At a contentious open meeting on February 6, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission) voted three to two to adopt rule amendments (Final Rules) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (Exchange...more
Starting July 1, 2025, any person or entity engaged in a “digital financial asset business activity” within California or with a California resident will be required to obtain a license from the California Department of...more
12/1/2023
/ Bitcoin ,
California ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement ,
Ethereum ,
Money Transmission Act ,
New Legislation ,
SEC Examination Priorities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stablecoins
The Securities and Exchange Commission on October 13, 2023, adopted two new rules under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 expanding reporting requirements for securities lending and short sales and amending rules regarding...more
11/2/2023
/ Covered Person ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
Lending ,
New Regulations ,
New Rules ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ,
Short Sales
The SEC has proposed new rules designed to regulate potential conflicts of interest associated with broker-dealers’ and investment advisers’ use of certain AI-related technologies in their interactions with investors.
The...more
9/7/2023
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Consumer Protection Act ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Investors ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Predictive Analytics ,
Proposed Rules ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Examinations (Division) issued a Risk Alert (Risk Alert) on January 30, 2023 highlighting deficiencies its Staff observed during recent Regulation Best Interest...more
3/28/2023
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Compliance ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employee Training ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Posting Requirements ,
Regulation Best Interest ,
Retail ,
Risk Alert ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The Securities and Exchange Commission on October 12, 2022, adopted amendments to the electronic recordkeeping requirements for broker-dealers, security-based swap dealers (SBSDs), and major security-based swap participants...more
11/8/2022
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Compliance ,
Jurisdiction ,
MSBSPs ,
New Amendments ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
SBSD ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ,
Third-Party
The Securities and Exchange Commission in 2019 issued significant new rules and interpretations addressing the standards of conduct for broker-dealers, in the form of Regulation Best Interest, and the standards of conduct for...more
10/3/2022
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Compensation ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Duty of Care ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Retail Investors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Standard of Conduct
The Securities and Exchange Commission on February 9, 2022 proposed to: shorten the standard settlement cycle for most broker-dealer securities transactions from two business days following the trade date (T+2) to one...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission issued an order (Order)1 on June 29, 2020, under Section 17(h)(4) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, raising the thresholds for compliance with the recordkeeping and reporting...more
7/24/2020
/ Amended Rules ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Compliance ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Investor Protection ,
OBDF ,
OIG ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Assessment ,
Rule 17H ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Threshold Requirements
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
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. filed proposed amendments with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 19, 2020, to FINRA Rule 2111 (Suitability Rule) and Capital Acquisition Broker (CAB) Rule 211...more
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority published its 2020 Risk Monitoring and Examination Priorities Letter (Priorities Letter) on January 9, 2020. The Priorities Letter identifies four core areas on which FINRA will...more
2/25/2020
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Cash Transactions ,
Examination Priorities ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Markets ,
Form CRS ,
Fund Managers ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Integrity Policies ,
Investment Adviser ,
Regulation Best Interest ,
Retail Investors ,
Sales ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Supervision
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority published its 2019 Report on Examination Findings and Observations (2019 Report) on October 16, 2019. This marks the third annual report of FINRA findings, but in a departure from...more
11/18/2019
/ Annual Reports ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Best Execution ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Business Continuity Plans ,
Compliance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Digital Communications ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Fixed Income Investments ,
Integrity Policies ,
Investment Adviser ,
Know Your Customers ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Short Sales ,
Supervision ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
UGMA ,
UTMA
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on April 18, 2018 published a package of proposed rules and interpretations intended to improve the retail investor experience and to provide greater clarity regarding customers’...more
7/11/2018
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Comment Period ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Due Diligence ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Products ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Retail Investors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Standard of Care
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted unanimously on March 14, 2018 to propose Rule 610T under Regulation NMS (Proposed Rule), which would create a transaction fee pilot program for NMS stocks (i.e.,...more
On April 18, 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted 4-1 to propose a package of rules and interpretations (Proposals) intended to improve the retail investor experience and to provide greater clarity...more
4/20/2018
/ 401k ,
Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Comment Period ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
EDGAR ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Form ADV ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Retail Investors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Standard of Care