The SEC has issued an order (the “Order”) approving an amendment (the “Amendment”) to FINRA Rule 5131 relating to New Issue Allocations and Distributions (the “Rule”). (The text of the Amendment is available in Exhibit 5 of...more
The staff of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance posted additional Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (see Questions 260.14 through 260.27) to the SEC website that address the “bad actor” disqualification...more
The Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Securities and Exchange Commission jointly adopted and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission...more
12/13/2013
/ Banks ,
CFTC ,
Dodd-Frank ,
FDIC ,
Federal Reserve ,
Hedge Funds ,
Market Making ,
OCC ,
Private Equity ,
Proprietary Trading ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Volcker Rule
The SEC issued an Order (the “Order”) instituting administrative and cease-and-desist proceedings against Ambassador Capital Management, LLC (the “Adviser”) and the portfolio manager (the “Portfolio Manager”) for a prime...more
An SEC-registered adviser (the “Adviser”) was granted exemptive relief pursuant to Rule 206(4)-5 (the “Rule”) under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the “Advisers Act”) from the Rule’s two-year prohibition on receiving...more
The SEC settled public administrative proceedings against a registered investment adviser (the “Adviser”) over (i) its exercise of discretion in valuing securities held by a privately offered fund the Advised managed (the...more
The Staff of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management issued IM Guidance Update 2013-12 in which the Staff “encourages investment advisers and funds’ boards of directors to carefully evaluate any fund name that suggests...more
The SEC announced that its staff will host a public roundtable on December 5 to discuss the use of proxy advisory firms by institutional investors and investment advisers. The role of proxy advisory firms in assisting...more
On July 30, 2013, the SEC voted to adopt amendments to certain broker-dealer financial responsibility rules, as reported in the August 13, 2013 Financial Services Alert (see link below). Those amendments became effective on...more
The Investor as Purchaser Subcommittee (the “Subcommittee”) of the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee (the “Committee”) issued two principal recommendations (the “Recommendations”) regarding SEC adoption of a uniform standard...more
The SEC issued a rule proposal designed to fulfill a mandate under the 2012 Jumpstart Our Business Startups (“JOBS”) Act to adopt rules that implement changes to the federal securities laws under the JOBS Act that permit...more
The SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations issued a National Exam Program Risk Alert (the “Risk Alert”) highlighting compliance issues relating to Rule 105 of Regulation M of the Securities Exchange Act of...more
The SEC settled claims against a registered investment adviser (the “Adviser”), its affiliated broker-dealer (the “Broker-Dealer”), and the founder, owner, and president of each (the “CEO”) that related to (1) investments in...more
The SEC issued final rules requiring the registration of municipal advisors in SEC Release No. 34-70462 (the “Release”). The rules implement Section 975 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which amended Section 15B of the Securities...more
The SEC reopened the comment period on its proposal to create additional reporting and disclosure obligations with respect to private offerings in reliance on Regulation D, including the new Rule 506(c) offerings under which...more
The National Futures Association (the “NFA”) issued a notice advising its members that amendments to its Compliance Rule 2-45 and a related Interpretive Notice became effective on September 13, 2013. Compliance Rule 2-45...more
By a 3-2 margin, the SEC voted to issue a proposal that would amend Item 402 of Regulation S-K to require an issuer to disclose (1) the median of the annual total compensation of all its employees other than its CEO, (2) the...more
Prompted by wide-ranging damage and the disruptions to the capital markets caused by Hurricane Sandy, the SEC’s National Examination Program (“NEP”) reviewed the business continuity plans and disaster recovery plans...more
On August 28, 2013, the FDIC, OCC, FRB, SEC, Federal Housing Finance Agency, and Department of Housing and Urban Development (collectively, the “Agencies”) issued a second Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (the “revised...more
9/3/2013
/ Asset-Backed Securities ,
Commercial Loans ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Dodd-Frank ,
FDIC ,
FRB ,
OCC ,
Qualified Mortgage Rule ,
Risk Retention ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act
A Tennessee federal court recently dismissed derivative claims brought under Sections 36(a), 36(b) and 47(b) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (“ICA”) by shareholders in exchange-traded funds, against the funds’...more
In IM Guidance Update No. 2013-05, the staff of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management provided further guidance on disclosure and compliance matters relating to the use of derivatives by registered funds. The Guidance...more
The CFTC adopted rule amendments (the “Harmonization Rule”) designed to harmonize certain CFTC compliance obligations that apply to commodity pool operators (“CPOs”) of investment companies registered under the Investment...more