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William Byrnes (Texas A&M) tax & compliance articles

Archive for January, 2012

FINRA Sets Regulatory Sights on Structured Products

Posted by William Byrnes on January 11, 2012


The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is targeting structured products over concerns about unsuitable sales to retail customers. In an exclusive interview with AdvisorOne (a Summit Business Media product) Bradley Bennett, enforcement chief at FINRA, said that the agency’s caseload on the recent financial crisis has eased up, and the agency is ready to renew its focus on structured products.

Structured products are often marketed to retail customers without an adequate explanation of their associated risks.  “They purport to give the alchemy of lowering risk while increasing yield,” Bennett said, “but the risk needs to be explained” both to the broker-dealer’s “sales force and customers, and be suitable given the customer’s financial circumstances.”

Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).

For previous coverage of structured products in Advisor’s Journal, see SEC Warns Investors about Principal Protected Notes (CC 11-117).

For in-depth analysis of structured products, see Advisor’s Main Library: 7774. What is a structured product? How are structured products taxed?

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Better Late than Never: SEC Implements the Switch

Posted by William Byrnes on January 10, 2012


As anticipated, the SEC will delay implementation of the RIA transition. On June 22, the SEC approved rules that will transition thousands of advisors from SEC to state regulation, but the new rules won’t be effective until June 28, 2012, almost a year later than initially expected.

Under the regulatory structure in place before the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, investment advisors with $25 million or more in assets under management (AUM) were regulated by the SEC, and those with less than $25 million in AUM were regulated by the states. Dodd-Frank changed the registration threshold so that advisors with between $25 and $100 million in AUM—so-called “midsize advisors”—will be required to withdraw their registration from the SEC and register with state regulators.

Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).

For previous coverage of the planned switch and in Advisor’s Journal, see Disarray at the SEC is Complicating the “Switch” (CC 11-83), Hedge Funds Must Now Register with the SEC under the New Wall Street Reform Act (CC 10-45) & Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (CC 10-35).

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Advisors are from Mars, Clients are from Venus

Posted by William Byrnes on January 3, 2012


You’ve been on a few “dates,” and you talk on the phone every couple weeks, but how well do your prospects and existing clients know you and understand your core personal investing philosophy? Small talk breaks down barriers and common interests keep the conversation moving, but taking the advisor-client relationship to the next level takes some work—and a lot of research. A recent survey gives us a head start by elucidating the communication divide that holds many advisors back from taking the big plunge with their prospects.

The survey found that HNW clients favor electronic communication media more than their advisors. Twice as many millionaires than advisors would like to use technology-enabled media—smart phone applications and social media. While 85% of millionaires are willing to communicate through social-media, e-mail, and text messages, only 43% of brokers and financial advisors share that willingness. And your millionaire clients are also more likely to use LinkedIn than you are (28% to 16%). And a third of millionaires already use social media in general as part of their professional life.

Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).

For other client development discussions in Advisor’s Journal, see Advisors’ Stairsteps of Influence (CC 11-49), Getting Your Feet Wet in the Social Media Market (CC 11-79) & Are Portfolios-To-Go Threatening Your Business? (CC 11-77).

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