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The Commodity Futures Trading Commission finalized several amendments to the registration and compliance requirements applicable to certain investment companies, including family offices. Family offices that trade futures contracts or even hire managers that include futures contracts in their portfolios would have to register under the Investment C...

With incidents of Internet crime surpassing 300,000 annually and continuing to grow, computer users are wise to watch for the warning signs that their computers are being hacked and to be proactive in protecting themselves. This article provides best practices for preventing security breaches as well as a checklist to help maintain your personal se...

Life insurance policy owners should take heed as continued low interest rates result in lower investment returns credited to policies over time. This can be particularly troublesome for those who do not regularly review and benchmark their policy performance. This bulletin examines the impact of a low interest rate environment on insurers, the perf...

Indexed universal life insurance provides a crediting rate tied to the growth of an equity index. With the potential for an enhanced yield and a guaranteed minimum crediting rate, indexed universal life may be an attractive life insurance option, particularly in the current low interest rate environment.

As the financial world grows increasingly integrated and jurisdictions share ever more information, taxpayers who continue to hold undeclared taxable accounts are at much greater risk of being discovered. The new voluntary disclosure program may represent the best chance to come clean with the IRS.

Directors and officers at private companies have reason to be concerned about potential U.S. securities exposures, leading savvy private firms to adjust their internal compliance and governance structures to more closely resemble those of their public counterparts. They also are taking a closer look at their D&O liability insurance programs.

The FTC is seeking input on this report, which proposes safeguards for data gathered online and offline from consumers. The three main areas addressed are privacy by design in all business practices, simplified privacy choice for consumers and greater transparency related to company data policies.

The 2010 Tax Act reinstated the gift, estate and generationskipping transfer taxes that were repealed earlier in 2010. The reinstatement comes with increased transfer tax exemptions and favorable rates for 2011 and 2012. Consequently, the opportunity for making new or additional gifts to trusts has never been more favorable.

Private split dollar can help freeze an estate, minimize gift taxes, provide access to cash values, and finance needed or desired insurance for family members. Properly structured, death benefits may be excluded from the insured's taxable estate and even passed to many successive generations if a dynasty-type trust is used.

The financial risks associated with unplanned health care events need to be part of the financial planning process to guard against negative impacts to an investment portfolio or retirement income plan in the event of a catastrophe.

This white paper examines the need for family office reporting and types of reporting, the challenges in providing such reporting, how to design a reporting framework, the effects of the recent financial crisis and impending securities legislation, typical versus best practice reporting, the role of technology, and outsourced reporting solutions.

In addition to significant savings, cloud computing offers on-demand availability, flexibility and scalability. However, cloud computing is not without its risks. Concerns about the security of data storage and applications in the cloud evidence the need for businesses to protect intellectual property, personally identifiable information and other ...

Entities that do not satisfy the conditions of the new Family Office Rule may continue to operate as a family office until March 30, 2012, when they must register with the Securities and Exchange Commission or change their operations to qualify for exclusion from registration.

Given the evolution and complexity of the insurance industry, due diligence on carriers, products and advisors is more important than ever, especially for families of significant wealth. Examination of carriers must go beyond rating services; analysis of products must go beyond illustrations, and selection of an advisor must go beyond initial numbe...

The major rating agencies have published a number of reports highlighting the favorable trends for the life/annuity and health insurance industry. This paper provides a synopsis of recent reports from A.M Best, Standard & Poor's, Fitch and Moody's.