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: 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...
Q: Back when I was 18 I was charged with two felonies. On one, the charges were completely dropped the next day. For the other, it was reduced to a minor violation (not even a misdemeanor). Now I am 50. I have steered clear of any similar...
A recent article in The Wall Street Journal described a probe securities regulators have launched into fee-based accounts. I paid extra attention, because charging a percentage of assets under management is the advice-and-compensation model I view...
There's one big problem with being on top, and the organization that administers the Certified Financial Planner designation is in the process of learning all about it. For years now, the CFP, issued by the Certified Financial Planner Board of...
To many rank-and-file financial advisors, the Martha Stewart-Peter Bacanovic case is very far removed from their everyday business experience. After all, how many brokers have such high-profile clients? But don't tune the case out completely. The...
Far too many reps are learning the hard way how little responsibility clients shoulder when it comes to assessing the suitability of their investments. When confronted with a suitability complaint, reps typically react with bluster: These charges...
Most reps work under the assumption that all their professional correspondence could be scrutinized, and the SEC now is telling them that assumption is dead on. At an SEC Speaks conference in Washington in March, sponsored by the Practising Law...
