You just know it has to be a good thing if the brokerages are complaining. Regulation, in light of the SEC charge of fraud on Friday of Goldman Sachs and during the debate for more Wall Street oversight, is long overdue. Even as the party of “hell-no” continues to take the opposite side of reform, the need for reining in this potential problem is long overdue. No one is asking for risk to be removed entirely from the marketplace. What is being asked is much more simple: If we ask is there risk, we want a definitive answer yes or no.
Meanwhile, brokerages are beginning to rant quite loudly over efforts of FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc.) to force brokerages to disclose more information than they have in the past.
According to the article published to day in Investment News, “Finra proposes that firms be required to give it 30 days’ notice of changes for a long list of seemingly routine business activities: new products or services; expansion of sales personnel and branches beyond certain limits; investments or divestitures that involve 10% or more of a firm’s ownership, assets or revenue; changes in key personnel; and changes in a member’s service providers.” These are al reasonable proposal by the regulator to improve how it functions under the new protections of the average investor.
When it comes to retirement planning or simply the act of investing, there are a great many obstacles that you must overcome. Unfortunately, many of those hurdles are well-hidden and the impact of bumping into them might not be within your realm of understanding until it is too late. Lately, I am beginning to think that if you are in the financial industry and some regulation makes you want to cry foul – it must be worthwhile.
Read more of Dam Jamieson’s article here.
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