Regulation and Compliance News from Financial Planning

Even though advisors doubt it will pass, California's proposed billionaire tax is already reigniting residency and wealth planning conversations.

A federal judge rejects arguments that U.S. Bank has a fiduciary duty toward uninvested cash sitting in clients' brokerage accounts.

At a hearing Tuesday, executives at the Swiss banking giant faced tough questions from both Republicans and Democrats. The lawmakers are unhappy with the bank's recent decision to withhold certain documents from a lawyer who's overseeing research regarding Nazi accounts.

The SEC's decision marks a startling reversal from the full-court press it had mounted against Commonwealth Financial Network in 2019 over alleged failures to disclose conflicts of interest in its brokers' mutual fund recommendations.

Linda Friedman, who has made a career with Wall Street discrimination and harassment cases, is representing an ex-Citi executive in a bombshell lawsuit this week. Things didn't have to take this turn, she contends.

The accounts give wealthy investors more opportunities to place alternative vehicles in a tax-advantaged retirement nest egg. But mistakes can be costly.

Brokers were worried a new rule intended to lighten their responsibility to monitor advisors' side hustles would ironically mean greater supervision duties with RIAs.

A Ninth Circuit appellate panel ruled that10 advisors recruited to LPL from Ameriprise have the right to resist turning over their personal devices to a forensic examiner to be searched for evidence of misappropriated client data.

Even as crypto prices slide, a growing share of financial advisors are adding digital assets to client portfolios, with firm policies slowly catching up.

New OBBBA restrictions mean wealthy donors lose deductions on smaller, routine gifts. Here is how to use DAFs and donation grouping to preserve tax benefits.

The former CEO of Orion Advisor Solutions has since become involved in several artificial intelligence startups, which he hopes will be integrated into advisor technology stacks.

Regulators officially approved 30 more funds last month, with more expected authorizations in 2026. Will financial advisors and their clients bite?

Kyle Busch's lawsuit against Pacific Life and his former insurance agent provides a window into potential issues around complexity, suitability and more in indexed universal life policies.

Systems still don't talk to each other as well as they should in 2026, so advisors are finding their own solutions.

Last January, one of the deadliest and costliest wildfires in modern U.S. History struck, leaving those who survived with hard-won wisdom about how to prepare clients for the next disaster.

The regulator considers raising the AUM threshold it uses when considering how newly proposed rules are likely to affect small RIAs.

Fewer U.S. adults have non-retirement investment accounts than three years earlier, and many retail investors struggle with understanding fees and fraud risk.

Keith Todd Ashley, an advisor indicted for the murder of a client, has turned to the Fifth Circuit of Appeals to fight his 60-year prison sentence in a related fraud case.

The tax shield on student loan forgiveness has expired. Here is how advisors can help clients lower their burdens.

Under a new proposal, clients would have to opt in to receiving account statements and other documents in paper form.