Brick Sturgeon remembers his "lightbulb moment." His clients were two middle-aged sisters who had inherited $500,000 from their father. Two years after his death, however, the money still sat in their father's accounts.

The nation's largest independent broker-dealer, LPL recently signed a contract with a social media compliance service and has signed up 1,000 advisors to use sites including Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. It is adding about 100 more each week, said Andy Kalbaugh, executive vice president of business consulting at LPL Financial.

Congress may hand oversight of almost 12,000 investment advisors to Wall Street's self-funded regulator as a cost-saving measure. The price could be paid by investors.

With officials putting finishing touches on presidentially directed reports on the future of the housing finance system, the Senate Banking Committee announced a hearing to examine the issue.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Directors Kathy Kraninger is under pressure to ask a federal judge to lift a stay that has kept the agency's short-term-lending rule from going into effect.

Seeking to expand financial services access, tribal officials and some firms want regulators to award Community Reinvestment Act credit to any bank that funds projects in Native American communities.

A cap on deposit insurance for yield-bearing accounts will still provide necessary market discipline, but other important reforms are needed to assure the safety of the banking system.

Properly executed, the new anti-money-laundering program has the potential to cripple laundering networks by altering the landscape for financial services professionals.

The Home Loan banks should not be held harmless when they shovel billions of dollars in loans into troubled banks.