Industry

Despite Its Long Rap Sheet, Merrill Lynch Is Coopting The Fiduciary Message; Thundering Herd Will Beat A Glorious Path To Restoring Investor Trust

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Merrill Lynch’s rap sheet from the past decade reads like a chapter in a book about the history investment fraud, and the blundering herd played a central role in the global debt crisis. Yet the head of Merrill’s U.S. wealth management division and worldwide private banking and investment group posted an article in Barron’s this past weekend sounding remarkably like a consumer crusader. 

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Charles J. Yang, CFA, Elected Chair Of CFA Institute Board Of Governors

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Charles J. Yang, CFA, has been elected the new chair of the Board of Governors of CFA Institute, the global association of investment professionals. Effective Sept. 1, Yang succeeds Alan M. Meder, CFA, who will continue to serve on the Board as immediate past chair. A new board lineup was elected by the membership at the CFA Institute 66th Annual Conference in May.   CFA Institute represents a competitor to the CFP mark and is growing fast. CFA Institute says it has more than 117,000 members in 137 countries and territories,

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Financial Planning Coalition, Taking On Wall Street And The SEC, In A David Versus Goliath Battle On The Fiduciary Standard

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The Financial Planning Coalition (FPC), in a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission released today, argues convincingly for the adoption of a fiduciary standard. FPC—a union of the CFP Board of Standards, Financial Planning Association, and the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors—assails Wall Street in the 25-page letter and criticizes the SEC. FPC argues forcefully for imposing a single fiduciary obligation on all advisors and says that standard should be no less stringent than the standard imposed by the Investment Adviser Act of 1940.

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Advisors Beware: “Boiler Room Legalization Act” Is Expected To Be Implemented By SEC Shortly, Ushering In A New Era Of Investment Fraud

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The Securities And Exchange Commission is expected to soon release long-overdue rules implementing the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, which was signed into law by President Obama in April 2012. JOBS is an unprecedented loosening of rules on private deals and likely to usher in an era of rampant investment fraud, the likes of which not we’ve not seen since the penny-stock boiler-rooms of the 1980s.

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A Source Tells Reuters That Former CFP Board Chair Alan Goldfarb Will Be Publicly Admonished By Board For Misleading Disclosure

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Reuters reported over the weekend that the former chairman of CFP Board, Alan Goldfarb, who resigned in November 2012 after being accused of misrepresenting how he was compensated on a website for consumers, will be publicly admonished next week by CFP Board. 

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