Equitable Financial Settles SEC Charges for $50M
The market regulator says the firm provided misleading account statements to investors.
Tag: Fees
Birdthistle Takes Helm at SEC Division of Investment Management
SEC Chair Gary Gensler says he looks forward to working closely with William Birdthistle, an at-times harsh critic of the mutual fund industry, to plan and execute a proactive regulatory agenda.
Mississippi Is Latest State to Embrace NAIC Annuity Sales Rules
Supporters of the NAIC annuity transaction suitability model say a fiduciary-only approach to annuity purchase advice would limit consumer choice—a claim its opponents dispute.
The Fiduciary Insurance Market Crunch Matters for Everyone
In a Q&A with PLANADVISER, expert benefits attorney Erin Turley points to a critical emerging challenge for the retirement plan services industry and its clients: a significant tightening in the fiduciary insurance marketplace.
Schwab Faces Failure-To-Monitor Scrutiny in Massachusetts
The firm is accused of failing to take sufficient steps to monitor customer accounts for further payments to a former adviser—himself accused of substantial wrongdoing—whose registration last lapsed in 2014.
Compliance
DOL Investigation Lessons Learned From Long Experience
Drawing on their collective decades of experience working inside and outside the DOL, a panel of expert ERISA attorneys convened this week by Faegre Drinker had a lot of timely lessons to share regarding investigations of investment advisers.
Regulatory & compliance | investments
How 3(38) Advising Profits Clients
Investment management turns up inefficiencies, takes on some risk, and more.
Client Service
Common Mistakes Advisers Make That Should be Avoided
Experts outline several ways advisers can ensure they keep the loyalty of their clients.
Compliance
Compliance
Investing
Compliance
Compliance
What to Expect From a Biden Appointee-Led SEC
A former Securities and Exchange Commission litigator who was at the regulator during the transition from the Clinton administration to the Bush administration considers what might happen when Democratic President-elect Joe Biden takes office.
Arkansas Is Latest State to Consider NAIC Annuity Sales Standards
The state’s Insurance Department Rule 82, which may soon be updated to match a suitability framework recently adopted by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, seeks to address conflicts of interest among annuity providers and their proxies.
How COVID-19 Volatility and Near-Zero Rates Benefit Annuities
In the current market environment, safe assets simply do not pay what they once did, but that doesn’t mean annuities have become less attractive. In fact, on a relative basis, annuities currently make a lot of economic sense.
Salesforce Ruling Offers Key Lessons About Revenue Sharing, Fee Litigation
The dismissal ruling pushes back against overly broad claims suggesting that actively managed mutual funds and revenue sharing are inherently imprudent in qualified retirement plans.
Salesforce Defeats ERISA Excessive Fee Litigation
A district court in California has proven to be skeptical of claims suggesting that active management funds are categorically imprudent retirement plan investments; the ruling also defends the use of revenue sharing.
New Excessive Fee Suit Alleges Familiar 401(k) and 403(b) Plan Breaches
Allegations in the lawsuit against Barnabas Health closely parrot other proposed class action complaints filed in the past year against health care systems by the law firm Capozzi Adler.
Investing
Compliance
Compliance
Compliance
Investing
Future Trends in CIT Product Development
Although collective investment trusts hold a fraction of the total assets in retirement plans, with ongoing changes in the broader intermediary landscape, they appear to be poised for continued growth.
SEC Staff: COVID-19 Creates New Compliance Considerations
Market volatility related to COVID-19 may have heightened the risk of misconduct in various areas that the SEC staff believes merit additional attention from advisers and compliance professionals.
Quest Diagnostics Faces Additional ERISA Litigation
The medical testing company is already facing scrutiny for its use of actively managed investments within its retirement plan; it is now the subject of a broader excessive fee lawsuit.
State Securities Charges Highlight Potential for REIT Sales Issues
A registered representative of NEXT Financial Group is accused of manipulating key figures and data used to monitor sales of real estate investment trusts to certain client groups, allegedly rendering the monitoring efforts “meaningless.”
Consider How CITs Can Fit Into Your Practice
Collective investment trusts (CITs) can help clients address fee pressures, support an increased focus on fiduciary obligations, provide a means to build white-labeled investments and more.
Some Parties Question PE’s Role in DC Plans
It is common to hear that private equity (PE) has been the best performing asset class in recent years for institutional investors, but a new academic analysis challenges that idea.