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By Kara P. Stapleton

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NASD Chairman Mary Schapiro announced July 12 that the new self-regulatory organization formed by the consolidation of NASD and NYSE Member Regulation will be called the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). NASD had announced in June that the name of the new SRO would be the Securities Industry Regulatory Authority (SIRA), but it was changed due to concerns that the acronym would be offensive to Muslims “because of its similarity to an Arabic term used to refer to the traditional biographies of Muhammad.”. . .

Raymond James advisors Judith McGee, Sheryl Stephens, and Margaret Starner were listed among Barron’s “Top 100 Women Financial Advisors.” McGee is president of McGee Financial Strategies in Portland; Stephens is president of Stephens Wealth Management Group in Flint, Michigan; and Starner is the founder of Starner Group in Coral Gables, Florida…

Walter White was named president of the independent broker/dealer Woodbury Financial Services, succeeding Brian Murphy, who was named chairman of Woodbury Financial and executive VP and director of the U.S. individual life division of The Hartford, the parent of Woodbury Financial…

ING’s U.S. Insurance Group has named X. Rick Niu as executive VP and chief growth officer. Niu most recently headed corporate multicultural marketing across AIG’s life insurance companies in the U.S. and Canada…

Effective July 1, New York Life has a new president, Ted Mathas, who will take the helm from Fredrick Sievert, who has retired from the company…

The NASD has fined Wachovia Securities $2 million, after finding that from 2001 through 2004, Wachovia failed to “establish and maintain an adequate supervisory system, including written procedures, reasonably designed to review and monitor its Pilot Plus” fee-based brokerage accounts. The NASD noted that while the firm informed its brokers that a Pilot Plus account was “not appropriate for customers who made a limited number of trades, buy-and-hold customers, and customers with assets below $50,000, Wachovia failed to put in place a system and procedures reasonably designed to determine whether Pilot Plus accounts were appropriate for its customers.”. . .

Following regulatory approval of Wachovia Corp.’s acquisition of A.G. Edwards, the new brokerage outfit will be headquartered in St. Louis, the home of A.G. Edwards since 1887. Wachovia’s $6.8 billion cash and stock deal for A.G. Edwards will create a firm with $1.147 trillion in client assets under management and nearly 15,000 advisors.