Company says legal tab in 2009 equaled 12% of revenue; crashed bond funds to blame
While women take the lead role in households in preparing children for college academically, many still leave the financial planning process in the hands of their spouses, according to a survey released this week by OppenheimerFunds Inc.
Advisers, independent broker-dealers, and others that need to keep up with compliance and regulatory changes daily — or that need to research cross-industry or multinational issues — can enlist a new online tool from Wolters Kluwer Financial Services.
Caterpillar Inc.'s announcement last week that it has reached a tentative settlement over the fees it charged its 401(k) plan participants may be bad news for plan sponsors, their advisers and mutual fund companies.
Former Merrill senior executives are in high demand
With new modifications to the systems at the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp., reporting of cost basis information appears as if it could become less of an issue with advisers — assuaging some concerns from advisers that new requirements could make reporting more costly and cumbersome.
Despite the tougher outlook for regulatory audits in the coming months, many advisory firms that host their own e-mail systems still lack an e-mail archiving and backup system (44% of advisers who responded to an <i>InvestmentNews</i> technology survey last year said they had no such system).
The Securities and Exchange Commission would be required to issue rules prohibiting or limiting mandatory arbitration clauses in securities contracts under draft legislation introduced this week by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.
Measures that would significantly boost funding for the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as give shareholders a say on executive pay are included in draft financial overhaul legislation in the Senate, a person familiar with the matter said Monday.
Milliman Inc. is in discussions with a number of mutual fund companies, insurers and 401(k) plan sponsors to launch a guaranteed income product that would be backed by a pool of insurers.
After months of pursuit, Donald Marron finally has landed a broker-dealer network, and the former chairman and chief executive of PaineWebber Group Inc. can't think more highly of its potential.
Several financial advisers said that they agree with the Supreme Court justices who appeared to suggest during oral arguments last week that the Securities and Exchange Commission, and not the courts, should ultimately decide when mutual fund fees are excessive.
The lousy economy hasn't been bad for everyone.
The financial advisory industry and its clients still may be struggling with the aftermath of the market crash — but investor plaintiff's attorneys are doing just fine, thank you.
The first thing adviser Karin Lopez-Gerber does upon arriving at her office is examine her client downloads from the night before.
Cheshire Software Inc. has released an updated version of its Cheshire Wealth Manager planning program, which helps advisers develop both lifetime plans and simpler, goal-based plans for clients.
More than twice the number of target date funds have liquidated this year than in all of 2008, indicating how difficult it is for asset managers unaffiliated with 401(k) record keepers to build assets in such funds.
An arbitration panel has awarded a former broker at Allegiant Securities LLC $100,000 in a case that arbitrators said involved a forged letter purporting to be from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc.
Focus Financial Partners LLC, which calls itself the largest partnership of wealth management firms in the world, is securing a new capital infusion to help it service outstanding bank debt and continue its business of acquiring stakes in large registered-investment-advisory firms.
