Allen Stanford, the flamboyant 59-year-old billionaire CEO of the Stanford Group Companies was indicted Friday on charges of conspiracy to commit securities, mail and wire fraud. Six other individuals were also indicted, including the chief...
Greensboro: "I realize that we're in the midst of an unprecedented opportunity, but I don't have the support to be a Rainmaker," said Fred at a recent conference. He continued, "I feel like a one-man army. I'm new to the business and have to share...
The Department of Labor and the SEC are holding a joint hearing today in Washington to explore “issues” related to target date/lifecycle funds. Many of these funds actually underperformed the S&P 500 last year. You can watch the...
Among other measures, the Obama administration proposed today that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) require that broker-dealers offering investment advice be held to the fiduciary standard rather than the suitability standard. The SEC...
Despite the market’s continuing volatility, or perhaps because of it, m&a deals in the RIA industry picked up dramatically in the first three months of this year in both number and asset volume. In the first quarter, 18 deals were done, with...
Sales of individual guaranteed renewable disability insurance policies have been holding up well during the recession, and are expected to grow at an attractive clip. Higher-income individuals are also buying bigger-ticket policies.
Hedge funds, like so many other things, had a horrendous year in 2008. They posted their worst performance on record, a decline of 19 percent; meanwhile, several high profile funds blew up and nearly one-third of the hedge funds tracked by...
Four new members were elected to the FINRA Board o Governors today: LPL Chairman and CEO, Mark Casady, took over the Independent Dealer/Insurance Affiliate seat from John Simmers, former Chairman and CEO of ING Advisors Network, who stepped down...
The big question to have arisen from the financial meltdown is: Have financial market regulators been doing their jobs well? Okay, it’s not the only big question, but it is certainly one of them. And the other big question: What kind of hit...
You know that your industry has a problem — a serious trust issue — when a New York Times columnist today sums up the case against financial advisor Matthew Weitzman thusly: “So most readers of this newspaper could be victims in...
