Sara Hansard
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd's decision to retire could allow him to push through proposals to bring brokers under traditional fiduciary standards.
The Labor Department by the end of the month is likely to issue new rules governing investment advice given to 401(k) plan participants, Assistant Labor Secretary Phyllis Borzi said last week.
Retail funds, pensions, endowments and other investors will face higher costs and lower returns if regulations requiring public disclosure of short sales are adopted, according to a study published today by the Managed Funds Association.
James McHale, former associated general counsel for E*Trade Brokerage Services Inc., has joined the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association as managing director and associate general counsel.
A recent round-table discussion sponsored by InvestmentNews demonstrated that there is still a wide divide between advisory and brokerage groups over establishing a uniform fiduciary standard.
The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to inspect just 9% of the 11,000 investment advisory firms that it oversees — the same percentage of firms it expects to examine this year.
SEC examiners will turn to outside auditors and other third parties to help verify records at investment advisory and broker-dealer firms, an agency official said last week at the CCOutreach conference.
Many investment advisers are trying to determine whether they will be subject to new audits under custody rules that take effect March 12, according to Chris Thompson, assurance partner in the asset management practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
Broker-dealers and investment advisers should be subject to the same fiduciary standard of conduct and heightened regulations when providing the same services, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro said in prepared testimony today before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.
Investment advisers whose only fees are deducted from client accounts — and do not have custody of assets — will not be subject to additional exams under a regulation expected to be approved today by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
