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
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) Enforcement Division recently announced its first settlement involving a firm’s supervision of social media influencers. The respondent, M1 Finance LLC (M1), is a...more
The SEC’s so-called “gag rule” — which prevents a defendant settling with the SEC from denying the SEC’s allegations — has recently come under fire. Recently the Fifth Circuit heard oral arguments in the SEC v. Novinger case...more
In a series of settlements announced this year, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) penalized several broker-dealers for allegedly failing to file...more
Editor's Note - The following newsletter provides a roundup summarizing enforcement actions, guidance, rulemakings, and other public statements taken by a federal and/or state financial services regulatory agency,...more
Over the years, this blog has not shied away from calling out FINRA or the SEC for regulating via enforcement actions rather than providing formal guidance. Well, the SEC did it again last Thursday with a complaint filed...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
While the FINRA arbitration system certainly is not perfect – just see Alan’s troubling blog from last week regarding the Motion to Vacate that was granted by a Judge in Atlanta – we like to think that when cases go to...more
Senators Inquire about CFPB’s Fintech Agenda - On July 27, 2021, Senator Sherrod Brown, the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, sent a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection...more
During the past couple of months, film fans got to see a recut version of The Godfather Part III called, Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. Francis Ford Coppola, the director and co-screenwriter...more
Almost three years ago, in Reg Notice 18-08, FINRA wisely (but, nevertheless, still a bit late to the party) proposed to revise its own prior guidance regarding the troublesome intersection between outside business activities...more
A long time ago, long before there existed any whistleblower statutes, I had a client – a CCO of a broker-dealer – who discovered some pretty funky trading at his firm. As he tells the story, when he went to see his boss (who...more
Historically, one of the surest ways to get yourself permanently barred from the industry is to forge a customer’s signature on something. According to the pertinent Sanction Guideline, at a minimum, a forgery, that is, a...more
I dare you. In fact, I double-dog dare you to figure out how or why FINRA decides to charge willfulness in some cases but not in others. Bottom line is that it is nearly impossible (except if you’re a big firm, in which case...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Division of Trading and Markets recently issued a no action letter to FINRA that may help to streamline the settlement of digital asset securities transactions by...more
A recent enforcement action offers a glimpse of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (“FINRA”) expectations for firms conducting anti-money laundering (“AML”) due diligence and transaction monitoring. On July 27,...more
The longer I do this, the more apparent it becomes just how little anything changes. Sure, some things do change, a little. Rule numbers may get updated, as Rule 2310 becomes Rule 2111. Things that once may have been done...more
The day after Christmas, FINRA issued a press release announcing that five big firms – Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase, LPL, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch – had each entered into a settlement, collectively agreeing to pay a...more
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Executive Summary - Developments and Trends in Policy and Enforcement - US Department of the Treasury - The Office of Foreign Assets Control - Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network -...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced two settled enforcement actions on November 16, 2018, imposing registration requirements and civil penalties against issuers of initial coin offerings (ICOs) for failing...more
In a flurry of activity and confluence of developments, the SEC, FINRA and a Brooklyn federal judge have commenced actions and made rulings that continue to define the regulatory framework and obligations surrounding the sale...more
Recent actions by financial industry regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”), and the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (“MSRB”),...more
Even as auto lending continues at near break-neck pace, regulators are expressing concerns about the rise (again) of subprime delinquencies from borrowers. The trend, at a time when the US economy is doing relatively well,...more
The hits just keep on coming for Wells Fargo, who now is facing questions about its failure to prime the market for news of its $185 million SEC settlement earlier this month. The main concern with that tack is that Wells...more
Spotlight on the False Claims Act - Why it matters: This month, we review a recent Ninth Circuit case that allowed a qui tam relator’s action against various Medicare Advantage organizations to proceed, holding that the...more
On June 7, 2016, FINRA settled proceedings against a New York-based investment firm for alleged violations of its suitability and related rules, namely NASD Rule 2310 and FINRA Rules 2111 and 2010. According to FINRA,...more