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.
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.
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.
In an effort to prevent top brokers from bolting, wirehouses quietly are backing down from their tough stance against allowing advisers to act as fiduciaries to employee retirement plans.
WASHINGTON — Be careful what you wish for with regard to cost basis reporting, as it might cause a headache of colossal proportions.
SAN FRANCISCO — The biggest software company in the world may be forcing financial advisers to purchase expensive hardware in the wake of its recent upgrade.
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.
Regulators are backing off their aggressive pursuit of B share cases. In the clearest indication yet that enforcers have changed their tune, the SEC late last month dropped a prominent B share case against former Prudential Securities Inc. broker Robert Ostrowski.
Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. continues to lead the wirehouse race for net new client assets.
A California court ruling late last month may make it easier for states to sue financial firms, according to legal experts.
A congressman who raised eyebrows last month when he seemed to imply that annuities are the answer to the need for lifetime retirement income claims he was misunderstood.
The securities arbitration system should be reformed or else investors should be given the option of taking their disputes to court, according to a group that represents state securities regulators.
As the Department of Labor puts pressure on advisers to make 401(k) fees more transparent, some financial advisers are refunding fees to participants that they are being paid from mutual fund companies.
NEW YORK — The online options trading arena is rapidly expanding, as the cost to trade such investments has fallen significantly.
IRVINE, Calif. — Wachovia Securities LLC of Richmond, Va., is expected to roll out in coming weeks a significant new incentive program.
WASHINGTON — Proponents of allowing insurers to be federally regulated are taking heart in the inclusion of that proposal in a report recently issued by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.
OTTAWA — After much consultation, the Canadian Securities Administrators’ Regulation Reform Project is about to surface, though exactly when isn’t clear.
BOSTON — Franklin Resources Inc., the nation’s fourth-largest mutual fund company, boosted its head count by 229 workers last quarter, with more than 90% of that growth coming from India, where it opened a new facility last month.
Corporate America received a dose of common sense when The Home Depot Inc. said that its new chief executive, Frank Blake, would be paid a fraction of what his predecessor was taking home.
The Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration released its first Field Assistance Bulletin of the year, which provides guidance to field investigators regarding an exemption for investment advice in the Pension Protection Act.
