Regulators belonging to the Financial Stability Oversight Council are looking at the new practices of asset managers, mortgage services companies, and insurers to search for potential threats related to certain high risk investment areas. The group just issued its yearly report to Congress, highlighting certain risks, both current and emerging…
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (MS) will pay a $5 million fine for supervisory failures involving its advisors soliciting shares in 83 IPOs to retail investors. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority says that the firm lacked the proper training and procedures to make sure that salespersons knew the difference between…
A Financial Industry Arbitration panel says that Ameriprise Financial Services Inc. (AMP) must pay $1.17M to two senior investors for getting them involved in investments that failed. The panel said that the financial firm acted inappropriately when it advised Albertus Niehuis Jr., 82, and his wife Andrea, to put $1.03M…
The Federal Reserve says that for now Bank of America (BAC) has to suspend its plans to give money back to shareholders because it did not correctly report capital ratios on recent stress tests. The mistake was a result of an “incorrect adjustment” connected to bad debts that the bank…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has decided to pay closer attention to the sale of fixed annuities in part because brokerage firms are selling a larger chunk of indexed annuities these days. Regulators want to examine the procedures and policies involving clients giving up or trading variable annuities to place…
The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against American Pension Services Inc., a third-party administrator of retirement plans based in Utah and its founder Curtis L. DeYoung. The regulator says that they caused clients to lose about $22 million in risky investments involving certain business ventures. American Pension Services…
The New York Stock Exchange and other entities have agreed to collectively pay $4.5 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission allegations over regulatory and compliance violations. This includes the claim that there was a failure to abide by the duties of self-regulatory organizations to make sure their businesses follow…
Speaking before a US House of Representatives panel, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White addressed allegations about the high-frequency trading markets saying they “are not rigged.” Her statement was in response to allegations made in Michael Lewis’ book “Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt,” which questioned the role…
Stephen Walsh, a WG Trading Co. money manager and principal has pleaded guilty to bilking institutional investors of more than $554 million over a period of 13 years. Walsh and EG’s ex-general partner Paul Greenwood were charged in 2009 with allegations accusing them of using the investment advisory firm and…
According to InvestmentNews, some of the largest asset managers in the world are complaining that draft proposals for identifying financial institutions besides insurers and banks that may be too big to fail would employ an erroneous analysis of the investment industry. Fidelity Investment, Pacific Investment Management Co.(PIMCO), BlackRock Inc. (BLK),…