Regulatory guidance

With transparency about conflicts on the rise even as it varies by firm, critics question whether clients really understand complicated technical documents.

FINRA Rule 3210 typically requires permission for brokerage accounts.

It could be the most significant update to advisor standards of conduct in years.

With brokerage firms lining up in support of the SEC proposal, fiduciary planners aim to keep their differences from the BD channel intact.

The regulator and one of its largest members, LPL Financial, engaged in a back-and-forth on the controversial initiative.

The SEC is giving serious side-eye to firms with part-time or underqualified compliance officers.

Like the industry it oversees, the regulator has rising technology and compensation costs.

The IBD is one of three dozen firms the regulator has accused of failing to provide sales-charge waivers to eligible retirement plans and charities since 2015.

Firms can expect scrutiny of their compliance with the regulator's Custody Rule, compensation and account placement.

The No. 1 IBD plans to offer training and education and team up with reps on outreach to officials.

A new FINRA initiative to root out breaches of supervisory rules on 529 plans provoked criticism from the IBD advocacy group.

Financial advisors and their firms are providing zero-interest loans, free counseling and fresh ideas for some 800,000 federal workers going without pay.

When faced with a regulatory challenge, advisors can’t be afraid to question authorities.

Macroeconomic trends and matters of convenience will move advisors, assets and markets next year in the ever-changing wealth management space.

The regulator details numerous (and familiar) compliance failures in its annual summary of exam findings.

The rarely dinged firm joined peers grappling with two issues: mutual fund fees and supervision of advisors who've been sanctioned multiple times.

The representative had already been permitted to resign and suspended by state regulators, but the firm lost its case for additional damages.

Still, time is limited. Tell clients they’d better take advantage of the current exemption before it expires.

Researchers from top business schools studied arbitrator selection, as shown in nearly 9,000 cases filed by clients over a 27-year span.

For advisors that make a claim of misconduct the deck appears stacked in favor of the employers.