When regulators play hardball—and lose.

Today the Board of Directors of the Certified Financial Planning Board of Standards Inc. (CFP Board), which controls the CFP designation, approved a second round of revisions to its code of ethics that were proposed in March, essentially...

Wachovia just launched itself into the big leagues. In a blockbuster deal this morning, Wachovia Corp. announced that it will acquire A.G. Edwards for roughly $6.8 billion in cash and stock to create a firm with $1.1 trillion in client assets...

In a surprising decision from the Montana Supreme Court, we find that landscape isn't the only thing that's wide open in that jurisdiction. Consider, for example, the case of Stanton v. Wells Fargo Bank Mont. N.A., 2007 MT 22 (Jan. 30, 2007)...

Smith Barney’s top executive last week told the firm's army of more than 13,000 financial advisors that she will tweak the brokerage giant’s new compensation plan in an attempt to address their repeated complaints over its complexity...

In his new role as New York governor, Eliot Spitzer is joining forces with those he used to terrorize—Wall Street chief executives—to modernize financial services regulation in the state, the Financial Times reports. Spitzer is forming...

Merrill Lynch today announced a firm-wide reorganization that introduces a new reporting structure while silencing rumors that retail brokerage head Bob McCann may have been on his way out.

Does Merrill Lynch have an employee attendance problem? Nah, Mother Merrill may have been too generous, is all. The firm recently announced a new sick-day protocol that, upon first blush, appears to be rather severe. Gawker.com, the pop-culture...

Deborah McWhinney, president of Schwab Institutional, retired this morning at the age of 52, something communicated to the firm’s advisors and employees via a trio of e-mails--first from Schwab chairman and CEO Charles “Chuck”...

This week Massachusetts fired a round in the new regulatory war waged by state securities regulators against the use of senior designations to commit senior fraud. The Massachusetts State Securities Division adopted the nation’s first...