“Battle of the Best Interests” – InvestSense Blog


A terrific and compelling post about the broken Financial Services industry and Congress by James W. Watkins III over at the Investsense Blog. There really nothing I need to add. Here’s a quick quote:

Despite the benefit that a uniform fiduciary standard would provide for the public, Congress and the financial services industry continue to block a uniform fiduciary standard, putting forth self-serving and disingenuous arguments against the adoption of a uniform fiduciary standard.  The impact of various special interest groups and PACs continue to have more influence on Congress than the welfare of the American public.

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People vs. the Financial Services Industry and Congress – InvestSense Blog

Conflict of Interest – Bank Edition

From Financial Advisor Magazine online:

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) has fined Citigroup Global Markets Inc. $725,000 for failing to disclose conflicts of interest in both its research reports and in public appearances made by its research analysts, officials announced today.

According to Finra, Citigroup failed to disclose potential conflicts of interest inherent in its business relationships in certain research reports it published from January 2007 to March 2010.

I don’t know about you but $725,000 doesn’t seem very punitive for a company that made a profit of $11,300,000,000 last year. Maybe it’s just me…

Click below for the full story.

Citi fined $725,000 for conflicts of interest.