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
FINRA’s continued focus on account recommendations and rollovers is evident in its 2025 FINRA Annual Regulatory Oversight Report (the Report), Based on the Report, broker-dealers and their registered representatives...more
Among other things, FINRA is focusing on services and recommendations by broker-dealers and their registered representatives to retirees, senior investors and investors with diminished capacity. The Report has one part...more
Gone With the Wind? Closed-End Funds Risk Extinction - Shares of SEC-registered closed-end funds (CEFs) have long held significant potential advantages for some investors. For example, unlike shares of mutual funds...more
Unless you rely solely on streaming services, at some point in recent years, you have likely seen Tom Selleck pitching reverse mortgages as a retirement strategy. Is that a product for you? Or your parents? This article won’t...more
Regulatory Developments - CFPB Issues Guidance on Investigation Practices by Consumer Reporting Agencies - On November 22, the DOL announced a final rule under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to...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...more
The First Circuit has affirmed the confirmation of a FINRA award over an appellant’s claim that the arbitrators erred by, among other things, not holding an investment firm liable under the doctrine of respondeat superior....more
The SEC’s Division of Enforcement is likely to be active in 2020, investigating several issues important to broker-dealers and investment advisers. In this Bottom Line videocast, Brian Rubin and Adam Pollet discuss: Cash...more
In what appears to be a growing trend, state and federal regulators are launching investigations into the sales practices and administration of 403(b) retirement plans for school districts. Two weeks ago, on January 10,...more
The amendments expand certain exemptions and provide additional guidance under Rules 5130 and 5131 with respect to equity IPO allocations. On December 19, 2019, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued...more
KEY POINTS - - Amendments to FINRA Rules 5130 and 5131, which govern the offer and sale of "New Issue" securities went into effect on January 1. - FINRA Rule 5130 prohibits a broker-dealer from selling New Issues to...more
On July 26, 2019, FINRA announced proposed changes to FINRA Rule 5130 (Restrictions on the Purchase and Sale of Initial Equity Public Offerings) and FINRA Rule 5131 (New Issue Allocations and Distributions) to exempt...more
Goldman Sachs is reportedly in negotiations with federal prosecutors to resolve claims about its role in the Malaysian 1MDB scandal for upwards of $2 billion. A settlement—which “could include a guilty plea from Goldman’s...more
The SEC has issued its final Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI), Form CRS Regulation, RIA Interpretation and Solely Incidental Interpretation. I am discussing the SEC’s guidance in a series of articles entitled “Best Interest...more
On June 5, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) voted to adopt “Regulation Best Interest,” which is intended to increase the duties a broker-dealer owes to its clients. While SEC-registered investment advisors...more
The legal standards for broker-dealer firms (BDs) and their representatives, particularly in the retirement market, continue to be in flux. BDs were among those most affected by the promulgation in 2016 of the Department of...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) finalized the Fiduciary Rule’s transition period extension from January 1, 2018 to July 1, 2019, as it had previously announced in August. The DOL reported that it has not yet completed the...more
The Department of Labor fiduciary rule was supposed to be implemented on April 10, 2017. That date was pushed back to June 9 so that it could be reassessed, and possibly modified or even repealed. The rule as it stands...more
The background of this matter could be found here. In sum, Plaintiffs Dr. Luis Ortiz-Espinosa and his wife Maritza Soto-Garcia, the conjugal partnership they formed, Espinosa-Soto, and Luis Ortiz-Espinosa, as trustee of...more
In 2016, regulatory developments introduced fundamental changes in the legal standards that govern the relationship of broker-dealers with their customers. Although the changes are not applicable until April 10, 2017, most in...more
This special report provides a summary of some of the significant changes and developments that occurred in the past year in the private equity and hedge funds space, as well as certain recommended practices that investment...more
- AXA Prevails at First Post-Jones v. Harris Excessive Fee Trial - Potential Secondary Effects of Regulatory Examinations: Evidentiary Issues and Preclusion in Parallel Litigation - On The Horizon: Global...more
Investment Adviser AXA Wins Excessive Fee Trial - A federal judge in New Jersey has ruled in favor of AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company (AXA Equitable) and its wholly owned subsidiary, AXA Equitable Funds Management...more
Traditional investment advisers, as well as broker-dealers, insurance brokers, banks, and employers, are abuzz with questions and concerns relating to the final regulation issued by the Department of Labor (DOL) on April 8,...more
Structured Notes Offered on an Agency Basis - In our last issue, we discussed the potential impact of the Department of Labor’s new rules on sales of structured products. In that article, we discussed some of the...more