The Securities and Exchange Commission recently brought two enforcement actions that highlight the SEC’s focus on the investment adviser fiduciary duties, particularly as applied to recommendations that clients open or remain...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission on June 15, 2022 requested comments related to information providers (such as index providers, model portfolio providers and pricing services) whose activities the SEC believes may bring...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission on January 26, 2022 voted three to one to propose amendments to Form PF, a confidential reporting form for certain SEC-registered investment advisers to private funds. The amendments...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission on February 9, 2022, voted three to one to propose a set of new rules and rule amendments under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 that collectively, if adopted, would represent the...more
The U.S. federal securities laws, the Commodity Exchange Act and regulations thereunder, and certain other applicable federal laws, rules and regulations, as well as rules of U.S. self-regulatory organizations (such as the...more
2/9/2022
/ Beneficial Owner ,
CFTC ,
Cooperative Compliance Regime ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Adviser ,
Large Traders ,
Private Funds ,
Private Placements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Required Forms ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation
The Securities and Exchange Commission on January 26, 2022 voted three-to-one to propose amendments to Form Private Fund (Form PF), a confidential reporting form for certain SEC-registered investment advisers to private...more
The staff of the SEC’s Division of Examinations (Division) released a risk alert on November 9, 2021 (Risk Alert) discussing the staff’s observations and findings from the Division’s recent electronic investment advice...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed amendments to Form N-PX under the Investment Company Act of 1940 to increase the utility to investors of proxy voting information reported on Form N‑PX by mutual funds,...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Examinations (EXAMS) published its report on 2021 Examination Priorities on March 3, 2021. The 2021 Examination Priorities cover eight broad topics:
- The protection...more
3/30/2021
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Cybersecurity ,
Digital Assets ,
ETFs ,
FinTech ,
Form CRS ,
Investment ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investors ,
Regulation Best Interest ,
Retail Investors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The U.S. federal securities laws, the Commodity Exchange Act and regulations thereunder, and certain other applicable federal laws, rules and regulations, as well as rules of U.S. self-regulatory organizations (such as the...more
On December 22, 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission adopted rule and form amendments to modernize the regulatory framework governing investment adviser advertising and payments to solicitors....more
The staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (staff) issued a Risk Alert on November 19, 2020 (Risk Alert), related to OCIE’s observations regarding deficiencies in...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations issued a National Exam Program Risk Alert on June 18, 2020 (Risk Alert), which introduces an examination initiative on the upcoming...more
7/31/2020
/ Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Clearing Agencies ,
Compliance ,
Interest Rates ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Companies ,
Libor ,
Municipal Advisers ,
OCIE ,
Risk Alert ,
SEC Examination Priorities ,
Secured Overnight Funding Rate (SOFR) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Traders ,
Transitional Arrangements
Although the loan industry has long looked at loans as being obligations that arise in a commercial lending relationship, which are therefore not securities under Federal and state securities laws, the law supporting this...more
6/2/2020
/ Blue Sky Laws ,
Collateralized Loan Obligations ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Debt Securities ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Lenders ,
Loans ,
Reves Test ,
Secured Notes ,
Securities ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Syndicated Loans
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations issued two Risk Alerts (Risk Alerts)1 on April 7, 2020, identifying the scope and content of OCIE’s initial examinations following the...more
In an April 2, 2020 statement regarding the SEC’s approach to the allocation of resources, oversight and rulemaking in light of the COVID-19 coronavirus, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton discussed Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI)...more
On March 25, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued two orders updating and extending relief previously provided to registered funds and investment advisers whose operations may be affected by the COVID-19...more
The U.S. federal securities laws, the Commodity Exchange Act and regulations thereunder, and certain other applicable federal laws, rules and regulations, as well as rules of U.S. self-regulatory organizations (such as the...more
2/12/2020
/ Asset Management ,
BEA ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
CFTC ,
Commodities Traders ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs) ,
Compliance ,
CPOs ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Equity Securities ,
Filing Requirements ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Form 13F ,
Form ADV ,
Form PF ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Funds ,
Large Traders ,
NFA ,
Private Funds ,
Private Placements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Schedule 13D ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed amendments to Rule 206(4)-1 – Advertisements by Investment Advisers (Current Advertising Rule) and Rule 206(4)-3 – Cash Payments for Client Solicitations (Current...more
2/3/2020
/ Advertising ,
Cash Solicitation Rule ,
Form ADV ,
Institutional Investors ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Retail Investors ,
SEC Advertising Rule ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation
Massachusetts’ Secretary of the Commonwealth, William F. Galvin, caused the Securities Division to issue, on November 29, 2019, a revised proposed uniform standard of conduct for broker-dealers, investment advisers, and their...more
1/3/2020
/ Blue Sky Laws ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Duty of Loyalty ,
Federal v State Law Application ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Adviser ,
Preemption ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Hearing ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Regulation Best Interest ,
Standard of Conduct ,
State Securities Regulators
The staff of the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (Staff) issued a Risk Alert on July 23, 2019, in which the Staff shared observations from its “Supervision Initiative” that “assess[ed] the oversight...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, on June 5, 2019, voted 3-1 in favor of adopting a package of rules, amendments and interpretations (Final Rules) intended to improve the retail investor experience and to provide...more
6/12/2019
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Compliance ,
Compliance Dates ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Duty of Care ,
Duty of Loyalty ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Form CRS ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
New Rules ,
Regulation Best Interest ,
Retail Investors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Standard of Conduct
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations issued a National Exam Program Risk Alert on May 23, 2019, which identifies security risks and best practices associated with the...more
6/10/2019
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Cloud Storage ,
Customer Information ,
Cybersecurity ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Network Security ,
OCIE ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Popular ,
Risk Alert ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Third-Party Risk ,
Vendors
Through a March 12, 2019 letter (Letter), Paul Cellupica, Deputy Director and Chief Counsel of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management, on behalf of the Division’s staff invited industry engagement and sought information...more
3/23/2019
/ Blockchain ,
Comment Period ,
Custody Rule ,
Digital Assets ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Guidance Update ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Company Act of 1940 ,
Non-DVP ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The U.S. federal securities laws, the Commodity Exchange Act and regulations thereunder, and certain other applicable federal laws, rules and regulations, as well as rules of U.S. self-regulatory organizations (such as the...more
1/31/2019
/ Commodities Traders ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Commodity Pool ,
Compliance ,
CPOs ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
NFA ,
Private Funds ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)