Practice management

The Senate is considering a set of exemptions to the Volcker Rule that would allow the asset management divisions of banks to continue business as usual when it comes to investing client money in hedge funds and private equity.

The hiring mill keeps grinding at the wirehouses, as MSSB adds two teams of advisors with combined client assets of more than $1 billion.

Wealthy individuals now hold more of their assets in IRAs than employer-based plans.

The conference committee made critical changes to the regulatory reform bill in its first substantive week of work, but the hardest decisions are still ahead.

Wirehouses and regionals nab financial advisors and veteran executives.

Currently in its pilot phase, the new software could be available to all of its advisors in August.

The migration of advisors continues, as RBC Wealth Management hired two from UBS to expand in Portland, Ore.

House and Senate conferees meeting to hammer out a financial regulatory reform bill appear to have reached an agreement that would allow the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board to regulate financial advisers and other market intermediaries.

Neither criminal prosecutors nor the SEC ever filed charges against AIG or any executives.

The House approved a bill 241 to 182 on Thursday that would create a $30 billion fund that community banks could access for small business loans.

After a heated debate, the regulatory reform conference committee agreed late Thursday to scale back a provision of the bill that would eliminate the use of trust-preferred securities as Tier 1 capital.

Surveys of wealthy investors show common themes of concern, optimism and a need for guidance from financial advisors.

The Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday accused the former owner of Taylor Bean & Whitaker with orchestrating a massive equity and MBS fraud tied to his firm's warehouse borrowings from Colonial Bank, a depository it tried to take control of last summer using Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) money.

Regulatory reform conferees tussled Wednesday over provisions that would allow the Government Accountability Office more power to audit the Federal Reserve Board, give shareholders a nonbinding vote on compensation and strengthen investor protections.

The Senate has the advantage in conference committee, but advocates have allies there, too.

House conferees debating financial regulatory reform legislation today are expected to vote on amendments that would require the Securities and Exchange Commission to register and regulate municipal financial advisers, replacing Senate language that would give such regulatory authority to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.

More than 7.3 million older Americans — one out of every five citizens over the age of 65 — already have been victimized by a financial swindle, according to a new survey.

Lawmakers unexpectedly added an overhaul of the deposit insurance system to the final regulatory reform legislation on Tuesday, adding sweeping provisions that were not part of either the House or Senate revamp bills.

The four wirehouses are starting to sweeten the pot to retain financial advisors.

Improvement in investor confidence is borne out in a survey that finds 36% of investors expect their advisers will be able to navigate them to profits in any market environment.