On May 15, the SEC staff provided guidance to SEC-registered broker-dealers and transfer agents on how they can custody and recordkeep digital assets.
According to the guidance, non-securities are not subject to the...more
On March 21, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed expansive and controversial climate disclosure rules. Two years and 24,000 comment letters later, on March 6, 2024, the SEC voted 3-2 to adopt its...more
3/13/2024
/ Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Final Rules ,
Form 10-Q ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Materiality ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Regulation S-X ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Regulation ,
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
On September 20, 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted by a 4-1 margin to adopt amendments to Rule 35d-1, commonly known as the “names rule” (Rule), under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended...more
In a Legal Alert issued before the SEC open meeting, we posed five questions that our Investment Services team would be looking out for as part of this meeting. We now have answers to some of these questions....more
7/31/2023
/ Analytics ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Compliance ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulation BI ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Standard of Care ,
Technology
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is holding an open meeting this Wednesday to consider whether to propose new and amended rules under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940...more
On February 15, 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) proposed sweeping changes to Rule 206(4)-2 (the Custody Rule) under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (Advisers Act), which would be redesignated as...more
On February 15, 2022 the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed sweeping changes to Rule 206(4)-2 (the Custody Rule) under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (Advisers Act), which would be redesignated as Rule...more
Now that the dust has settled on the SEC’s enforcement action against fifteen (15) broker-dealers and an investment adviser for violations of SEC recordkeeping rules applicable to the use of personal devices and off-channel...more
On September 27, 2022, 15 broker-dealers and one investment adviser agreed to pay more than $1.8 billion in total civil penalties to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and, for those same companies or affiliates...more
10/5/2022
/ Broker-Dealer ,
CFTC ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Electronic Communications ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) ,
Investment Adviser ,
New Guidance ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Swap Dealers ,
Swaps ,
Text Messages
On January 26, 2022, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed amendments to Form PF, the confidential reporting form for certain SEC-registered investment advisers to private funds (the Proposal). The Proposal...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has joined a host of other regulators in doubling down on efforts to protect against the rapidly intensifying cyber threats - with important implications for all SEC-registered...more
The SEC, just a few days ago, announced an enforcement action against a trust company for failure to exercise substantial investment authority over their collective trust funds. According to the SEC, because of this failure,...more
The compliance date for two rules adopted by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last year, Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) and the Form CRS Relationship Summary (Form CRS) is rapidly approaching for...more
As anticipated, 2020 has seen a number of fiduciary and best interest advice regulations advance at both the federal and state levels. Firms subject to these regulations face challenges in dealing with rules that impose a...more
4/17/2020
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Insurance Industry ,
Investment Adviser ,
Retail Investors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
State Securities Regulators
On March 13, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a temporary order (the Order) providing conditional exemptive relief to investment advisers registered with the SEC (RIAs) and exempt reporting advisers...more
Form ADV update season is now upon us, and as many investment advisers work toward the quickly approaching filing deadline, they will also have to grapple with a regulatory environment that is putting even more pressure on...more
On December 18, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a proposed rule – “Amending the ‘Accredited Investor’ Definition” (the Proposed Rule) – that would expand access to private funds for certain...more
12/23/2019
/ Accredited Investors ,
Capital Raising ,
Comment Period ,
Family Offices ,
Institutional Investors ,
Private Funds ,
Private Placements ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Registered Investment Companies (RICs) ,
Regulation D ,
Rule 506 Offerings ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Coming on the heels of the share class initiative, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is at the initial stages of another initiative involving concerns about adviser disclosures and conflicts related to bank...more
11/22/2019
/ Asset Management ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
FDIC ,
Government Securities ,
Liquidity ,
Management Fees ,
Money Market Funds ,
Net Capital Rule ,
OCC ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act
On October 11, 2019, the leaders of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the US Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a...more
11/13/2019
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Bitcoin ,
Broker-Dealer ,
BSA/AML ,
CFTC ,
Digital Assets ,
Ether ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Information Reports ,
Joint Statements ,
SEC Examination Priorities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
[co-presenter: Pooja Kohli, Litigation Specialist]
Firms that are dually-registered are subject to special considerations under the SEC’s new Regulation Best Interest when offering both advisory and brokerage accounts.
In...more
The SEC’s new Regulation Best Interest will require broker-dealers to consider whether their existing investment platforms are designed to result in recommendations to retail customers that are in such customers’ best...more
On September 26, 2019, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it has adopted the eagerly awaited new rule 6c-11 (the Rule) under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the 1940 Act) that allows most...more
On August 21, 2019, in a 3-2 vote, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted in favor of publishing guidance (guidance) regarding the proxy voting responsibilities of investment advisers (IAs). The guidance,...more
As anticipated, this year has seen a number of fiduciary and best interest investment advice regulations advance at both the federal and state levels. Firms subject to these regulations will face challenges in dealing with...more
On June 5, 2019, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted its Regulation Best Interest (Rule 15l-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934), a rule that requires a broker-dealer registered with the SEC to act...more