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.
When the scandal craze that has gripped the securities industry first got its kick in the pants two years ago from Eliot Spitzer and his crew, few in the industry recognized how deep it might go. Sure, some nefarious conflicts of interest would be...
They're coming to get you. As the number of arbitrations filings increases, so too do the odds that you will be called to appear in a regulatory hearing. The complaint may not even be against you; registered reps are often summoned to testify...
The SIA Soft Dollars and Institutional Brokerage Conference took aim at a wide range of issues related to soft-dollar payments in the brokerage industry, but most of the conference's attendees were there to find out one thing: Can the practice be...
Death and taxes are an inevitable part of everyone's life. If you're a registered rep, you can add customer complaints to that short list. It's an article of faith among reps that once a complaint is lodged against them, it's an automatic black...
When Mike DiGirolamo, former head compliance officer at Raymond James Financial, was first contacted by the NASD about how the firm determined whether fee-based or commission-based accounts were appropriate for customers, he was surprised. That...
Things went from bad to worse for Greg Kinkead, a 10-year veteran advisor based in Las Vegas. In 2002, several months after switching wirehouses, Kinkead received five complaints on his previously spotless U4 form. None of the claims specified...
Q: My firm encouraged in a documentable way the conversion of A-share mutual funds into a new class that could be held in wrap accounts (and be charged the wrap fee). It is now asking for written reasons from advisors as to why certain low...
The tale of Gina Guzzone is one that would do Franz Kafka proud. All the elements are there the mazelike system of bureaucratic roadblocks, the surreality and the preoccupation with financial security. Most of all, though, Guzzone's is a tale of...
The current suit-happy environment has left more than one registered rep yearning for the Cone of Silence, that whimsical invention from the 1960s spy sitcom Get Smart. But like the fictional secret agent Maxwell Smart, reps are likely to find...
Time was, the perfect stockbroker was equal parts salesman and stockpicker, but these days you have to throw a good measure of lawyering into the mix. Trouble is, professional-grade legal expertise does not come easy, and a little knowledge in...