In an effort to connect better with customers, financial services companies of all stripes are spending more on information technology, according to one analyst.
The profile of “green’’ investors has changed. They aren’t just mature demonstrators of the 1960s with extra cash in their accounts.
SAN FRANCISCO — The days when registered investment advisers could remain as cloistered and mysterious to outsiders as a John Grisham-style law firm may be drawing to a close.
WASHINGTON — Those who bet that the U.S. stock market’s fairly steady climb since last summer was too good to last were winners last month.
The financial planning world has been focusing too heavily on the act of accumulating assets, according to an academic speaking at the InvestmentNews Retirement Summit in New York this afternoon.
Initial reactions to the proposed changes to the ethical standards for certified financial planners have been favorable, but the other shoe could drop this week.
Advisers who start their own practices after leaving larger firms often find that their biggest obstacle is obtaining affordable health insurance for themselves and their families, observers say.
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 — National Financial Partners Corp. will continue to pour money into acquisitions this year. At a recent conference for analysts and investors, company officials disclosed that they have earmarked $20 million to spend on acquisitions this year, a $5 million increase over 2006’s allocation.
NEW YORK — Clean energy is increasingly gaining the attention of institutional investors. Last Monday, dozens of top investors managing a total of $4 trillion in assets asked Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the White House to approve stronger climate control policies.
One of the most pressing issues in the investment industry today is retirement plan fees and expenses. A lot of questions have been raised about them recently, all of which can be answered simply à la college basketball commentator Dick Vitale: “It’s about fiduciary responsibility, baby!”
IRVINE, Calif. — The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed that firms beef up their disclosure of cash sweep policies. The proposal, part of a little-noticed package of rules floated by the SEC this month, would require broker-dealers to provide a quarterly notice to customers telling them that they can opt out of a default sweep option and choose another vehicle for their cash.
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.
Regulators are turning the spotlight on companies that specialize in using high-pressure marketing tactics to sell financial products and services to older Americans.
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.
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.
Nobody ever accused companies that push annuities on older Americans of being subtle.
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.
