Tarp, TLGP recipients to pay 15 basis point fee

WASHINGTON — House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank laid out his near-term agenda Wednesday, including a Jan. 22 hearing on executive compensation at financial companies and a Feb. 3 hearing on why banks are not lending more.

WASHINGTON — The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission's first public hearing on Wednesday gave the industry's top leaders an opportunity to express remorse for their role in the collapse of the financial markets but did little to enhance the public's understanding of the meltdown.

Tarp, TLGP Recipients to Pay 15 Bpt Fee

Asset Management Unit will Oversee Investment Advisors

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. unveiled its plans Tuesday to tie bank compensation practices to premium assessments, but the agency's outside directors made it clear they oppose the idea.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday that it has filed new charges against Bank of America Corp. for failing to disclose extraordinary financial losses at Merrill Lynch prior to a shareholder vote approving the acquisition of Merrill.

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.

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.

The Managed Funds Association is planning to create the largest database on hedge funds and use the information to lobby Washington. The database will amass each hedge fund’s assets, number of investors, location and various strategies—but encrypt the information so each fund’s information is anonymous.

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.

With the economy still on life support and inflation an increasing threat, the Federal Reserve will continue to act like a “sugar daddy” and leave interest rates untouched until 2011, predicts PIMCO Co-Chief Investment Officer and founder Bill Gross.

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.