Unbeknownst to many tax practitioners, the Internal Revenue Service has an alternative dispute resolution program called Fast Track Settlement (FTS). The IRS developed this program in response to taxpayer complaints about the sometimes...

Almost two years after their firm imploded, 16 brokers from Brookstreet Securities may have come to justice. The SEC today charged 10 brokers from the now defunct firm with fraud for marketing risky mortgage-backed derivatives as conservative...

A survey released yesterday of the nation’s wealthiest individuals reveals that wealth management’s biggest, most powerful brands—including UBS, Wachovia, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs—have lost a lot of credibility...

As Wells Fargo begins its summer-long re-branding of Wachovia and A.G. Edwards, some financial advisors at what is now the largest retail brokerage firm in the U.S.—16,000 FAs—say the integration of the Wachovia and A.G. Edwards is...

Surprise exams and reviews by third party accountants: These are the new measures the SEC proposed on Thursday to combat ponzi schemes like the one Bernie Madoff pulled off last December. Ponzi schemes have been piling up over the past several...

Can a rank-and-file Series 7 holder who works for a major national broker/dealer ever truly work as a fiduciary? Go to VonAldo.com, the blog of Registered Rep. Editor-in-Chief David A. Geracioti.

At the Investment Company Institute’s 51st General Membership meeting last week in Washington, D.C., speaker after speaker warned that the financial crisis has changed markets permanently.

Morgan Stanley is aggressively dressing itself up to exit TARP. The firm raised $8 billion in new capital on Friday through the sale of debt and equity, over 50 percent more than it announced on Thursday. The funds will cover an $1.8 billion...

Morgan Stanley to raise equity to close Smith Barney joint venture; BoA may sell Columbia Management mutual fund arm.

UBS' first-quarter stunk, as expected. Meanwhile, its U.S. retail business gathered billions in new client assets, but still lost money.