When banks and brokers first started offering health savings accounts, clients could choose any investment they wanted for their account funds — as long as it was a certificate of deposit.
With the specter of millionare clients’ assets slipping through its fingers in a hot rollover market, Fidelity Investments is placing its high-net-worth strategy squarely on the shoulders of registered investment advisers.
After spending the past three years cozying up to securities regulators at NASD, independent-contractor broker-dealers are fearful that state regulators pose an increasing threat.
Like their clients, advisers and registered representatives are getting older and often worry about their futures.
A short but significant provision in President Bush’s proposed fiscal 2008 federal budget has cemented his status as the college savings plan industry’s new best friend.
The $1.2 trillion hedge fund industry, bracing for its second regulatory battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission in as many years, plans to take a more proactive approach to dealing with regulators, critics and the media.
Bank-loan funds are the beneficiary of a bond market that has made investors leery of most fixed-income investments — particularly junk bonds. Compared with junk-bond funds — to which some consider bank-loan funds an attractive alternative — asset flows into bank-loan funds have remained strong.
SAN FRANCISCO — A top bond expert made only passing mention of bonds at TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.’s 2007 annual conference in San Diego early this month.
NEW YORK — A securities law firm is seeking class action status for clients who may have been financially damaged by an insurer’s threats and commission incentives designed to skew adviser judgment in favor of proprietary products.
NEW YORK — John Hancock Life Insurance Co. of Boston this month introduced a policy that guarantees cash values to a greater extent than other types of whole life insurance.
Bank of America Corp. chief executive Kenneth D. Lewis saw his stock options drop 8% to $10.8 million last year, compared with $11.7 million in 2005, according to Financial News.
Baby boomers who are rich in real estate now can get cash out of their homes without taking on debt or making a payment, but at least one competitor questions whether the idea is a Faustian bargain.
One of the founders of Financial Network Investment Corp., the largest independent-contractor broker-dealer in the ING Advisors Network Inc., walked out the door last month and joined NFP Securities Inc., leaving some observers to wonder how many registered representatives affiliated with FNIC eventually could follow.
A trade group for the variable annuity industry today announced a technology initiative intended to save time and money for VA distributors through streamlining and standardization.
Joseph Moglia’s proclamation that his company is spending big money to align the TD Ameritrade brand with thoughtful investment advice drew initial applause from financial advisers listening to the Omaha, Neb.-based company’s chairman and chief executive at its Partnership 2007 conference here last week.
BOSTON — Just because the Enron Corp. and market-timing scandals have led to greater disclosure requirements doesn’t mean that some mutual fund companies aren’t still burying some doozies in their regulatory filings, according to Russel Kinnel, director of mutual fund research for Morningstar Inc.
The Securities and Exchange Commission continues to forge ahead in its quest to wrap some kind of regulatory lasso around the $1.2 trillion hedge fund industry. Why it is doing so isn’t entirely clear.
WASHINGTON — Be careful what you wish for with regard to cost basis reporting, as it might cause a headache of colossal proportions.
