In This Issue:

Regulatory Updates -

SEC Continues to Look at a Uniform Fiduciary Standard for Broker-Dealers and Investment Advisers; SEC Grants Unusual Exemptive Relief from Pay-to-Play “Time-Out” Provision; Fund Names Are No Place for “Guaranteed!” or “Protected!”; MFDF Updates Best Practices – Fund Directors Should Be Independent and Fully Informed; White on Serving as Fund Director: Not for the Uninitiated or Faint of Heart; FINRA Warns Investors to Look Behind Closed-End Fund Distribution Rates; SEC’s Champ to Fund Directors: Let’s Work Together to Advance a Common Purpose; and FINRA Tells Broker-Dealers How to Better Manage Conflicts of Interest.

Enforcement + Litigation -

SEC Brings Fraud Charges Against Money Market Fund Manager; SEC’s Recent Actions Against Two Investment Advisers Provide Important Lessons for All Investment Advisers; SEC Chair Says Commission Is Prepared to Try More Cases on Heels of Change to Settlement Policy; SEC Commissioner Draws Some Clean Enforcement Lines; SEC Enforcement Division to CCOs: We Are in This Together!; SEC to Focus on Fixing “Broken Windows” It Finds in the Securities Industry; and When Legal or Compliance Personnel May Be Subject to Failure to Supervise Liability Under the Securities Laws.

Tidbits -

Excerpt from Regulatory Updates -

SEC Continues to Look at a Uniform Fiduciary Standard for Broker-

Dealers and Investment Advisers:

The SEC and FINRA apparently believe it is time to address the issue of whether to impose a uniform fiduciary standard on broker-dealers and investment advisers, but neither agency seems to have a clear view about timing.