The European Union has approved another round of bailouts for the Greek government, but it’s looking more like a short-term solution than a long-term fix. Initial market enthusiasm for the deal turned to uncertainty as details about the plan were given time to sink in.

News that the plan, reached in Brussels on July 21, won’t include a bank tax, initially prompting a surge in European bank stocks. But sentiment about the bailout cooled quickly, sending European stocks on a slide.

Despite resistance in Congress, the U.S. has agreed to participate in this latest Greek loan on fear that a Greek collapse will spread across the world economy. The U.S. is the largest shareholder in the IMF, so Washington’s approval is an important component of bailout.

Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all of the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).

For previous coverage of the Greek debt crisis in Advisor’s Journal, see Will Germany Let Greece Default? (CC 11-125).

Despite initial calls for private creditors to absorb some of the cost of another round of Greek bailouts, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has backed down. Merkel met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Berlin on June 17, 2011 to discuss the role of private investors in the bailout. Following the meeting, the leaders announced a unified plan to deal with the Greek crisis. Chancellor Merkel is still asking private creditors to voluntarily participate in the bailout.

The Greek debt crisis spans back to early 2010, when a group of European governments—including Greece—faced funding crises that threatened European stability as a whole.  At the time, Greece had €300 billion in debt, bigger than its economy.

Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all of the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).

For coverage of the U.S. debt crisis in Advisor’s Journal, see Debt Limit Standoff Boils Over (CC 11-115) & Debt Ceiling Approaching: Prepare for Impact (CC 11-100).

“Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus,” goes the saying from the popular self-help book. But in a recent ruling, the European Court of Justice said that, although statistically verifiable, you’d better not acknowledge the 100 million mile (sorry, kilometer) gap between men and women when you’re pricing life insurance premiums.

The highest court in the EU ruled earlier this year that the long-standing practice of basing insurance premiums on gender is sex discrimination that is prohibited under EU law. Despite hundreds of years of data verifying the simple fact that women live longer than men, insurance carriers in the EU will soon be prohibited from considering gender when setting insurance premiums.

Under EU law, “[e]quality between women and men must be ensured in all areas, including employment, work and pay.” The European policy generally has been applied to remove gender discrimination in the workplace. But a 2004 European Directive “prohibits all discrimination based on sex in the access to and supply of goods and services.” And that directive has been specifically applied to access to life insurance.

Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all of the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).

For previous coverage of the Life Insurance Gender Gap in Advisor’s Journal, see Is the Life Insurance Gender Gap Really Closing? (CC 11-68).

Investment advisors and broker-dealers may be required to disclose their incentive-based compensation programs under proposed rules approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 2. The proposed rule is the latest in a series of advisor and broker-dealer reporting rules issued under the mandate of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act. 

The exponentially increasing compliance burden for advisory firms and B-Ds has the potential to radically alter business practices at affected firms. Many will need to overhaul their entire compensation platforms to comply with the new rules.  

Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all of the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).

For previous coverage of advisor reporting requirements in Advisor’s Journal, see Advisors Hit with Another Round of SEC Reporting Rules (CC 11-30).