PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Raising Capital 101: A Securities Podcast - What are the Different Ways Securities Can Be Offered and Sold? (Part 2)
Imminent Shift: Preparing for the T+1 Settlement Impact on Equity-Based Compensation — The Consumer Finance Podcast
PLI's inSecurities Podcast - The Dangers of Regulation by Enforcement
6 Key Takeaways | Hot Topics in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)
Payment for Order Flow (PFOF) and Gamification: Your Questions Answered
Summer Enforcement Action Review; Raising Money in a Pandemic - Investment Management Roundtable Discussion
Main Reason To Be Selling PPLI Now
What a Difference a Day Makes!
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – The annuity regulatory landscape
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – Advisers Act regulatory agenda
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – Fiduciary investment advice: The patchwork emerges
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – SEC enforcement
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – Regulators step up pressure to implement LIBOR transition plans
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – Complying with new SEC rules for broker-dealers
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – DOL: What’s ahead
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – SEC’s OCIE exam priorities
Podcast: Credit Funds: Hot Topics in BDC Regulation
Videocast: Form CRS delivery obligations
Regulation Best Interest Videocast Series – Account Recommendations Under Regulation BI
Regulation Best Interest Videocast Series: Special Challenges For Dual Registrants
On June 2, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for writ of certiorari filed by Alpine Securities Corp. in Alpine Securities Corp. v. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. In doing so, the Supreme Court declined...more
Is FINRA constitutional? According to the D.C. Circuit’s November 2024 opinion in Alpine Securities Corp. v. FINRA, FINRA proceedings may be unconstitutional in one narrow set of circumstances. ...more
On August 14, 2024, FINRA published an update (the “Update”) on its ongoing efforts to engage with its members related to crypto asset activities. The Update describes “crypto assets” as assets that are issued or transferred...more
Introduction - On 6 February 2024, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted 3-2 to adopt two new rules that significantly expand the definitions of a “dealer” and “government securities dealer” in Sections...more
Join Ulmer partner Alan M. Wolper as he addresses hot topics including FINRA's oversight of Reg BI, trends in enforcement and arbitration filings, and perspective whether FINRA would survive a constitutional challenge....more
On January 10, 2023, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) released its 2023 Report on FINRA’s Examination and Risk Monitoring Program (the “Report), available at: 2023 Report on FINRA’s Examination and...more
In 2019, I wrote about a then pending proposal, SB 496 (Moorlach), to add broker-dealers and investment advisers to the category of mandated reporters of known or suspected financial abuse of elders or dependent adults. ...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") has adopted rules under the Securities Exchange Act (the "SEA") establishing (i) capital and margin requirements applicable to broker-dealers entering into security-based swaps...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on June 5 adopted Regulation Best Interest: The Broker-Dealer Standard of Conduct (“Reg BI”), which requires that broker-dealers act in the “best interest” of their “retail...more
At yesterday's open meeting, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted a final Regulation Best Interest, as well as additional guidance. Final action relating to the broker-dealer standard of conduct had been...more
I apologize for all the posts this week, but I am traveling and am in a different time zone, so I am awake at hours when, ordinarily, I would be asleep, giving me time to muse. Anyway, given that, I will not test your...more
I told you two weeks ago in my blog post that this would happen. I told you that when Robert Cook announced the topics to be taken up at the February/March FINRA Board meeting in Boca Raton, he slipped and used the new phrase...more
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's (FINRA) constantly updated record of disciplinary actions contains a mixed bag of run-of-the-mill infractions, unethical behavior, and large-scale corporate misconduct and...more
In its Fall 2018 regulatory agenda, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced that final rulemaking on the Best Interest Regulation is set for September 2019, before the close of the federal government’s fiscal...more
On February 26, 2019, FINRA sent a seemingly innocuous memo to member firms giving a brief outline of the subjects that its Board will take up at its meeting this week in sunny Boca Raton, Florida. (Wait, the Board isn’t...more
New York Pushes Mutual Fund Active Share Disclosure - New York’s Attorney General issued a report on its recent investigation of fees charged by actively managed equity mutual funds and a metric known as “Active Share.”...more
Regulation BI, Form CRS, Adviser or Advisor, and Fiduciary Duties of Adviser - In a flurry of proposed rulemaking that added up to more than 900 pages of reading material, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)...more
On April 18, the SEC voted to propose major rule changes to reconcile and clarify the standards of conduct that apply to broker-dealers and investment advisers. ...more
FINRA has proposed a major paradigm shift for regulating outside business activities (OBAs) and private securities transactions (PSTs) of broker-dealer personnel. ...more
On April 18, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a trio of rules and interpretations designed to enhance the quality and transparency of investors’ relationships with investment advisers (IAs) and...more
Last Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a new set of rules under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 (Proposed Rules) that would establish a new "best interest" standard by which...more
On April 18, the SEC voted four to one to propose new standards of conduct for broker-dealers (BDs) and investment advisers (IAs)....more
In late 2017, FINRA pronounced in Regulatory Notice 17-30 that, "Beginning on October 1, 2018, unregistered persons cannot accept an order from a customer under any circumstances. ...more
In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule, including the expanded definition of “investment advice fiduciary” and the associated exemptions. The...more
In June, the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Board released proposed revisions to its standards of professional conduct that would require CFPs to adhere to a fiduciary standard at all times when providing any "financial...more