Regulatory actions and programs

The adviser claimed she was unjustly fired from First Citizens Bank for allegedly making unauthorized bonus payments to her two sales assistants totaling $9,000.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, SIFMA, FSI and other groups are asking a Texas court to vacate the Labor Department's new regulations less than a year before the rule goes into effect.

The firm is facing a lawsuit on behalf of investors who lost money in a $350 million Ponzi scheme.

If you're still thinking about a client who may be suffering from diminished capacity or displays other worrisome signs, then you need to say something, says Dr. Nancy Needell.

Careful steps need to be taken so FINRA won't consider it an outside business activity, says compliance expert Alan Foxman.

The elderly have called with technology issues, needing assistance with poorly understood account statements and to report scams. The calls also have helped the regulator identify mistakes and instances of abuse.

Richard Ketchum adds that the regulator needs to take a closer look at the culture of wealth management companies to see if executives are setting the right tone: "It is essential that a firm's leadership own the policies and procedures."

“The SEC is notorious for blowing through rule-making deadlines—both congressionally mandated and self-imposed, such as this,” says Micah Hauptman, financial services counsel at the Consumer Federation of America.

An arbitration panel ruled in UBS' favor, after the wirehouse alleged that a former adviser stole client data before moving to Wells Fargo.

The new rules were developed in consultation with the SEC, the Labor secretary adds.

Three weeks after the broker killed himself, the firm agreed to a confidential settlement with his wife for an undisclosed amount.

In an unusual move, the two veteran advisers left the independent channel to rejoin an employee broker-dealer.

The regulator says the firm had "widespread failures" in its anti-money laundering programs for both its employee and independent channels.

There is little to fear from the final version of the Department of Labor's regulation, planners say in a new survey.

FINRA reprimanded the former rep for allegedly falsifying personal documents as accommodations for HSBC bank customers.

Vanguard founder John Bogle and the DoL's Phyllis Borzi support an investor bill of rights.

The advisers are also balking at the firm's insistence that former advisers seeking to claim comp go through its dispute resolution process instead of FINRA.

The wirehouse terminated the broker two days after losing a $34 million arbitration case brought by the client's widow, who alleged elder abuse and other misconduct.

Now that the sharply contested rule is the law of the land, a senior agency official says the department looks to help with compliance, not find targets to sue.

Industry regulator levies its largest penalty involving variable annuities after claiming a long-running effort misrepresented annuity features and steered clients into costlier products.