SEC检查了市政顾问和替代共同基金，审查了“包装费”帐户

The Securities and Exchange Commission introduced a two-year plan to examine municipal advisers who assist localities and states to raise money in the $3.7 trillion municipal bond market. During this period, regulators plan to look at a significant chunk of the approximately 1,000 SEC-registered municipal advisers.

这些顾问通常是一两个员工的小公司。他们不隶属于银行。市政顾问保留在时间，价格和市场Muni-Bond交易中。

The SEC has been clamping down on municipalities for not updating investors about their financial health. The regulator wants the U.S. Congress to give it more authority in the market. Right now, muni issuers are exempt from disclosure requirements that corporations have to make when selling securities. Now the agency wants to know whether municipal advisers are meeting their fiduciary duty and placing clients’ interests before their own.

正是2010年的多德 - 弗兰克法律确定了这一义务。同样，根据法律，市政顾问必须在SEC登记，并遵守市政证券规则制定委员会正在制定的规则。bob200体育

In other SEC news, the regulator is conducting a broad examination of alternative mutual funds. This will include scrutiny of big investment firms, including BlackRock Inc. (BLK) and AQR Capital Management LLC, as well as smaller firms that didn’t use to offer mutual funds as investment products to customers. According to sources that spoke toThe Wall Street Journal，监管机构的重点似乎更多是收集有关行业的信息，而不是提出特定的相关执法行动。

Alternative funds, also known as liquid alternative funds, are a category of mutual funds that use hedge fund-like strategies. Fund companies tout them as vehicles for hedging against market risk that are usually less costly for individual investors who want to employ strategies previously reserved for sophisticated investors.

The SEC wants to look at the funds’ liquidity, the way they use leverage, and how much oversight the funds’ boards provide. Previously, the regulator expressed concerned with the risks involved in alternative mutual funds.

同时，该机构还希望解决涉及在注册投资顾问中使用平面费用帐户的利益冲突。客户为管理投资组合的包装产品支付年度或季度费用。他们这样做，而不是为交易者支付个人佣金。

The market includes mutual fund advisory programs, separately management accounts, unified managed accounts, and certain kinds of brokerage-based managed account. If an adviser is charging fees according to assets under management, money management charges for wrap products are additional.

With wrap accounts, reverse churning can happen. This involves placing a client that doesn’t trade often into an account that is fee-based instead of commission-based. Typically, there is hardly (if any) activity to justify the fee.

The SEC recently won a court case against an adviser that improperly placed clients into wrap programs. The investment adviser, Benjamin Lee Grant, was accused of improperly persuading clients to go with him when he left Wedbush Morgan Securities to establish Sage Advisory Group.

According to the regulator, Grant convinced clients to make the move by claiming they would save on fees. Rather than paying 1% plus commissions for trading like they did at Wedbush, they would just pay Sage a 2% wrap fee.

但是，SEC表示，格兰特没有告诉客户，在Charles Schwab＆Co。（SCWH）的经纪费用将要低得多，这是Sage使用的折扣经纪人。格兰特随后赚了节省。

Contact oursecurities fraud law firm今天。

SEC打破包装帐户, InvestmentNews, August 14, 2014

SEC Launches Examination of Alternative Mutual Funds, The Wall Street Journal, August 12, 2014
美国SEC启动市政顾问考试，路透社，2014年8月19日
Federal jury sides with SEC against Boston investment adviser in fraud case，商业期刊，2014年8月14日

更多的博客文章:
SEC Charges Linkbrokers Derivatives in $18M Securities Fraud, Institutional Investor Securities Blog, August 18, 2014

FINRA Investor Alert Warns About Scams Touting Ebola Cure and Other Viral Disease Stock Schemes，股票经纪人欺诈博客，2014年8月19日

瑞银（UBS）财富，奥本海默基金会（Oppenheimerfunds，股票经纪人欺诈博客，2014年8月15日