Legal & Compliance

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  Obama Names Replacements for SEC’s Walter, Paredes

  By Melanie Waddell, AdvisorOne  |  May 24, 2013

  Kara Stein of Sen. Jack Reed’s office will replace Walter, while Senate Banking economist Mike Piwowar will replace Paredes.

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  FINRA on Record Enforcement Pace in ’13, Enforcement Chief Says

  By Melanie Waddell, AdvisorOne  |  May 24, 2013

  “FINRA enforcement continues to have a strong caseload, with a record number of cases on the same pace this year as last,” said Brad Bennett, FINRA’s chief of enforcement.

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  House Measure to Slow Fiduciary Rulemaking Poses Little Threat: Industry Officials

  By Melanie Waddell, AdvisorOne  |  May 23, 2013

  A discussion draft introduced Thursday designed to stymie efforts by the SEC and DOL to craft fiduciary rules will prove to be of little consequence, fi360's Duane Thompson and other experts said.

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  SEC, FINRA Enforcement: Father, Son Cherry-Picking Scheme; South Miami in Muni-Bond Fraud

  By Marlene Y. Satter, AdvisorOne  |  May 23, 2013

  Recent enforcement actions include charges against a father and son for making undeclared trades and then cherry-picking the profitable ones, and charges against the city of South Miami for defrauding investors on muni bonds.

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  FINRA Inks Deal With Direct Edge, Gains Oversight of 90% of Equity Trading Volume

  By Melanie Waddell, AdvisorOne  |  May 22, 2013

  FINRA announced Wednesday that Direct Edge, the third-largest stock exchange operator in the U.S., has made a deal with FINRA to provide market surveillance services on behalf of Direct Edge's two licensed stock exchanges.

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  5 Indie BDs Ordered to Pay $9.6M for Nontraded REIT Violations

  By Melanie Waddell, AdvisorOne  |  May 22, 2013

  Massachusetts Securities Regulator William Galvin ordered five IBDs to pay $8.6 million in restitution to investors and fined them a total of $975,000 for improper sales of nontraded REITs.

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  The CFP Board’s CE Proposal: What’s Driving This Flawed Idea?

  By Michael E. Kitces  |  May 22, 2013

  In the final post in a series, an exploration of what may be behind the CFP Board’s proposal to offer continuing education. Is it looking to compete with other planning associations?

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  William Galvin: The 2013 IA 25 Extended Profile

  By Melanie Waddell, AdvisorOne  |  May 22, 2013

  Since taking on an additional 139 advisors with $6.6 billion in assets under the Dodd-Frank “switch,” Massachusetts has “been able to do what the Securities and Exchange Commission hasn’t.”

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  FINRA’s Ketchum to SEC: Act Now on Fiduciary, or We’ll Make Our Own Disclosure Rules

  By Melanie Waddell, AdvisorOne  |  May 21, 2013

  Ketchum said, that without action, FINRA would “look hard” at issuing “an additional disclosure rule with respect to broker-dealer firms.”

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  Inexperienced Plan Sponsors Need a Little Love From Fund Websites

  By Gil Weinreich, AdvisorOne  |  May 21, 2013

  Fund firms managing employee retirement accounts make it needlessly difficult for plan sponsors to fulfill their fiduciary obligations, a new Dalbar study has found.