It's hard to argue that markets like this don’t take their toll on advisors and clients alike. Managing client expectations is challenging enough already, let alone in the midst of all this volatility. How much communication is enough? Does every client need a call? What’s the right way to stay in touch? Many advisors answer these questions with a mix of proactive outbound calls and responses to inbound calls.

Bowing to concerns about the costs of compliance, the Securities and Exchange Commission is trying to figure out just how much broker-dealers, transfer agents and banks must spend to track down owners of unclaimed securities accounts before it issues a new rule.

BNY Mellon this week said it will expand its treasury services group's electronic billing and payment processing services to include notifications via SMS text messaging to clients' mobile devices.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. said that it will not change any valuations of securities required as collateral for the activities of Fixed Income Clearing Corp. as a result of Standard & Poor's downgrade of its rating on U.S. government debt.

CBOE Holdings said its net income jumped 32 percent, even as trading in futures and options declined 16 percent in the secnd quarter.

Scottrade this week debuted a new mobile trading application for investors looking to access real-time research, news and analysis and execute trades from their smartphones and iPad tablets.

The operator of the New York Stock Exchange reported net income of $154 million, or $0.59 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2011, compared to net income of $184 million, or $0.70 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2010.

European hedge fund advisors will soon be faced with the same challenges – and requirements – as their U.S. peers.

European hedge fund advisors will soon be faced with the same challenges – and requirements – as their U.S. peers.

National Planning Holdings, Inc., one of the nation’s larger independent broker-dealer networks, announced this week it has contracted with business technology firm Erado to supply its more than 3,500 affiliated representatives with compliance services for social media applications.

Americas Trading Group said it selected NYSE Technologies to provide the backbone for its high-performance execution platform.

In what may be a sign of a tightening of regulation of social media use by investment advisors, the Securities Division of the Massachusetts Secretary of State’s Office is issuing new guidelines and best practices standards that will go into effect next year.

Orc Group said it released software to support electronic market making in North America.

BNY Mellon said it launched an app that will let its institutional customers move cash and securely access key reports and account information from iPad tablet computers.

Knight Capital Group said its earnings dropped by two-thirds in the second quarter, hurt by lower volume and volatility in stock trading.

State Street Corporation said it planned to reduce its technology staff by 850 employees, as part of a multi-year transformation of how it manages its information systems.

If you’re an advisor, you probably have a website. And you may belong to a social network such as LinkedIn or FaceBook. But to really make your website and social media efforts pay off, you’ll need to do more, experts say. The good news is that it’s not that difficult to strengthen your online presence -- and a stronger online presence can lead to more business. Here are eight tips for financial advisors to build a compelling online presence:

Liquidnet said its trading volume moved 2 percent ahead of last year, with an 18 percent jump in June.

The tech team at Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services has come up with a new smartphone app that allows independent financial advisors to open client accounts and electronically trade for clients from anywhere.

City Index, a London firm that specializes in bets on the movements of financial spreads and contracts for difference, has adopted a new service for monitoring its risks within each trading day.