On Nov. 5, the federal banking regulatory agencies (the Agencies) gave notice of a proposed rule (the Proposed Rule) that would elevate to the status of a formal rule and enhance the Agencies’ current policy of not issuing...more
Recent events have brought renewed attention to the push for greater diversity in the boardroom. In this alert, we discuss several developments highlighting the need for public company directors to remain focused on diversity...more
10/26/2020
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Board of Directors ,
Corporate Governance ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Gender Equity ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Securities Violations ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Woman Board Members
On September 23, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted amendments to the “shareholder proposal rule” set forth in Rule 14a-8 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which governs the process for a shareholder to have...more
On Sept. 21, 2020, SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance (Corp Fin) posted a Compliance and Disclosure Interpretation (CDI) regarding restrictions on Form S-3 eligibility for private companies that go public via merger into a...more
On Sept. 9, the SEC’s Division of Corporate Finance (the Division) amended CF Disclosure Guidance: Topic No. 7 (Topic No. 7) and issued guidance regarding the options available to companies when a previously obtained...more
On Aug. 26, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted amendments to the definitions of “accredited investor” and “qualified institutional buyer.” ...more
On Aug. 26, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted amendments to the description of business (Item 101), legal proceedings (Item 103) and risk factor (Item 105) disclosure requirements under Regulation S-K. ...more
On July 9, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) published a report on the findings of surveys on supervisory issues related to LIBOR transition undertaken by the FSB, the...more
In January 2020, the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) included London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) preparedness as an examination program priority in its 2020 Examination Priorities (2020...more
On May 22, Judge Gardephe granted a motion to dismiss in Kirschner v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., a case that, among other things, considered whether the origination and distribution of a syndicated bank loan is subject to...more
5/28/2020
/ Blue Sky Laws ,
Breach of Contract ,
Breach of Duty ,
Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Management ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Material Misstatements ,
Negligent Misrepresentation ,
Omissions ,
Popular ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations ,
Syndicated Loans
On May 21, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted amendments to its rules governing financial disclosures relating to acquisitions and dispositions of businesses. ...more
On March 22, 2020, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the National Credit Union Administration (the NCUA), the Office of the Comptroller of the...more
On March 21, 2020, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued Executive Order No. 202.9, pursuant to his broad emergency powers to temporarily suspend or modify statutes, local laws, ordinances, rules and regulations during periods of...more
On March 20, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., disclosed to certain news outlets that she had sent a letter, dated March 19, to Steven T. Mnuchin, secretary of the treasury, in his capacity as chair of the Financial Stability...more
On March 9, the Loan Syndications and Trading Association (“LSTA”), the association for the syndicated loan market in the United States, announced that it members are taking multiple steps to ensure business continuity and a...more
3/11/2020
/ Bank Loan Markets ,
Business Continuity Plans ,
China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Crisis Management ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Loan Syndication and Trading Association (LSTA) ,
Public Health ,
Syndicated Loans
On March 6, 2020, the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) convened by the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York released a proposal for New York State legislation that is intended to reduce...more
On March 4, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the Commission) proposed a set of amendments to the rules and regulations under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act), to simplify, harmonize and...more
3/9/2020
/ Capital Raising ,
Crowdfunding ,
Harmonization Rules ,
Investor Protection ,
Investors ,
Issuer Exemption ,
Offerings ,
Private Placements ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Regulation A ,
Regulation D ,
Rule 504 ,
Rule 506(c) ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Safe Harbors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Testing-the-Waters Communications
On March 2, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted to adopt amendments to the financial disclosure requirements for guarantors and issuers of guaranteed securities registered or being registered in Rule 3-10 of...more
3/5/2020
/ Amended Regulation ,
Corporate Issuers ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Reporting ,
Guarantors ,
Regulation S-X ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Subsidiaries
On March 4, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the Commission) announced that it is providing conditional regulatory relief for certain publicly traded company filing obligations under the federal securities law in...more
3/5/2020
/ Annual Reports ,
Best Practices ,
China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Filing Requirements ,
Form S-3 ,
Form S-8 ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Public Health ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Quarterly Report ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Relief Measures ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On Feb. 19, 2020, the SEC announced charges against Diageo plc, an alcoholic beverages company, arising out of its failure to make required disclosures of known trends with respect to alleged unsustainable overshipments of...more
2/27/2020
/ Beverage Manufacturers ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Distributors ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Statements ,
Inventory ,
MD&A Statements ,
Overstatement of Basis ,
Penalties ,
Popular ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Supply and Demand ,
Target Amounts ,
Wine & Alcohol
On Feb. 6, the Federal Reserve Board released the hypothetical scenarios for the 2020 stress test exercises, which ensure that large banks have adequate capital and processes to continue lending to households and businesses...more
On Jan. 30, 2020, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) proposed amendments to the Capital Acquisition Broker (CAB) rules to expand the range of permitted activities for CABs and their associated persons. ...more
Section 13 of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (the BHC Act) generally prohibits any insured depository institution (as defined in Section 3(c) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, but excluding institutions that...more
2/12/2020
/ Bank Holding Company Act ,
Banks ,
Covered Funds ,
Debt Instruments ,
Depository Institutions ,
Derivatives ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Exclusions ,
FDIC ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Foreign Exchanges ,
International Banks ,
Investment Adviser ,
Loans ,
Ownership Interest ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Section 13 ,
Volcker Rule
On Jan. 31, 2020, the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Federal Reserve), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC, and together with the...more
The FDIC Fall 2019 edition of Supervisory Insights contained an article entitled “Leveraged Lending: Evolution, Growth and Heightened Risk”. In the article, the FDIC noted that the credit agreement terms have continued to...more