BOSTON — Independent advisers are used by 22% of millionaire households, and those advisers on average hold 56% of the millionaires’ investible assets — the largest share among financial service providers, according to a survey released last Monday by Fidelity Investments.
Worried about giving clients a fair deal and keeping regulators at bay, some brokerage firms are tamping down the commissions on variable annuities that registered representatives and financial advisers sell.
Regulators are turning the spotlight on companies that specialize in using high-pressure marketing tactics to sell financial products and services to older Americans.
State securities regulators are worried that the recent emphasis on making U.S. capital markets more competitive could lead to the pre-emption of their power by federal regulators.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is getting close to bringing a first-of-its-kind privacy case against a broker-dealer for using client data in the account transfer process, and industry attorneys said that the SEC is investigating similar cases against as many as a dozen other firms.
OTTAWA — The federal budget unveiled last week allows the Canadian government to remove withholding tax on arm’s-length interest payments under the Canada-U.S. Tax Treaty and with other countries.
NEW YORK — ING Advisors Network Inc. has reshuffled key spots in its top management ranks, with its president, Valerie Brown, leaving to become executive vice president of wealth management and annuities for ING U.S. Financial Services.
WASHINGTON — The Department of Labor has put the issue of enhanced 401(k) fee disclosure on its agenda, a move that could take some of the wind out of the sails of a legislative threat.
NEW YORK — IBM Corp.’s announcement that it will offer financial planning services to all 127,000 of its U.S. employees is the biggest sign yet that companies are increasingly interested in providing workers with more individual — and effective — counseling on financial topics.
By OTTAWA — The minority Conservative government’s budget, released last Monday, drew immediate fire from two Canadian opposition parties, the Liberals and New Democrats.
