On January 2, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the FINRA Rule 6500 Series (the SLATE Rules), which establishes the Securities Lending and Transparency Engine (SLATE), a new facility for the...more
On December 20, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a final rule amending SEC rules 15c3-3 (the customer protection rule) and 15c3-1 (the net capital rule). The SEC also amended Form X-17A-5 Part II (the...more
On November 21, 2024, the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas vacated rules adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in February 2024. Those rules had defined language in the definitions of...more
12/16/2024
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Final Rules ,
Government Securities ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Market Participants ,
Proprietary Trading ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Dealers ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Vacated
On October 21, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission Division of Examinations published its examination priorities for fiscal year 2025.1 In this alert, we offer ten observations for broker-dealers. Our observations...more
10/31/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Compliance ,
Cryptoassets ,
ETFs ,
Exchange-Traded Products ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Form CRS ,
Information Reports ,
Investment Adviser ,
Regulation BI ,
Regulation S-P ,
SEC Examination Priorities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Third-Party Service Provider
On September 18, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) approved amendments to Regulation NMS (the Amendments) that take several steps intended to narrow bid/ask spreads, reduce transaction costs for...more
On August 26, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced an order against a registered investment adviser, Sound Point Capital Management, LP, for its failure to “establish, maintain, and enforce written...more
Last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC or the Commission) unanimously voted to adopt amendments to Regulation S-P (Reg S-P), which is the SEC’s regulation governing the treatment and safeguarding of...more
6/11/2024
/ Amended Regulation ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Compliance ,
Covered Entities ,
Customer Privacy ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Incident Response Plans ,
Investors ,
Personal Data ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Regulation S-P ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sensitive Personal Information
On February 6, 2024, by a vote of 3-2 along party lines, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC or the Commission) adopted Rules 3a5-4 and 3a44-2 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act), which...more
2/27/2024
/ Dealers ,
Government Securities ,
Liquidity ,
Market Participants ,
New Rules ,
Registered Investment Companies (RICs) ,
Registration Requirement ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Dealers ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Traders
On December 13, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted (4-1) to adopt new requirements under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act), which will restructure the clearance and settlement of...more
1/2/2024
/ Amended Rules ,
CFTC ,
Clearing Agencies ,
Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) ,
Hedge Funds ,
New Regulations ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Repurchase Agreements ,
Repurchases ,
Secondary Markets ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Settlement ,
Treasury Markets
On February 15, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or the Commission) voted to adopt rule changes to shorten the standard settlement cycle for broker-dealer transactions in securities from two business days...more
On December 14, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC or Commission) proposed Regulation Best Execution (Proposed Reg Best Ex), which would establish through Commission rules a federal best execution...more
On December 14, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) released four sweeping rulemaking proposals that would change market structure as we currently know it and introduce a new federal standard...more
On October 12, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) voted to adopt amendments to the electronic recordkeeping requirements for broker-dealers and security-based swap dealers contained in Rules...more
On July 27, 2022, the SEC charged three broker dealers for violations of the Identity Theft Red Flags Rule (also known as “Regulation S-ID”), with penalties ranging from $425,000 to $1,200,000. The regulation requires that...more
On March 28, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed new Rules 3a5-4 and 3a44-2 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) (collectively, the Proposed Rules). The Proposed Rules seek to...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed significant changes to the regulation of securities trading systems that use non-firm trading interest and alternative trading systems (ATSs) that trade government...more
Anti-money laundering (“AML”) issues have been a focus of regulators and law enforcement for the past decade and will likely continue to be a priority issue area for the Biden Administration. The AML landscape is shifting...more
2/12/2021
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Beneficial Owner ,
BSA/AML ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
NDAA ,
Patriot Act ,
Risk Assessment ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed to amend Regulation ATS under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) for alternative trading systems (ATSs) that trade government securities or repurchase and...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has amended Rule 15c2-11 (the amended Rule), which governs the publication of quotations in the over-the-counter (OTC) markets, i.e., quotes that are published away from a...more
10/30/2020
/ Alternative Trading System (ATS) ,
Amended Rules ,
American Depository Receipts (ADRs) ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Issuers ,
Crowdfunding ,
Foreign Private Issuers ,
Insurance Industry ,
Over-the-Counter Sales ,
Public Disclosure ,
Regulation A ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) security-based swap dealer (SBSD) rules have finally been issued, and a large amount of work will be required to comply. The good news is there is a foundation to build on, given...more
The spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) has presented new and unique challenges for the securities industry. The typical “playbook” for disaster relief and business continuity planning never contemplated a world – as we have...more
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA) introduced two new initiatives related to the fixed income markets. FINRA proposed to establish a central depository for the public dissemination of new issue...more
On December 18, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted a package of rule amendments, guidance and a related order to expand and improve the framework for regulating cross-border security-based swaps,...more
2/13/2020
/ Amended Rules ,
CFTC ,
Compliance ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Market Participants ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Security-Based Swaps ,
Swap Dealers ,
Swaps
On December 18, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC or Commission) adopted new rules pursuant to Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) requiring the...more
2/13/2020
/ Broker-Dealer ,
CFTC ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Major Swap Participants ,
New Rules ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Security-Based Swaps ,
Swap Dealers ,
Swaps ,
Uncleared Swaps
On September 19, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) adopted new rules and amendments establishing recordkeeping and reporting requirements for security-based swap dealers (SBSDs), major...more