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Dodd bill places consumer protection agency under the Fed: sources
Sources say Sen. Dodd's financial reform bill places the hotly debated consumer protection agency -- designed to regulate bank products -- under the aegis of the bank-owned Federal Reserve.
Life insurers sue B-Ds over third-party VA sales
Two life insurers are suing a trio of broker-dealers, accusing them of fraudulently selling to third parties variable annuities with lucrative death benefits on terminally ill individuals.
B-Ds fret over proposed placement agent rules
A bill introduced last week in the California Legislature would require money manager placement agents to register as lobbyists and regulate their compensation.
Consumer groups say brokers may dodge fiduciary requirement
A proposal that would require brokers providing advice to be regulated as RIAs may be dropped from financial reform legislation, according to consumer groups and state securities regulators.
Bankers descend on Capitol Hill as Congress debates overhaul bill
Chief executives at some of the biggest financial institutions are on a mission to repair their image with Congress and the public, part of a strategy to gain more influence over legislation that would overhaul financial regulations and intrude further into their business.
CFTC claims trader skinned investors in forex fraud
Authorities say Patrick Rakotonanahary's currency trading business was actually a classic Ponzi scheme
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
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.
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.
Will regulators kill off fledgling secondary market for death benefits?
State insurance regulators last Monday voted in favor of a proposal that would allow insurers to terminate an…
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.
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.
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.
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.
SIPC’s legal tab for Madoff liquidation now up to $37M — and counting
A court-appointed trustee and a Manhattan law firm working together to unravel Bernard Madoff’s massive fraud have rung…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
