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
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
In an Executive Order (EO) issued March 9, 2022, President Joseph Biden set out the guiding principles for US policy on digital assets and digital asset regulation, including US policy with respect to a US Central Bank...more
There is no love lost between the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the crypto industry with tensions escalating over the past year. So it seems fitting that on Valentine’s Day, the SEC brought a...more
On January 26, 2022, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a rule (Proposed Rule) amending - and significantly broadening - a rule that defines certain terms used in the statutory definition of “exchange.”...more
On June 29, 2020, the US Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued guidance (the 2020 Guidance) clarifying requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) for financial institutions providing...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
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
Asset managers will need to consider how FinTech developments impact their business model in 2020, including developments related to digital asset securities, cryptocurrency-based ETFs and blockchain.
In this Bottom Line...more
3/2/2020
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Asset Management ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
ETFs ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Management ,
Investors ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Transactions ,
Unregistered Securities
Recently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an Investor Alert (the Alert) warning investors to use caution before investing in initial exchange offerings (IEOs) through online trading platforms. The...more
2/19/2020
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Due Diligence ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) ,
Investors ,
Know Your Customers ,
Offshore Listings ,
Online Platforms ,
Regulation ATS ,
Risk Alert ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Unregistered Securities
The SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations recently announced its 2020 examination priorities, which focus on key areas of risk for the financial services and asset management industries.
This Bottom Line...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 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
On October 11, 2019, the leaders of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the US Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a...more
11/13/2019
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Bitcoin ,
Broker-Dealer ,
BSA/AML ,
CFTC ,
Digital Assets ,
Ether ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Information Reports ,
Joint Statements ,
SEC Examination Priorities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
The SEC’s new Regulation Best Interest imposes additional recordkeeping requirements on broker-dealers. These additional recordkeeping requirements will need to capture all information collected from and provided to retail...more
On September 26, 2019, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it has adopted the eagerly awaited new rule 6c-11 (the Rule) under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the 1940 Act) that allows most...more
On March 29, 2018, the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (the CFP Board) adopted a revised Code of Ethics (the Code) and Standards of Conduct (the Standards) that require a certified financial planner (CFP)...more
As anticipated, this year has seen a number of fiduciary and best interest investment advice regulations advance at both the federal and state levels. Firms subject to these regulations will face challenges in dealing with...more
What happened?
On June 5, in a three-to-one vote, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted a comprehensive package of rulemakings and interpretations governing the standard of conduct applicable to...more
7/10/2019
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Form CRS ,
Investment Adviser ,
Notice Requirements ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Retail Investors ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Today, in a 3-1 vote, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted a comprehensive package of rulemakings and interpretations governing the standard of conduct applicable to broker-dealers providing retail...more
6/10/2019
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Form CRS ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Retail Investors ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Transactions ,
Standard of Conduct
On Friday, May 31, 2019, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) hosted a forum (the FinTech Forum) to discuss financial technology developments, including blockchain and distributed ledger technology and...more
6/7/2019
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
Capital Formation ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Ether ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinHub ,
FinTech ,
Forum ,
Investment Management ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Admittedly, it is not one of those “Do you remember where you were when it happened?” moments (for those old enough to remember, think November 16, 1981, when Luke and Laura married), but for the broker-dealer and investment...more
With the recent announcement by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it will hold an open meeting on June 5, 2019, to consider adopting Regulation Best Interest, one of the major issues that the SEC may clarify...more
By all accounts, 2019 will see a number of fiduciary and best interest investment advice regulations advance at both the federal and state levels. Firms subject to these regulations will face challenges in dealing with rules...more
5/21/2019
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Insurance Industry ,
Investment Adviser ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)