Regulatory actions and programs

"The number of enforcement cases is likely to be down considerably going forward," said Urska Velikonja, a law professor at Emory University.

The acting head of OCIE says the commission has abandoned "wide, full-scope" scrutiny in favor of more targeted, risk-based reviews.

The wirehouse has already paid $415 million in fines and disgorged profits in a settlement.

Hope is dimming, but top Democrats like Sen. Elizabeth Warren and investor advocates are unlikely to relent in their efforts to preserve the regulation.

"To me, that rule, it was about one thing and it was about enabling trial lawyers to increase profits,” acting Chairman Michael Piwowar says.

The transactions cost the client $575,000 in fees and lost dividend payments, according to FINRA.

The increase was due to the rise in the size and number of "supersized" fines of $1 million or more; meanwhile, restitution fell 71% from the previous year.

The department says it needs time to complete a review of the regulation ordered by President Trump, who also recently outlined criteria for reversing the rule.

When an adviser’s Spidey sense tingles, there’s usually a good reason, Kimberly Foss says.

The deputy director of the agency's examinations unit, however, cautions that any such effort must be carefully coordinated.