The NASD is worried that brokers are playing a game of "regulatory arbitrage"--giving up their securities licenses to become investment advisers (IAs) and thereby sidestepping strict SRO oversight for lax adviser supervision. In response, the SRO...
PaineWebber has taken a step in the direction of Merrill Lynch by allowing discrimination and harassment claims filed after Jan. 1, 1999, to be resolved in court or an independent arbitration forum. However, all other employment disputes will...
Predispute arbitration agreements took another blow when the Supreme Court decided that a shipping employee could not be forced to arbitrate a disability discrimination claim.In a 9-0 decision in Wright v. Universal Maritime Service, the court...
Montgomery Asset Management (MAM), the San Francisco-based money management firm that dove into the wrap account and load fund business just 24 months ago, has reversed course and will revert to direct distribution only.A MAM spokesperson would...
The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) is revising the Series 65 exam and coming out with a new Series 66 test. The exams are scheduled to be rolled out in July and will include material to gauge investment adviser...
In June, when the SEC approved the NASD's rule change exempting discrimination and sexual harassment complaints from its mandatory arbitration requirement, SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt Jr. urged other SROs to "promptly change their rules to conform...
The SEC is looking for last-minute information from brokerage firms in making its determination on the controversial qualified immunity rule.Last fall, the agency asked the NASD to supply more information justifying the need for the rule, which...
The Canadian government is cracking down on the sales practice known as "tied selling" within banks. A new law that went into effect October 1998 bans tied selling. The law is a result of a year-long review of financial services by a federal task...
The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE) hopes a makeover in governance and systems will slow eroding market share--as well as the increasing in-fighting between members and some exchange officials.A plan hatched last year calls for the demutualization of...
Prudential Investments is breaking the captive sales force model long used by its insurance company parent and Prudential Securities.The asset management unit, which now has responsibility for all managed products formerly run separately by the...
