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
On July 8, FINRA accepted a firm’s Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent imposing a censure and a $300,000 fine. The firm is a wholesale distributor of variable insurance products and mutual funds. Between March 2018 and...more
Suitability in the sale of annuity products has been a topic of state regulation since at least 2003 - well before the federal focus on “Best Interest.” State insurance regulators have overseen the sale of annuities to ensure...more
Regulators Hit Jackpot: Off-Channel Communications - Several years before announcing the first “off-channel” communications enforcement action, the SEC and FINRA cautioned broker-dealers and investment advisers about...more
For broker-dealers distributing and selling variable annuities, examinations will test for compliance with Reg BI and FINRA Rule 2330 because both standards apply to variable annuity sales. Firms distributing and selling...more
Continued FINRA Focus - If regulatory developments in 2020 are any indication, FINRA’s efforts to protect senior customers from financial exploitation and vulnerability will continue in 2021 and beyond....more
As everyone is likely well aware, one of the principal changes that happened when FINRA retired the old suitability rule – NASD Rule 2310 – and replaced it with shiny new FINRA Rule 2111 back in 2012 was the broadening of the...more
The SEC has approved amendments to FINRA’s corporate financing rule. The purpose of the rule is to allow FINRA to determine that public offering terms and conditions are not unfair, unreasonable, or inconsistent with FINRA...more
As the June 30, 2020, compliance date approaches, broker-dealers are taking steps to implement Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI), which establishes a new standard of conduct when making recommendations to retail customers of...more
In what appears to be a growing trend, state and federal regulators are launching investigations into the sales practices and administration of 403(b) retirement plans for school districts. Two weeks ago, on January 10,...more
FINRA’s reported enforcement actions as to certain variable annuity practices increased in 2018. For example, FINRA announced more than half a dozen settlements – via Letters of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWCs) – for...more
New York Pushes Mutual Fund Active Share Disclosure - New York’s Attorney General issued a report on its recent investigation of fees charged by actively managed equity mutual funds and a metric known as “Active Share.”...more
On April 18, the SEC voted to propose major rule changes to reconcile and clarify the standards of conduct that apply to broker-dealers and investment advisers. ...more
In late 2017, FINRA pronounced in Regulatory Notice 17-30 that, "Beginning on October 1, 2018, unregistered persons cannot accept an order from a customer under any circumstances. ...more
EXPECTFOCUS is a quarterly review of developments in the insurance and financial services industry, provided on a complimentary basis to clients and friends of Carlton Fields Jorden Burt, P.A. ...more
In March, FINRA solicited comments on proposed amendments to Rule 2210, Communications with the Public, that would create an exception to the rule’s prohibition on projecting investment performance. The proposed exception...more
Regulators Demand Third-Party Risk Management - While third-party risk management has been a required component of an effective enterprise risk management program for many years, the topic is receiving elevated attention...more
- Should Your Company Purchase Bitcoin to Pay a Cyber Ransom? - NAIC Draws Line in CFPB Sandbox - NAIC’s Big Data Task Force Sets Charges for 2017 - Broker-Dealers Can Hold Customers’ Initial Checks ...more
- AXA Prevails at First Post-Jones v. Harris Excessive Fee Trial - Potential Secondary Effects of Regulatory Examinations: Evidentiary Issues and Preclusion in Parallel Litigation - On The Horizon: Global...more
- Fed Takes First Steps Toward Setting Capital Requirements for Some Insurers - New Wave of COI Rate Increase Lawsuits Hits the Industry - STOLI Policies Cancelled, Insurers Retain Premium -...more
The Department of Labor’s recent Proposed Rule (the “Proposal”), which defines the term “fiduciary” as it applies to persons who provide “investment advice” to ERISA plans and IRAs, will impact the likelihood and severity of...more
Big data and predictive analytics, which forecast future outcomes based on past occurrences, allow companies to examine large stores of data and uncover patterns that can be used to gain a competitive advantage. Long-used in...more