President Joe Biden signed the sweeping $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package last week, and $1,400 checks are already arriving in individual bank accounts. Although the checks are getting the most attention, several items in the bill will help small-employer agencies and advisor businesses, trade association executives say.

Appearing on the inaugural 2021 Allianz Global webcast Tuesday, Guy Adami of CNBC’s “Fast Money” did not hold back his concerns about corporate recklessness. Fueling that recklessness is a Federal Reserve that has been “extraordinarily accommodative” over the past 12 years or so, Adami said.

Financial services trade associations raise substantial sums of political action committee funds, money that supports lobbying efforts on important issues. In light of last week’s mob attack on the Capitol and the tense political atmosphere, trade associations are reviewing donor policies.

The Congressional Review Act was a little-used device that Republicans used frequently early in the Trump presidency. It’s a model that a Democrat-controlled Senate could employ to kill two rules that invited public scorn.

Readers had service on the mind in 2020, as COVID-19 wrecked the economy and made face-to-face service next to impossible. The most-read stories at Advisor News reflected that service anxiety.

Commissioners were expected to discuss updating “rules that govern investment adviser marketing to accommodate the continual evolution and interplay of technology and advice, while preserving investor protections.”

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners ended their fall meeting by electing a new slate of 2021 officers, with President-elect Dean Cameron announcing that he has COVID-19. Cameron, 59, is a former longtime Idaho state senator and that state’s insurance commissioner.

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged ICE Data Pricing & Reference Data, a global securities pricing service and New York-based registered investment adviser, for compliance deficiencies relating to its delivery to clients of prices based on quotes it received from a single market participant, also known as single broker quotes.

Financial advisor Chris Lund is getting more referrals than ever, despite abandoning his public office months ago amid the coronavirus shutdown. Lund is among advisors who have successfully utilized social media and new ways of connecting with clients to keep their firms growing during the pandemic.

It is often strategy that determines whether advisors are successful or whether they underperform, said Chip Roame, managing partner of Tiburon Strategic Advisors. In particular 11 things that an advisor needs to figure out in order to be a success.

A Colorado court recently found in favor of Great-West in a 2016 lawsuit claiming the insurer had charged “excessive fees” to its retirement plan participants. The case outcome is good news for insurers wary of increasing regulation focused on retirement plans and rollovers.

More than one-third of financial advisors say they plan to retire within the next decade. That means 120,000 to 150,000 advisors leaving the business. It also means there will be a lot of succession planning issues throughout the industry, said Chip Roame, managing partner of Tiburon Strategic Advisors.

Orion Advisor Solutions made headlines last month with the blockbuster acquisition of Brinker Capital, a turnkey asset management platform (TAMP). The deal brings Orion’s combined TAMP assets under management to $40 billion. That deal is a sign of things to come, one analyst said.

In court documents, regulators say Mark Baxter, also known as Mark Morrow, began running Craigslist notices early in 2018 promising to train respondents and/or invest in winning stocks for them. The all-caps posts were made in at least 49 states, two countries, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, regulators said.

SG Americas agreed to pay a $1.55 million civil penalty to resolve the SEC’s charges and separately agreed to pay $1.55 million to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to resolve parallel charges.

Investment adviser Brandon E. Copeland and his advisory firm, E.B. & Copeland Capital, Inc. were recently ordered to pay a hefty fine for what the Securities and Exchange Commission is calling “recidivist” violations.

The Financial Planning Association kicked off an emergency search for a new CEO today after the abrupt departure of Lauren M. Schadle on Friday. Patrick Mahoney, founder and CEO of Stoic Advisors, was named interim CEO.

A Massachusetts advisor herded dozens of unsuspecting investors into a risky, “one-size-fit-all” investment strategy, state securities’ regulators allege. The strategy concentrated a high amount of client funds on risky energy sector partnerships, regulators say.

Kimberly Nguygen of Garland, Texas, is claiming Florida-based Raymond James moved her from a commission-based to a fee-based account even though she is a “buy and hold” investor who would require few, if any, trades.

A Gain Capital shareholder filed a proposed class-action lawsuit in a Delaware federal court last week, seeking to stop Gain’s acquisition by INTL FCStone Inc. The lawsuit claims Gain is keeping crucial information from shareholders.

A White Plains, N.Y. man and two companies will pay a $3.5 million fine to the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle allegations of fraud and market manipulation that included buying and selling a stock to make it appear to be a hot property.

A Florida man was served with an emergency cease-and-desist order by Texas officials who claim he was touting a “recession-proof” investment to weather COVID-19. In reality, officials say he was selling unregistered securities.

On Jan. 19, 2017, a Rite Aid vice president allegedly sold off more than $650,000 in Rite Aid securities before company’s stock price dropped a day later. The exec avoided an $87,277 loss with the sell-off, regulators said, but will pay much more after his day in court.