Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) adopted measures intended to enhance the protection of retail investors who engage financial professionals to assist them with investments. Regulation Best Interest...more
On March 30, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a no-action letter stating that the staff of the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets would not recommend enforcement actions against broker-dealers that...more
FINRA recently published its 2019 Risk Monitoring and Examination Priorities Letter (“Priorities Letter”) highlighting topics upon which FINRA will focus in the coming year. Unlike letters in prior years, the Priorities...more
On July 11, 2018, the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) published a Risk Alert identifying the most common deficiencies that its staff observed in recent examinations of registered investment...more
SEC FINES BROKER-DEALER FOR EARLY RESALES OF STRUCTURED NOTES -
On June 25, 2018, the SEC announced that a broker-dealer settled charges relating to inappropriate resales of structured notes. The SEC determined that the...more
In a speech on May 2, 2018 regarding the SEC’s recent proposed broker-dealer standard of conduct, Jay Clayton, Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), commented as follows on retail investor confusion over...more
In the third release comprising part of the package of proposed rules and forms related to broker-dealers’ and investment advisers’ standards of conduct, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC or the “Commission”)...more
Background -
For many years, the distinction between investment advisers and broker-dealers was clear: investment advisers were counselors who were expected to provide advice that was in the best interest of their clients,...more
The SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) this week provided investment advisers with a summary of frequent compliance issues related to advisory fees and expenses that the staff is seeing in their...more