Daily Compliance News: July 11, 2025, The What is a COI Edition
Nonprofit Basics: Conflict of Interest Policies and Best Practices for Approving Insider Compensation
Nonprofit Basics: Insider Transactions and Nonprofits – What’s the Big Deal?
Conflicts of Interest in Healthcare and Elsewhere
Payment for Order Flow (PFOF) and Gamification: Your Questions Answered
Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 124: Listen and Learn -- Duty of Loyalty (Corporations)
Law School Toolbox Podcast Episode 282: Listen and Learn -- Duty of Loyalty (Corporations)
What to Do When Your University, FBI, or DOJ Knocks on Your Door: Responding to University, Criminal, and Civil Investigations
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – The ADV season
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – DOL: What’s ahead
Podcast: Credit Funds: Compliance Considerations for Valuation
CONVERGE18-Preview Podcasts-David Bunker on COIs in the Gig Economy
Podcast - Credit Funds: A Framework for Addressing and Mitigating Conflicts of Interest
Day 7 of One Month to Better Investigations and Report-How Investigations Inform Remediation
Day 15 of One Month to Better Compliance Through HR-Employment Separation Issues
Bill Beutler on Editing Wikipedia
Rules for rewarding 'super' condo board members
Bill on Bankruptcy: US Airways Need a Merger More than AMR
Private fund advisers continually balance their ongoing responsibility to ensure that the funds they advise comply with such funds’ governing documents and their responsibility to ensure their own compliance with applicable...more
Launching a private equity fund is an exciting yet daunting endeavor; and a General Partner (GP) Advisory Board can be a critical asset in navigating the complexities. Thoughtfully designing and engaging a GP Advisory Board...more
Many private fund managers are breathing a sigh of relief after the Fifth Circuit struck down the Private Fund Rules (check out our blog post for more information). Do not, however, assume the SEC will stop its aggressive...more
On May 14, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a settlement with a registered investment adviser (Adviser) that found the Adviser had (a) failed to adequately disclose conflicts pertaining to...more
Limited partnership agreements and similar documents that govern private funds are often amended over the course of a fund’s life cycle. For example, many funds may be currently going through the amendment process in...more
On July 26, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), in a 3-2 vote, issued a release (the “Release”) containing proposed rules to address conflicts of interest associated with broker dealers’ and investment...more
On August 23, 2023, in its efforts to promote transparency for investors by increasing visibility into compensation schemes, sales practices, and conflicts of interest, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted...more
On August 23, 2023, the SEC adopted new rules and amendments to existing rules (collectively, the “New Rules”) under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the “Advisers Act”). The New Rules are designed to increase...more
Executive Summary - Newly proposed rules (the Predictive Analytics Rules) will, if adopted as proposed, require broker-dealers and investment advisers (firms) to: (i) identify conflicts of interests when using certain...more
On July 26, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) narrowly approved (3-2) a proposed rulemaking under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940...more
On May 5, 2023, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a landmark bill — the Crypto Regulation, Protection, Transparency, and Oversight (CRPTO) Act — that, if passed, would dramatically tighten regulation on...more
As IPOs and other traditional paths to liquidity for private assets have become more challenging, GP-led secondary transactions have emerged as a powerful and popular tool across closed-end private funds, leading to explosive...more
On May 5, 2023, the New York Attorney General, Letitia James, proposed a “landmark” bill to increase regulations (again) on the cryptocurrency industry, thereby supposedly protecting investors, consumers, and the broader...more
SEC staff recently served up a juicy staff bulletin covering the standards of conduct for broker-dealer and investment adviser conflicts of interest. The staff bulletin includes 13 Q&As categorized into five different...more
The SEC last month proposed rules under the Advisers Act indicating a dramatic shift in how the SEC intends to reduce conflicts of interest involving private fund managers and their investors. As we previously noted in the...more
On March 30, 2022, the SEC issued “Staff Bulletin: Standards of Conduct for Broker-Dealers and Investment Advisers Account Recommendations for Retail Investors” (SEC Retail Standards Bulletin). This guidance builds on prior...more
The staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) Division of Examinations (the “Division”) recently published a risk alert spotlighting observations from its “RIC Initiatives” — 200+ examinations of mutual...more
The DOL “Fiduciary Rule,” FAQ 14: Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest - This series focuses on the DOL’s new fiduciary “rule”, which was effective on February 16. This, and the next several, articles look at the Frequently...more
Overview: In general, the prohibited transaction rules (in ERISA and the Tax Code) (1) prohibit fiduciaries that provide investment advice to plans subject to Title I of ERISA (including 401(k) plans, pension plans and...more
- The OCIE of the SEC highlights that responses to COVID-19 present important regulatory and compliance issues for SEC registrants, including “heightened risks of misconduct” tied to recent market volatility. - The Risk...more
On June 29, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (the Department) formally reinstated its “five-part test” for determining what constitutes “investment advice” under ERISA and Section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code (the...more
In this episode, Akin Gump investment management partners Barbara Niederkofler and Jason Daniel discuss the Security and Exchange Commission’s proposed modernization of the advertising and cash solicitation rules under the...more
My young boys will sometimes chase me around the house, catch me, and yell “gotcha” as they drag me off to their pretend jail. No matter how much I plead that I’ve done nothing wrong, I always end up in jail, despite having...more
On November 5, 2019, the SEC issued a release proposing amendments to the federal proxy rules that are intended to enhance the accuracy and transparency of information provided by proxy advisory firms to investors and...more
On November 4, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released a proposed rule amendment (the Marketing Amendment) that would substantially modify SEC Rules 206(4)-1 (the Advertising Rule) and 206(4)-3 (the...more