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
Overview: Investment advisers that seek to manage public money need to consider the SEC’s “pay to play” rule, which restricts election-related contributions by the firms or their “covered associates” to elected state...more
On August 6, 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic nomination for president and announced Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. This marked the end of the primary election period for the Harris/Walz...more
Employees of investment advisers must consider whether their employer is managing or seeking to manage public funds in Minnesota before donating to the Harris-Walz campaign this election season. Vice President Harris’...more
Vice President Kamala Harris announced Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate for the upcoming Presidential election. Because Governor Walz is an “official” for purposes of the SEC’s pay-to-play rule under the...more
Vice President Kamala Harris announced today that she has selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her vice presidential running mate in her bid for president. Contributions to the Harris/Walz campaign are now subject to the...more
On July 26, a financial firm accepted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (AWC) from FINRA for allegedly charging unfair prices in corporate and municipal bond transactions and for allegedly failing to establish a...more
On July 19, FINRA accepted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (AWC) from a member firm to resolve alleged Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) violations. According to the AWC, from June 2020 to March 2023, the member...more
On July 21, 2024, President Joseph Biden announced that he was ending his bid for reelection and instead endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for president. A presumptive nominee withdrawing so close to the party convention...more
On July 10, FINRA accepted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent against a broker-dealer related to missing information on transaction confirmations. From June 2020 to September 2023, the broker-dealer allegedly failed...more
In the first half of 2024, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued several fines and suspensions against participants in the municipal market, including for violations of its registration, reporting,...more
If there are two political law compliance issues that perennially bedog federal, state, and local government contractors, it is the myriad of state and local pay-to-play laws and procurement lobbying laws. In the FAQs below,...more
FINRA's new enforcement head, Bill St. Louis, recently appeared on FINRA Unscripted, a FINRA podcast where he discussed his vision for FINRA's Enforcement Department as well as certain key regulatory issues that are under...more
FINRA recently published its 90-page 2024 Annual Regulatory Oversight Report (Report) providing member firms with insight into six primary topics: Financial Crimes, Crypto Asset Development, Firm Operations, Communications...more
On October 16, 2023, the Division of Examinations (the “Division”) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) published its annual Examination Priorities for 2024 (the “Exam Priorities”). Consistent with the...more
The 2023 elections are a little over a month away, and hopefully, if your corporation holds or seeks state and local government business, you have been regularly reminding your directors, officers, and other employees about...more
2023 MID-YEAR REVIEW - In the first half of 2023, several rule changes have been proposed by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including changes to...more
On February 7, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Examinations announced its fiscal year 2023 examination priorities. This year, the Division continues its focus on protecting investors by prioritizing...more
On August 2, 2022, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) proposed to amend FINRA Rule 6730(a)(1) (the “FINRA Proposal”) to reduce the Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine (“TRACE”) reporting timeframe...more
The Commission’s rule writing calendar may be about to have a meltdown. The agency is considering a number of significant rule writing-proposals covering important areas. A number of those proposals are controversial,...more
On March 30, 2022, the Security and Exchange Commission’s Division of Examinations announced its fiscal year 2022 examination priorities. This year’s theme is empowering compliance officers. Once again, the Division’s...more
In June, FINRA reminded broker-dealers of their best execution obligations which are derived from common law agency principles and fiduciary obligations. The best execution obligation is incorporated in applicable MSRB rules...more
The municipal securities market started the first half of 2021 strong against the backdrop of regulatory and enforcement actions, all while the remnants of COVID-19 continued to impact travel, commerce, and the economy....more
The focus on quantifying LIBOR exposure and related disclosure requirements may be a ‘red herring.’ The real issues are (i) whether the LIBOR transition is merely an excuse to change the effective interest rates of financial...more
Most securities regulations, by design, create a gray world where compliance is not crystal-clear, but, rather, subject to interpretation. After all, what you think constitutes “reasonable” supervision and what FINRA or the...more
On March 3, 2021, the Security and Exchange Commission’s Division of Examinations (formerly the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, now either “the Division” or “EXAMS”) announced its fiscal year 2021...more