Brokerage firms have been settling a number of wage-and-hour violation charges. Many of the so-called collective action claims have been filed against several big brokerages alleging that the firms made a regular practice of failing to pay...
Investigators at the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE) are looking into the flurry of activity in shares of Midland Walwyn stock just prior to the announcement of the acquisition of the firm by Merrill Lynch on June 22. Although exchange officials will...
In a July 31 oversight hearing before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, the industry took some lumps over using its mandatory system of arbitration for employment claims.Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., and Rep. Edward Markey...
In what critics call a token gesture designed to make the AMEX marriage more palatable to smaller members, the NASD has proposed giving small broker/dealers--firms with fewer than 150 reps--a first-ever guaranteed seat on the board of governors...
PaineWebber trains 1,200 brokers a year on everything from new products and new regulations to legislation and sales tactics. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter trains 1,800 brokers. And Salomon Smith Barney educates 800 brokers.Those numbers sound...
The latest generation of variable annuities offers more investment options with new wrinkles, such as nursing home waivers, and a formidable array of cost structures that only actuaries could devise.Difficult as the annuity market is, brokers need...
Short selling has invaded the mutual fund industry. The reason: the repeal of the short-short rule under the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. The rule had previously penalized active trading by mutual funds. With that burden lifted, funds are now...
A survey of mutual fund Web sites shows that the number of fund companies offering on-line account information and transactions has roughly doubled since last year.According to a survey conducted this summer of 322 mutual fund company Web sites...
Fists are flying in the closed-end fund arena. Shareholder activists are demanding that fund sponsors eliminate persistent double-digit discounts or ailing performance.Several activists have sued sponsors. Others have submitted proxy proposals to...
In mid-July, First Marathon Securities, one of Canadas largest independent broker/dealers, was slapped with the heftiest fine ever imposed on a member firm by the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE). The $4 million (Canadian) penalty, which includes...
