Earlier this month, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) continued its efforts to require registered investment advisers (RIAs) and exempt reporting advisers (ERAs) to take steps to prevent the laundering of...more
5/29/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Customer Identification Program (CIP) ,
Cybersecurity ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Exempt Reporting Advisers (ERAs) ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Investment Adviser ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Policies and Procedures ,
U.S. Treasury
On March 21, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed expansive and controversial climate disclosure rules. Two years and 24,000 comment letters later, on March 6, 2024, the SEC voted 3-2 to adopt its...more
3/13/2024
/ Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Final Rules ,
Form 10-Q ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Materiality ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Regulation S-X ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Regulation ,
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
On September 20, 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted by a 4-1 margin to adopt amendments to Rule 35d-1, commonly known as the “names rule” (Rule), under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended...more
In a Legal Alert issued before the SEC open meeting, we posed five questions that our Investment Services team would be looking out for as part of this meeting. We now have answers to some of these questions....more
7/31/2023
/ Analytics ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Compliance ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulation BI ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Standard of Care ,
Technology
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is holding an open meeting this Wednesday to consider whether to propose new and amended rules under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940...more
On February 15, 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) proposed sweeping changes to Rule 206(4)-2 (the Custody Rule) under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (Advisers Act), which would be redesignated as...more
On February 15, 2022 the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed sweeping changes to Rule 206(4)-2 (the Custody Rule) under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (Advisers Act), which would be redesignated as Rule...more
Now that the dust has settled on the SEC’s enforcement action against fifteen (15) broker-dealers and an investment adviser for violations of SEC recordkeeping rules applicable to the use of personal devices and off-channel...more
On September 27, 2022, 15 broker-dealers and one investment adviser agreed to pay more than $1.8 billion in total civil penalties to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and, for those same companies or affiliates...more
10/5/2022
/ Broker-Dealer ,
CFTC ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Electronic Communications ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) ,
Investment Adviser ,
New Guidance ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Swap Dealers ,
Swaps ,
Text Messages
On January 26, 2022, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed amendments to Form PF, the confidential reporting form for certain SEC-registered investment advisers to private funds (the Proposal). The Proposal...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has joined a host of other regulators in doubling down on efforts to protect against the rapidly intensifying cyber threats - with important implications for all SEC-registered...more
ESG will be front and center in the SEC’s 2021 agenda. Our ESG Matrix can help establish a baseline for compliance by SEC-regulated funds, investment advisers, private funds and insurance companies. The Matrix covers...more
The SEC, just a few days ago, announced an enforcement action against a trust company for failure to exercise substantial investment authority over their collective trust funds. According to the SEC, because of this failure,...more
On June 30, 2020, the US Department of Labor (DOL) published in the Federal Register a proposed rule that would regulate ERISA plan fiduciary conduct when considering investments under an environmental, social and governance...more
The compliance date for two rules adopted by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last year, Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) and the Form CRS Relationship Summary (Form CRS) is rapidly approaching for...more
On June 3, 2020, the US Department of Labor (DOL) issued an Information Letter reassuring plan fiduciaries that in appropriate circumstances, a professionally managed fund that contains a private equity component may be...more
As anticipated, 2020 has seen a number of fiduciary and best interest advice regulations advance at both the federal and state levels. Firms subject to these regulations face challenges in dealing with rules that impose a...more
4/17/2020
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Insurance Industry ,
Investment Adviser ,
Retail Investors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
State Securities Regulators
On March 27, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the CARES Act). The CARES Act provides emergency financial relief to individuals, businesses and specific industries...more
On March 13, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a temporary order (the Order) providing conditional exemptive relief to investment advisers registered with the SEC (RIAs) and exempt reporting advisers...more
In this Bottom Line videocast, Dodie Kent and Clifford Kirsch discuss:
The continued emergence of registered index linked annuity products.
The NAIC’s amended Suitability Rule.
The SEC’s variable product summary prospectus...more
3/5/2020
/ Amended Rules ,
Asset Management ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
Investors ,
NAIC ,
Regulation BI ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Securities Transactions ,
Standard of Conduct
Form ADV update season is now upon us, and as many investment advisers work toward the quickly approaching filing deadline, they will also have to grapple with a regulatory environment that is putting even more pressure on...more
The Office of Comptroller of the Currency (the OCC) has published its 2019 annual report (the Annual Report), which summarized the OCC’s strategic priorities for 2019. The Annual Report also highlighted the OCC’s key...more
1/20/2020
/ Annual Reports ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Banks ,
BSA/AML ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Compliance ,
CSBS ,
Examination Priorities ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Interpretive Opinions ,
Joint Statements ,
OCC ,
Risk Assessment ,
Shell Corporations ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
Technology ,
Terrorism Funding
On December 18, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a proposed rule – “Amending the ‘Accredited Investor’ Definition” (the Proposed Rule) – that would expand access to private funds for certain...more
12/23/2019
/ Accredited Investors ,
Capital Raising ,
Comment Period ,
Family Offices ,
Institutional Investors ,
Private Funds ,
Private Placements ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Registered Investment Companies (RICs) ,
Regulation D ,
Rule 506 Offerings ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On December 3, 2019, four federal agencies, in consultation with state banking regulators, clarified the legal status of hemp growth and production under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) for banks providing financial services to...more
12/12/2019
/ Agricultural Sector ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Banking Sector ,
Controlled Substances Act ,
CSBS ,
Department of Agriculture ,
Farm Bill ,
FDIC ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Hemp ,
Hemp Cultivation ,
Joint Statements ,
Marijuana ,
New Guidance ,
OCC ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
U.S. Treasury ,
USDA
Coming on the heels of the share class initiative, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is at the initial stages of another initiative involving concerns about adviser disclosures and conflicts related to bank...more
11/22/2019
/ Asset Management ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
FDIC ,
Government Securities ,
Liquidity ,
Management Fees ,
Money Market Funds ,
Net Capital Rule ,
OCC ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act