Regulation and Compliance issues for Wealth Professionals can be challenging to navigate especially when the SEC is involved. Catch the latest news and analysis on compliance updates that impact financial advisors.
Q: I've been a Morgan Stanley registered rep for 19 years. Lately, with the new push on account fees for everything, sometimes clients don't pay. Firms charge the broker for the fee and deduct it from the broker's paycheck. By law, I'm not allowed...
With scandals continuing to dominate the news and broker/dealers under more fire from the investing public, it come as little surprise that arbitration figures rose again in 2003. According to the NASD, 2003 brought more arbitrations than any year...
Hydie Sumner, one of the remaining 50 or so registered reps who sued Merrill Lynch for gender discrimination, is expected to hear a decision from an arbitration panel within the next few weeks. Among remedies to her claims proposed by her lawyers...
In one of the few memorable scenes in Godfather III, Michael Corleone laments his inability to break free of the gangster life: Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in. Some subjects of NASD disciplinary actions know that sort of...
Let the finger pointing begin. As the mutual fund scandal kicks into high gear, brokers are starting to unveil their plans for fighting regulators' charges of fraud against them. And if the legal documents filed by some former Pru employees are...
In November, Charles Schwab & Co. disclosed instances of late trading and market timing in its Excelsior Funds, operated by its U.S. Trust unit. Not only did the news mark Schwab's first public implication in the mutual fund mess, it also trained...
Bureaucracy that smacks of willful ignorance that's what one would-be tipster (and client of mine) encountered when he tried to anonymously notify regulators of trouble at his broker/dealer. As an attorney who has been practicing securities law...
Some of the knowledge required to acquire Series a 7 flees a rep's brain before the test scores have even been computed a process that takes mere minutes. The rules governing the actions of associated persons (APs) appear to be a case in point. By...
Until recently, there was little danger of confusing SEC filings with anything interesting say a best-selling novel or a hard-hitting newspaper story. In the days before the scandals, plowing through SEC documents, such as 10-Qs, 10-Ks and proxy...
The questions above warrant immediate consideration because there is a very strong likelihood that new Federal legislation is going to be passed that will encourage retirement plan sponsors and their participants to seek the services of investment...