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Regulation & Compliance Section

News

Advocacy Group to Emphasize Higher Fiduciary Standards for Advisers

Brokers are paid to represent the interests of their firm, Committee for the Fiduciary Standard says.

Hedge Funds on Track to Return 6%+ in 2Q

But many investors, particularly institutional investors, are still waiting for reforms before committing new money.

Fund Giants Resist ‘Radical Changes’ to Money Funds

But most agree with SEC proposals to make them safer.

Supreme Court Might Side With Investors on ‘Excessive Fees’

Initial filing briefs, including one from the SEC, indicate retail investors might enjoy a long-awaited victory.

Fed Extends Emergency Money Fund Program

Fund companies have until Feb. 1 to tap into asset-backed facility.

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Articles

Eliminating Money Funds' $1 NAV Causes Concern

While the financial services industry largely embraced most of the Obama administration's financial services overhaul, the idea of removing money funds' $1 net asset value is causing widespread concern in the mutual fund industry. 'If you float the value of a money fund, you've essentially destroyed the product,' said Investment Company Institute President Paul Schott Stevens. 'We're going to explain clearly why we believe a fluctuating [NAV] is a very bad idea.'

Target-Date Fund Hearing Focuses on Disclosure

At the hearing on target-date funds that the Department of Labor and the Securities and Exchange Commission held in Washington last Thursday, the focus was on better disclosure of holdings. Even though the makeup and glidepaths of target-date funds vary so considerably, as proven by the range of minus 7% to minus 41% that 2010 target-date funds delivered in 2008, fund executives resisted government-mandated caps on holdings.

FINRA Fines Seven Bond B/Ds for Violations

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined seven firms a total of $184,500, including $80,000 for Tulsa-based BOSC Inc., for failing to timely or accurately report municipal securities, unfairly pricing bonds, as well as other muni and non-muni rule violations. FINRA announced the sanctions in monthly disciplinary actions last week. Besides BOSC, it fined Charles Schwab $30,000, Stoever, Glass & Co. $20,000, Piper Jaffray & Co. $17,500, Finance 500 Inc. $15,000, Bonddesk Trading LLC $12,000, and Country Club Financial Services Inc. $10,000.

401k Fee Transparency Push Could Increase Fees, Confusion

WASHINGTON - Many investment industry leaders are worried that the proposed 401(k) fee disclosure regulations currently being pushed through Congress will actually increase the fees investors pay and increase their confusion. 'Regulators feel they need to add nuances to 401(k) fee disclosure, but what's it going to cost the industry to comply?' asked Fred Teufel, a principal of institutional retirement plan services at The Vanguard Group, during the Society of Professional Asset-Managers and Record Keepers' conference titled 'Retirement Plans at a Crossroad' held here last week at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. 'We spend an increasing amount of our budget on regulatory compliance,' said Barbara March, executive vice president of workplace investing for defined contribution plan services at Fidelity Investments. 'This reminds me of redemption fees. The cost of complying with the rules was more than anyone would have been hurt by the fees.'

Securities Lending to Begin Letting the Sunshine In

NEW YORK - Investors tend to stay quiet about financial products they don't understand as long as the profits keep coming in, but when the tide goes out and profits fall, they want answers. After several profitable decades of operating largely in the shadows, securities lending is undergoing some major changes-along with virtually every other financial market in the world-that will drastically increase price transparency, and those markets and instruments that can adapt to these changes will survive and prosper, lending experts say.

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