Fiduciary Duty

Looked at through the lens of action cinema, there is almost enough intrigue and drama in the last four years of SEC oversight to launch a new movie series. Never before in our history has this agency, so critical to markets and investor protection, been as tested to its limits as it has since 2008.

U.S. SEC commissioners' presentations highlight the extent investors' trust has declined due to the crises and scandals of the past few years and provide a review of the development and interpretations of the securities laws most directly related to Section 913 of the Dodd-Frank Act.

Are private investment funds playing trick or treat with their fiduciary obligations and are institutional fiduciaries (your pension fund, for example) letting them get away with it? The answers are potentially frightening.

Under pressure to find ways to reduce deficits and the national debt, Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee are looking for ways to cut government spending. Oversight of investment advisers is an area seen as an easy target.

In an op-ed in the "New York Times," former Goldman exec Greg Smith penned a scathing indictment of what he claimed was an eroding culture of integrity at his old firm. Jon Stokes examines the impact on the investment profession as a whole.

Does it matter to investors whether their financial advisers follow a fiduciary standard? The answer appears to be “No,” according to the J.D. Power 2011 U.S. Full Service Investor Satisfaction Study. READ MORE ›

CFA Institute has spent considerable time developing a code of conduct for pension trustees. The Pension Trustee Code of Conduct (PDF) is not a how-to manual or another entry into the parade of best-practice guidelines for… READ MORE ›

After months of anticipation, staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released their long-awaited study of the obligations of those who provide investment advice to retail investors, as mandated by the… READ MORE ›