Compliance Into The Weeds - Year End Review, Part 1
Gamification tactics and investment advice from social media influencers and chat rooms are just a couple of the disruptive technologies and behaviors that are capturing the attention of regulators in 2021 and forcing them to...more
In remarks this week at SEC Speaks, SEC Investor Advocate Rick Fleming mused that the “gamification” of securities trading might pose an undue risk that exploits a potential loophole in Regulation Best Interest (“Reg. BI”)....more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) have been busy of late in efforts to address alleged compliance issues associated with payment for order flow (PFOF),...more
The latest and greatest from Fed Chair Powell as the Fed’s March Open Markets Committee meeting wrapped yesterday, including a markets-pleasing assurance that better-than-expected economic growth wasn’t enough to push the...more
In an SEC filing Friday, February 26, Robinhood Financial and Robinhood Securities disclosed they are negotiating with FINRA, the SEC, and state regulators, attempting to settle investigations into options-trading and outages...more
Walmart’s recent move to hire away a “pair of senior Goldman Sachs bankers” to head up the retailer’s new fintech startup (a collaboration with Ribbit Capital) has tongues wagging about the company’s ambitions to shove its...more
UK CCPs: HM Treasury consults on expanded resolution regime - HM Treasury is consulting on an expanded resolution regime for central counterparties (CCPs). HM Treasury intends to revise and expand the UK CCP resolution...more
Britain’s Supreme Court dealt Uber a blow this morning when it ruled that “drivers must be classified as workers entitled to a minimum wage and vacation time.” The decision—a disaster for Uber in a dispute that reaches back...more
Your Big Tech vs. Australia update: after raising a “well, then, no search engine for you” fuss in response to the country’s proposed law requiring tech giants to “pay news organizations for the news articles that are shared...more
The GameStop stock saga will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the most mystifying market events Wall Street has ever seen. Indeed, the markets have seen a massive influx of new retail investors into the space. But...more
It appears the wild ride for traders in GameStop (GME) stock has ended with shares trading at a fraction of what they were trading just a few weeks ago. Shares which once soared from around $20 a shares to a high of $380, as...more
During the height of the GameStop (NYSE: GME) mania, Slate author Jordan Weissman explained that “[A]t a moment that the markets are being overrun, for better or worse, by posters who’ve basically dedicated themselves to...more
On Thursday, January 28, trading-app broker-dealer Robinhood – a self-styled disrupter democratizing trading – suspended its users’ ability to buy Gamestop stock or options (along with other stocks). After playing a...more
Consulting standard-bearer McKinsey & Co. will pay $573 million to resolve state investigations and allegations related to its role “in helping ‘turbocharge’ opioid sales, a rare instance of it being held publicly accountable...more
Seismic news out of Seattle yesterday, with Amazon founder and CEO informing employees that he’s stepping out of the top spot at the e-commerce giant this summer after a nearly 30-year run and transitioning “into the role of...more
Moved by Covid’s bite out of the energy industry, oil behemoths ExxonMobil and Chevron Corp. have held talks about joining forces, “testing the water for what could be one of the largest corporate mergers ever.” ...more
General Motors announced on Thursday its ambitious plans to “phase out petroleum-powered cars and trucks and sell only vehicles that have zero tailpipe emissions by 2035, a seismic shift by one of the world’s largest...more