Group Think

The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards announced that applications for its 2007 Financial Planning Grants program will be accepted through March 1, 2007. The program provides funding to “innovative and sustainable projects that reach people and encourage them to benefit from financial planning.” In 2006, its first year, the program provided more than $875,500 in funding to 20 projects, including nonprofit organizations, educators, and individual CFP professionals.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA–the association formed through the merger of the Securities Industry Association and the Bond Market Association)–released the results of its 10th annual Review of Electronic Transaction Systems, which suggests that the adoption of electronic trading in fixed-income markets accelerated globally in 2006. Compiled from more than sixty operators of electronic trading systems for fixed-income securities in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Australia, and Canada, the data revealed that more than 74% had an increase in trading volume during the first three quarters of 2006 when compared to last year, and nearly 68% of respondents saw transaction volumes increase by more than 5% so far this year while 47% reported increases of at least 10%.