Compliance Tip of the Day: COSO Objective 5 – Monitoring Activities
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Raising Capital 101: A Securities Podcast - What Laws Affect Securities Offerings?
Payment for Order Flow (PFOF) and Gamification: Your Questions Answered
Summer Enforcement Action Review; Raising Money in a Pandemic - Investment Management Roundtable Discussion
Investment Management and Private Funds Roundtable – June 2020
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – FinTech initiatives
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 – Complying with new SEC rules for broker-dealers
Investment Management Roundtable Discussion – Regulatory and Enforcement Update
Regulation Best Interest Videocast Series: Establishing An Investment Platform Post-Regulation BI
Investment Management Update - Focus on Data Privacy and Cybersecurity
On July 11, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or the “Commission”) announced that it had settled an enforcement action against two individuals who were alleged to have engaged in insider trading. The SEC’s...more
In the world of outside business activity (OBA) disclosure, many FINRA enforcement actions center on whether a registered person gave, or did not give, prior written notice of those activities to their member firm. These...more
The Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities (Department) has recently targeted registered investment advisers who utilize leveraged and inverse exchange traded funds (ETFs). Advisers should be aware of the...more
President-elect Donald J. Trump nominated Paul Atkins to succeed Gary Gensler as Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) Chair on December 4. Atkins was an SEC staff attorney under SEC Chairs Richard Breeden...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and the Exchanges were active across a host of regulatory issues impacting fintech companies and broker-dealers during...more
Earlier this year, the SEC, NASAA, and FINRA issued an Investor Alert cautioning investors about the rise of investment fraud involving artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies. The overarching concern:...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) have, in two separate recent settled enforcement actions involving off-channel communications (“OCC”), imposed fine...more
...SEC Adopts Amendments to Fund Names Rule - On September 20, 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted amendments to Rule 35d-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the Fund Names Rule) as well...more
Federal regulators have cracked down on the use of texts messages and messaging platforms for business communications, using their broad authority to root out record retention violations, resulting in significant fines and...more
Since 2015, the SEC has brought nearly two dozen enforcement actions for violations of the whistleblower protection rules under Rule 21F-17(a) against employers for actions taken to impede reporting to the SEC. The bulk of...more
Welcome to the latest issue of Bracewell’s FINRA Facts and Trends, a monthly newsletter devoted to condensing and digesting recent FINRA developments in the areas of enforcement, regulation and dispute resolution. This month,...more
On January 10, 2023, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) issued its 2023 Report on FINRA’s Examination and Risk Monitoring Program (the “Report”). The Report, which is a more comprehensive version of FINRA’s...more
FINRA’s recent overhaul of its Sanction Guidelines is the largest and most significant in two, if not three, decades. It would be quite the understatement to say that the time had come for FINRA to make a much-needed change...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 July 27, 2022, FINRA filed a proposed rule change with the SEC to make it easier for brokers to work from home. The proposed rule will add a category termed a “Residential Supervisory Location” under FINRA Rule 3110...more
Almost all proprietary trading firms that are currently registered as broker-dealers with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would likely be required to join the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) under...more
Many compliance officers believe they have targets on their backs. Indeed, according to industry-wide surveys conducted by the National Society of Compliance Professional (NSCP), 72% of compliance professionals are concerned...more
About a month ago, the SEC announced a settlement in a modest little case that has, nevertheless, managed to garner a lot of attention. This is a result of the fact that one of the respondents was the CCO, i.e., the Chief...more
Last week, yet another US Department of Justice (DOJ) official reportedly stated new corporate settlements “most likely” will include a requirement that the company’s chief compliance officer (CCO), as well as the chief...more
Regulatory Alert! A Joint Audit Committee Reminder to FCM Legal and Compliance Personnel - The Joint Audit Committee (JAC) is a club of futures exchanges, in their capacities as selfregulatory organizations (SROs). Under a...more
On March 17, 2022, FINRA issued a notice to member firms about Rule 3110 as it pertains to the potential liability of Chief Compliance Officers (CCOs) for failure to discharge designated supervisory responsibilities. ...more
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued a regulatory notice on Oct. 8, 2021, encouraging its broker-dealer members to review and prepare to incorporate into their own compliance programs the national...more
A recent US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) settled enforcement action that found that a hedge fund acted as an unregistered “dealer” has blurred the traditional line between dealers and traders. On August 17, 2021,...more
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) recently issued a Regulatory Notice (Notice) reminding firms of their obligations with respect to best execution and payment for order flow....more
For the past decade, anti-money laundering (“AML”) has been at the forefront of securities regulators’ priorities. Indeed, AML enforcement cases have resulted in some of the highest fines imposed by securities regulators,...more