Regulation, Legal & Compliance

Displaying 11054 results
LIFE INSURANCE AND ANNUITIES MAR 11, 2010
American Equity fined $275K for unapproved annuity sales

The Minnesota Commerce Department claims that the insurer sold 541 contracts worth $28 million that weren't OK'd by state

By Darla Mercado
REGULATION, LEGAL & COMPLIANCE MAR 11, 2010
Dodd seen scrapping fiduciary requirement for brokers in proposal

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., is expected to introduce new financial reform legislation this week that excludes applying a fiduciary standard to brokers offering investment advice.

By Jessica Toonkel Marquez
REGULATION, LEGAL & COMPLIANCE MAR 11, 2010
Expected about-face on placement agents invites criticism

The Securities and Exchange Commission's expected move to regulate placement agents as broker-dealers instead of prohibiting investment advisers from using them won't curb influence-peddling, some critics say.

By Dan Jamieson
LIFE INSURANCE AND ANNUITIES MAR 11, 2010
Will regulators kill off fledgling secondary market for death benefits?

By Darla Mercado
PRACTICE MANAGEMENT MAR 10, 2010
Wachovia will pay $160M to settle 'historic' money laundering case

Banking giant Wachovia Corp. will pay $160 million to settle a federal investigation into laundering of illegal drug profits through Mexican exchange houses in the largest case of its kind ever brought against a U.S. bank, prosecutors said Wednesday.

By Mark Bruno
LIFE INSURANCE AND ANNUITIES MAR 10, 2010
Secondary market for annuities comes under pressure

The nascent secondary market for annuities and their guaranteed benefits could be stunted as the result of a vote last week by state insurance regulators to allow carriers to terminate the annuity benefits if a client sells the contract.

By Darla Mercado
REGULATION, LEGAL & COMPLIANCE MAR 10, 2010
FSC Securities sued by former branch manager after alleged buyout attempt

A former branch manager who headed one of the largest groups of reps at FSC Securities Corp. is suing the broker-dealer after what he claims was a thwarted and contentious attempt to buy the business from parent AIG Advisor Group earlier last year.

By Bruce Kelly
REGULATION, LEGAL & COMPLIANCE MAR 10, 2010
Ex-AIG adviser who practiced voodoo on victims gets 12 years for fraud

A Tennessee representative formerly affiliated with AIG Financial Advisors Inc. spent time making voodoo dolls of his victims to ward off their damaging testimony, prosecutors said.

By Bruce Kelly
REGULATION, LEGAL & COMPLIANCE MAR 09, 2010
SIPC's legal tab for Madoff liquidation now up to $37M — and counting

By Associated Press
FDIC seizes four more banks
REGULATION, LEGAL & COMPLIANCE MAR 08, 2010
FDIC seizes four more banks

Regulators shut four banks from California to Florida on Friday, boosting to 20 the number of U.S. bank failures this year following the 140 closures last year in the worst financial climate in decades.

By Associated Press
LIFE INSURANCE AND ANNUITIES MAR 08, 2010
CFP Board strips credentials from admitted Ponzi-schemer

The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc on Friday placed Oren Eugene Sullivan Jr. under interim suspension, keeping the ex-broker from using its credentials.

By Darla Mercado
RETIREMENT PLANNING MAR 08, 2010
Industry groups retrench on defining financial planners

Bowing to the political clout of the insurance and securities industries, the Financial Planning Coalition has given up its effort to get Congress to establish a definition of financial planning that would have brought thousands of insurance and securities brokers and money managers under the sway of an oversight board that the FPC seeks to create.

By Jed Horowitz
RETIREMENT PLANNING MAR 08, 2010
Financial Planning Coalition accepts reality on regulatory reform

In the face of opposition from influential insurance and securities industry groups, the Financial Planning Coalition has moderated its ambition to get Congress to establish a broad regulatory scheme for financial planners.

By Bloomberg
SEC's Aguilar says target date recommendations coming soon
MUTUAL FUNDS MAR 07, 2010
SEC's Aguilar says target date recommendations coming soon

The Securities and Exchange commissioner says "vague and confusing" language describing target date funds led to investor confusion when investments performed poorly during the market downturn.

By David Hoffman
REGULATION, LEGAL & COMPLIANCE MAR 07, 2010
Schwab ordered by Finra to pay ex-employee $1.8M

The self regulatory organization ruled that Schwab's human resources group committed “gross negligence, and contributed to the damages suffered” by a former employee who claimed the brokerage had made defamatory comments on his termination notice.

By Bruce Kelly
REGULATION, LEGAL & COMPLIANCE MAR 04, 2010
Financial adviser admits to embezzling $4.3M from clients

A former financial adviser from Plymouth, Mass., has pleaded guilty in federal court to embezzling $4.3 million from his clients and using the money for personal expenses, including to make mortgage payments and pay his daughter's college tuition.

By Associated Press
REGULATION, LEGAL & COMPLIANCE MAR 04, 2010
Mark Cuban claim of SEC bias is 'absurd,' agency says

Securities and Exchange Commission investigators were trying to persuade supervisors to protect billionaire Mark Cuban's privacy when they internally e-mailed photos demonstrating his fame, the agency said.

By Bloomberg
REGULATION, LEGAL & COMPLIANCE MAR 04, 2010
Citigroup to repay $20B debt to U.S. Treasury

Citigroup Inc. said it is repaying $20 billion in bailout money it received from the Treasury Department, in a bid to reduce government influence over the banking giant.

By Associated Press
REGULATION, LEGAL & COMPLIANCE MAR 03, 2010
Court upholds branch office manager's win against Hilliard

A Federal judge refuses to vacate an award from June 2009 arbitration ruling.

By Dan Jamieson
REGULATION, LEGAL & COMPLIANCE MAR 03, 2010
LPL adviser's ads blast 'economic treason' of Wall Street

Adviser Frank Congemi is running radio spots this week lambasting government officials and Wall Street firms for the financial crisis, which he calls the “largest economic crime in history.”

By Bloomberg