Relief Riders Nominated for U.N. Positive Peace Award
With Relief Riders International, which was nominated Monday, September 6, for a 2010 U.N. NGO Positive Peace Award, participation and giving can be extremely personal.

Habitat for Humanity Honors Gen. Colin Powell
Retired four-star Gen. Colin Powell will return to his South Bronx roots on September 9th to dedicate a new and green affordable multifamily residence.

SEC Chief Schapiro Talks About Market Structure, ‘Flash Crash’
SEC Chair Mary Schapiro spoke about "Strengthening Our Equity Market Structure" to The Economic Club of New York on Tuesday, September 7.

ING Redeems Some Auction Rate Preferred Shares
ING Prime Rate Trust, a closed-end fund, will redeem a portion of the outstanding ARPS at par; declares dividend

Ernst & Young Gets Into Capital Markets Business
The accounting and consulting firm Ernst & Young LLP is getting into the “transaction and capital advisory services” business, starting up a new broker-dealer, Ernst & Young Capital Advisors, LLC (EYCA).

Retirement Planning: FinaMetrica’s Davey Talks of Risk Profiling for Clients
Can psychometric risk assessments help clients stay with the program through turbulent times?

Retirement Planning: News and Products
News on Morningstar, and Insured Retirement Institute (IRI)

‘The Future of Finance’ From London School of Economics
The London School of Economics (LSE) is publishing a new book, The Future of Finance: The LSE Report, which asks: “What is a financial system for?”

‘The Fiduciary Reference’ Delivered to SEC Call for Comments
‘Must-read’ papers include diverse views about fiduciary duty as applied to advice to investors.

EDHEC-Risk Researchers Win Top Prize at Quantitative Investment Research (Inquire) Europe
Report is called “Dynamic Allocation Decisions in the Presence of Funding Ratio Constraints.”

SEC’s Broker-RIA Fiduciary Comment Deadline Near: OPINION Column
In transparent process, industry misinformation shows up. Let us clear it up.

Financial Literacy: Treasury Department Calls for Comment
The Treasury Department is requesting public comments on its planned “financial education core competencies” as part of its mandate as chair of the Financial Literacy and Education Commission.

Montana Sues Securities America for ‘Misleading’ Investors
Montana’s Securities Commissioner has filed a legal action against broker-dealer Securities America, the Ameriprise Financial subsidiary.

Rob Arnott on Seeking a Better Way to Invest in Bonds: The Weekend Interview
Fundamental Indexing for bond funds may change how you invest in that asset class.

OPINION Column: SEC Funding Needs to Change
An SEC that takes in nearly half a billion dollars more than Congress grants it is not as strong as it should be.

Public Policy Forum to Discuss ‘Fiduciary Duty in a Brokerage Setting’
The Committee for the Fiduciary Standard (the Committee), announced a Public Policy Forum: Applying the Fiduciary Standard to the Delivery of Investment Advice, to be held on September 24.

Morningstar Study Says High Fees Are Bad for Investment Performance
A Morningstar study of the impact of mutual fund fees shows that lower-expense funds outperform higher-expense funds—and expenses are a better predictor of future returns than Morningstar’s own star rating.

Fiduciary Thinker: Scholar Tamar Frankel
One of Wealth Manager’s 50 Top Women in Wealth for 2010, Tamar Frankel has been in demand for decades as a top scholar in fiduciary law

AllianceBernstein Ex-CIO to Oversee New York City’s Pension System
An investment management veteran and former chief investment officer for money management giant AllianceBernstein, Ranji Nagaswami, will fill a new, senior post in New York City’s vast pension and retirement system as chief investment advisor.

PowerShares Corporate Bond ETF Shifts to Fundamental Index
Moves from cap-weighted index to fundamental index; the name changes, too.

Tiger 21’s Top 10 Investment Strategies of the Very Wealthy
High-net-worth survey shows wealthy investors understand the need to diversify.

BofA’s Krawcheck Unveils Merrill’s Affluent Investor Survey
On a conference call on July 28, Sallie Krawcheck, president of Bank of America Global Wealth & Investment Management, revealed the results of the Merrill Lynch Wealth Management Affluent Insights Quarterly survey of 1,000 affluent investors.

FinaMetrica’s Davey Talks of Risk Profiling for Clients
Geoff Davey, co-founder of Sydney, Australia-based FinaMetrica, spoke about how to use psychometrics to measure client attitudes toward risk, at the fi360 National Conference in May.

SEC Seeks Public Comments, ‘Greater Transparency’ on New Financial Regulations
Less than a full week after President Obama signed sweeping financial regulation into law, the SEC announced Tuesday, July 27, several initiatives to make the study and rulemaking process “open” and “transparent.”

Knight Capital to Buy Astor Asset Management
Electronic-trading group is buying Astor for about $20 million in cash and stock.