net-worth clients.

Of the many policy issues surrounding the investment advisor sector, few are more charged than the question of where regulatory authority should properly be housed. And those divergent viewpoints were on full display at the annual advocacy summit hosted by the Financial Services Institute.

A doctoral candidate and his advisor from Texas Tech University won the Retirement Income Industry Association's first Thought Leadership Award, the association announced at its fall conference Tuesday.

Investors appear to have switched gears from focusing on replenishing their balances from 2008’s market downturn to taking all of the responsible steps to prepare for retirement, according to Principal Financial Group’s analysis of retirement plan participants’ behavior in 2010.

One or more Internet users claiming to be the digital activist group known as Anonymous Hackers said overnight that it intends to take down the New York Stock Exchange’s public website next week.