Gary Gensler, Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has asked the Commission staff to consider updates to Rule 10b5-1 in an effort to “address cracks” in the current insider trading regime and otherwise...more
Nasdaq has proposed board diversity rules which would require companies to have, or explain why they do not have, at least two diverse directors on their boards and also provide statistical information on board...more
12/4/2020
/ Board of Directors ,
C&DIs ,
Corporate Governance ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
LGBTQ ,
Listing Standards ,
Nasdaq ,
Proposed Rules ,
Proxy Statements ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On November 17, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted to adopt amendments to Regulation S-T and the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval system (EDGAR) Filer Manual (EDGAR Filer Manual) to...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a 3-2 vote on Wednesday, September 23, 2020, adopted amendments to the eligibility requirements for submitting shareholder proposals to be included in a public company issuer’s...more
- Amendments to the "accredited investor" definition expand the categories of persons eligible to participate in private placements under Regulation D to include (i) individuals with certain professional licenses (Series 7,...more
Election and Impeachment -
The presidential race will garner much of the attention during the 2020 election cycle, but there is fierce competition elsewhere, too. Republicans and Democrats are fighting for both U.S. House...more
1/9/2020
/ #MeToo ,
Congressional Investigations & Hearings ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cybersecurity ,
D&O Insurance ,
Diversity ,
Emerging Technology Companies ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
General Elections ,
Impeachment ,
NAFTA ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Political Candidates ,
Political Corruption ,
Presidential Elections ,
Quid Pro Quo ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Activism ,
Trade Policy ,
Trump Administration ,
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) ,
Woman Board Members ,
WTO
On November 5, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed amendments to Securities Exchange Act Rule 14a-8, which requires a public company to include shareholder proposals in the company’s own proxy...more
11/18/2019
/ Anti-Fraud Provisions ,
Comment Period ,
Investment Adviser ,
No-Action Requests ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proxy Advisory Firms ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Solicitations ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Public Comment ,
Rule 14a-8 ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Shareholder Proposals
On November 5, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed amendments to its rules governing proxy solicitations. If adopted in their current form, these proposals could significantly affect interactions...more
11/18/2019
/ Comment Period ,
Conflict Mineral Rules ,
Corporate Governance ,
Glass Lewis ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proposed Rules ,
Proxy Advisors ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Public Comment ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Solicitation
On September 25, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted new Rule 163B under the Securities Act of 1933 (Securities Act) to allow all issuers to engage in “test-the-waters” communications in connection with...more
10/1/2019
/ Accredited Investors ,
Anti-Fraud Provisions ,
Corporate Issuers ,
Emerging Growth Companies ,
General Solicitation ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Institutional Investors ,
Investors ,
New Rules ,
Public Offerings ,
Qualified Institutional Buyers ,
Regulation FD ,
Rule 163B ,
Securities Act ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Testing-the-Waters Communications
On August 20, 2019, the Division of Corporation Finance (Corp Fin) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published new Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (C&DIs) regarding the Inline XBRL rules.
eXtensible...more
8/26/2019
/ CD&I ,
EDGAR ,
Financial Statements ,
Foreign Private Issuers ,
Form 10-K ,
Form 8-K ,
GAAP ,
New Rules ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
XBRL Filing Requirements
As public companies prepare to file their annual reports on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, they should consider whether they qualify for smaller reporting company (“SRC”) status under the recently amended...more
2/22/2019
/ Accelerated Filers ,
C&DIs ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Filing Requirements ,
Financial Reporting ,
Form 10-K ,
Proxy Statements ,
Regulation S-K ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Smaller Reporting Companies ,
Threshold Requirements
Last week, the Staff of the Division of Corporation Finance (the SEC Staff) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released new compliance and disclosure interpretations (116.11 and 133.13) (the New C&DIs), which...more
On September 25, 2018, the staff of the Division of Corporation Finance (the SEC Staff) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released Compliance and Disclosure Interpretation 105.09 (C&DI 105.09), which clarifies...more
On March 22, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted an amendment to Rule 15c6-1(a) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) to shorten the standard settlement cycle for most broker-dealer...more
3/27/2017
/ Amended Rules ,
Broker-Dealer ,
CCPs ,
Central Counterparties ,
International Harmonization ,
Risk Controls ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Rule 15c6-1(a) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Transactions
On January 31, 2017, Acting Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Michael S. Piwowar, issued two statements calling for comments on the SEC’s enforcement of the conflict minerals reporting requirements of...more
On November 17, 2016, the Staff of the Division of Corporation Finance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued new guidance, in the form of Compliance and Disclosure Interpretation (C&DI) Question 256.34,...more
On November 2, 2016, the Staff of the Division of Corporation Finance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued guidance regarding the submission of annual reports by registrants to the SEC under Exchange...more
On November 2, 2016, the Staff of the Division of Corporation Finance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued new guidance in the form of Compliance and Disclosure Interpretation Question 116.25 (C&DI...more
On October 18, 2016, the Staff of the Division of Corporation Finance (Division) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released new Compliance & Disclosure Interpretations (C&DIs) for the controversial pay ratio...more
On October 3, 2016, a National Market System (NMS) Plan to implement a Tick Size Pilot Program commenced. The program was introduced by an Order of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on May 6, 2015, as “an...more
On July 13, 2016, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed amendments designed to update and simplify certain disclosure requirements that may have become redundant, duplicative, overlapping, outdated or...more
On June 27, 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted new rules requiring certain producers of oil, natural gas and minerals to publicly disclose information regarding payments to the U.S. federal government,...more
7/13/2016
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Facilitation Payments ,
Foreign Entities ,
Form SD ,
New Regulations ,
Oil & Gas ,
Popular ,
Resource Extraction ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On June 27, 2016, the SEC Staff proposed changes to the definition of “smaller reporting company” to expand the number of registrants that would qualify as smaller reporting companies (SRC). The term “smaller reporting...more
On May 3, 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) released final rules1 implementing Titles V and VI of the JOBS Act and Section 85001 of the FAST Act, which together adjusted certain threshold for...more
Senior members of the Division of Corporation Finance (“Corp Fin”) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gathered with two former SEC commissioners at the Practising Law Institute’s annual “SEC Speaks”...more