The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of the Investor Advocate recently issued its fiscal year 2025 Report on Objectives. The Report is one of two annual reports required to be filed by the Investor Advocate with...more
7/5/2024
/ Annual Reports ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Financial Markets ,
Fraud ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investors ,
Regulation Best Interest ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Retailers ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On June 27, 2024, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) issued Regulatory Notice 24- 09 (the “Notice”) reminding member firms that FINRA’s rules and the securities laws apply to the use of artificial...more
7/1/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Innovative Technology ,
Investment Funds ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation
In recent remarks, Securities and Exchange Commission Commissioner Lizarraga called on the SEC to move forward to implement the rulemaking mandate in Section 956 of the Dodd-Frank Act. The Commissioner was speaking at an...more
During his remarks at a meeting of the International Bar Association’s Asset Management Industry Conference on Global Challenges and Opportunities in Boston, Commissioner Uyeda commented on investment research and the...more
Chair Gensler recently testified before the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government in connection with the Securities and Exchange Commission budget request. In his testimony, the Chair included a number of...more
Commissioner Uyeda spoke at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s 30th Annual Institute for Securities Market Growth and Development. Commissioner Uyeda focused on the need to root out bad actors and promote transparent...more
On May 22, 2024, the US House of Representatives passed H.R. 4763, the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21), which would amend existing securities and commodity regulatory statutes to...more
6/4/2024
/ CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Investment ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Stablecoins
On May 23, 2024, the Staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Trading and Markets (the “SEC”) approved rule changes (so-called “19b-4 forms”) permitting the listing and trading of eight separate...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced an upcoming meeting of its Investor Advisory Committee, which will be held on June 6, 2024. The agenda includes a number of interesting topics....more
In a statement yesterday, the Director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance commented on the relatively new Form 8-K Item 1.05 requirement. Last summer when the SEC adopted the final rules relating to cybersecurity...more
5/22/2024
/ Corporate Governance ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Incident Reporting ,
Cybersecurity ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Form 8-K ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation
On May 15, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) adopted amendments (the “Amendments”) to Regulation S-P under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”), which governs the treatment of...more
Speaking at the recent conference on Emerging Trends in Asset Management hosted by the SEC’s Division of Investment Management, the Director the Division of Investment Management Natasha Vij Greiner cited a number of...more
On May 17, 2024, the Director of the Division of Corporation Finance of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Erik Gerding, and the Chief Accountant, Paul Munter, issued a statement regarding International Financial...more
Not long ago, the SEC hosted the Annual Small Business Forum. The Forum provides an opportunity to consider a broad array of issues affecting private companies as well as smaller public companies seeking to raise capital and...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced an upcoming meeting of its Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee on May 6, 2024. The meeting will include a discussion of Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) and...more
4/29/2024
/ Advisory Committee ,
Capital Formation ,
Crowdfunding ,
Emerging Growth Companies ,
Investment ,
Public Meetings ,
Regulation CF ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Small Business ,
Startups
On April 15, 2024, Securities and Exchange Commission Division of Enforcement Director Gurbir Grewal delivered remarks during a Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement Spring Conference 2024. He addressed artificial...more
The SEC paused implementation of the climate-related disclosure rules in the face of significant legal challenges. The rules would impose substantial disclosure mandates on companies, including concerning the costs of...more
On March 15, 2024, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted an administrative stay of the climate-related disclosure rules recently adopted by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). The SEC rules...more
On March 18, 2024, FINRA announced that it has fined a broker-dealer $850,000 in connection with the firm’s program to pay individuals with followings on social media sites (i.e., “influencers”) to promote the firm in social...more
3/19/2024
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Influencers ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Online Advertisements ,
Online Platforms ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Social Media ,
Statutory Violations
On March 7, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) announced that Skechers U.S.A. Inc. (“Skechers”) agreed to a cease-and-desist order for failing to disclose payments for the benefit of its executives and...more
3/19/2024
/ Cease and Desist Orders ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Executive Compensation ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Form 10-K ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations
The Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) has adopted new rules that require public companies to disclose substantial information about the material impacts of climate-related risks on their business, financial...more
3/11/2024
/ Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
MD&A Statements ,
Popular ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation
On March 8, 2024, the House of Representatives passed the Expanding Access to Capital Act, H.R. 2799, which we had previously posted on the blog.
...more
3/11/2024
/ 403(b) Plans ,
Angel Investors ,
Capital Formation ,
Collective Investment Schemes ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
General Solicitation ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Retirement Plan ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation
The Securities and Exchange Commission adopted (in a 3-2 vote) final rules related to climate-related disclosures. These rules had first been proposed in March 2022. In his opening remarks, SEC Chair Gensler noted that the...more
3/6/2024
/ Climate Action Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Investment ,
Investor Protection ,
Offerings ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Regulation S-X ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee will hold a meeting on March 7, 2024, during which it will discuss the SEC’s equity market structure proposals. The Committee also will consider a...more
As we anticipate, with some trepidation, this week’s final climate change disclosure rules from the Securities and Exchange Commission, it’s important to remember that those rules will remain only a part of the agency’s ESG...more