As we reported previously, Credit Suisse has decided to exit the retail U.S. brokerage market and has been in discussions with Wells Fargo to transition Credit Suisse brokers to Wells Fargo where they can have access to […]

JP Morgan announced that it will pay over $300 million to settle SEC charges that it failed to disclose […]

On Wednesday, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) submitted proposed Rule 2273 to the SEC for formal approval. The rule, titled “Educational Communication Related to Recruitment Practices and Account Transfers,” […]

Morgan Stanley announced it will eliminate 1,200 positions, amounting to 25% of the firm’s entire fixed income trading staff as well as other infrastructure […]

The Securities and Exchange Commission focused on several new types of financial and securities abuses during 2015 and filed a record number of enforcement actions and fines against companies and individuals […]

Former Ameriprise broker, Susan Elizabeth Walker of Minnesota, has been sentenced to seven years in in prison for stealing $1 million from her clients to pay for personal expenses including vacations and her children’s private school tuition. Walker plead guilty […]

MetLife, Inc., the largest U.S. life insurer, has disclosed that FINRA has indicated it will seek a “significant fine” from MetLife as part of FINRA’s investigation of MetLife’s possible violations in the sale of variable annuities […]

Credit Suisse, like most brokerage firms, takes a portion of broker compensation and agrees to pay that compensation as “deferred compensation” years down the road. It is a way of enticing brokers to stay, and not leave, the firm. […]

An increasing number of FINRA registered brokers, and smaller broker-dealers, have given up their FINRA licenses and moved to the Registered Investment Advisory model […]

The chairman of the House Financial Services subcommittee on capital markets, Rep. Scott Garrett, (R., N.J.), introduced a bill last Thursday that would give defendants in SEC administrative proceedings the right […]

Credit Suisse has announced plans to wind down its U.S. private banking division, which means the bank’s approximately 250 brokers will need to find a new home whether they like it or not. Rather than buying Credit Suisse’s boutique brokerage division outright, Wells Fargo recently announced an agreement with Credit Suisse to “recruit” […]

Investment News released an online article last week indicating that women’s advancements into senior positions at financial advisory firms have stalled. While women comprise approximately half of the total number of employees at a typical advisory firm […]

Respondents challenging the constitutionality of SEC administrative proceedings imposing civil penalties on unregulated individuals have had a measure of success so far in the Northern District of Georgia […]

UBS AG has agreed to a $19.5 million settlement with the SEC over claims the bank misled investors about the risk tied to debt securities […]

For at least the past decade, financial advisers have been steadily moving from traditional broker-dealer firms to independent RIAs. While brokerage firms are regulated by FINRA--and subject to rigorous FINRA examinations at least every two years--most RIAs are regulated by the SEC where, on average, RIA firms are examined just once every ten years. […]

Ray Lucia, Sr. is a San Diego based “financial adviser” whom the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) barred from the securities industry in 2013 and fined he and his firm $300,000.00 for allegedly misrepresenting a retirement investment “strategy” known as the “Buckets of Money” program. Last month, the SEC voted to uphold that decision which strongly criticized Lucia and his deceptive “Buckets of Money” sales pitch. […]

Laurie Bebo, the former chief executive of Assisted Living Concepts, Inc. was hit with a $4.2 million civil penalty today after the SEC administrative law judge ruled that she had engaged in a fraudulent scheme […]

Former Morgan Stanley financial adviser Galen Marsh plead guilty to accessing the firm’s computer network without permission, some of which information wound up on a public website. […]

We have been regularly updating the wave of lawsuits that have been filed against the SEC this year, charging that the Commission’s use of in-house courts to try civil actions against individuals is unconstitutional. […]

FINRA’s Board of Governors voted to implement several key regulatory changes for broker-dealers including one that will make it harder for brokers to expunge, or erase, customer complaints from their CRD records. […]