More On Legal & Compliance
from The Advisor's Professional Library- Client Commission Practices and Soft Dollars RIAs should always evaluate whether the products and services they receive from broker-dealers are appropriate. The SEC suggested that an RIA’s failure to stay within the scope of the Section 28(e) safe harbor may violate the advisor’s fiduciary duty to clients, so RIAs must evaluate their soft dollar relationships on a regular basis to ensure they are disclosed properly and that they do not negatively impact the best execution of clients’ transactions.
- How to Avoid Sabotaging Your Compliance Exam There is much more to compliance examination survival than knowing all of the rules. It helps to understand why the rules were put in place—and to recognize that examiners are not the enemy.
While there are worries that the measures will have a negative effect on Wall Street's profits (41%), 30% feel that the opposite will occur. Feelings also run slightly stronger that they will negatively, rather than positively, affect Main Street, though the margin is smaller (36% vs. 31%). And 29% expect a negative effect on their own spending habits, compared with 26% who feel the outcome will affect them positively.
Marc Harris, co-head of Global Research at RBC Capital Markets, theorizes in the outlook that perhaps they have not yet assimilated the potential effects of the bill on their own wallets. He adds, "Americans are very cautious about making any changes in their own spending habits as they continue to expect a bumpy, drawn-out recovery."
Consumer confidence is still dropping, down 11 points in the RBC Consumer Index from 58.4 in June to 47.2; those close to someone who has lost a job have risen, up three points to 48% and ending a five-month downward trend. One-third are now worried about layoffs within their own households, up from 28% in June.
Near-term, most (55%) feel their finances are stable and debt levels will remain the same (50%); over the next three months, however, 44% expect the economy to deteriorate further over the next three months, and 30% anticipate a worsening in their own and U.S. finances over the next year. Concern about investing in the stock market in the next 30 days has dropped from 43% to 34%, and real estate was seen in a marginally more positive light (29% in June to 31% in July).
Read more about the financial reform bill: marketplace winners and losers; impact on advisors, broker/dealers, and banks; the fiduciary standard for brokers; and the history of financial reform.
