The SEC’s Division of Examinations (EXAMS) published its report on 2024 Examination Priorities on October 16, 2023.
The 2024 Examination Priorities continue to reflect an examination program that is vigorous and broad...more
12/18/2023
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Compensation ,
Compliance ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cybersecurity ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Due Diligence ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Investment ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Private Funds ,
REIT ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
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)
Perhaps in anticipation of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s four rulemakings on order execution and handlings, the staff of the SEC’s Division of Examinations (Division) released a risk alert (Risk Alert) on November...more
In 2021, the staff (the “Staff”) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) surprised the industry when it issued an interpretation stating that fixed income securities (including asset-backed securities) fall...more
12/2/2022
/ American Bar Association (ABA) ,
Asset-Backed Securities ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Compliance ,
Credit Enhancements ,
CREFC ,
Institutional Investors ,
No-Action Requests ,
Rule 144A ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
SIFMA
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 Financial Industry Regulatory Authority issued a regulatory notice clarifying the scope of supervisory liability under FINRA Rule 3110 of a broker-dealer’s chief compliance officer (CCO) (Regulatory Notice). FINRA’s Head...more
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 Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) on October 6, 2021, published a regulatory notice (“Notice”) requesting comment on a proposal requiring broker-dealers to publish quarterly order routing disclosure...more
11/12/2021
/ American Depository Receipts (ADRs) ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Comment Period ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Equity Securities ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Investment Management ,
Regulation NMS ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Transactions
The staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Examinations (Staff) on February 26, 2021, published a Risk Alert (Risk Alert)1 regarding digital asset securities.2 The Risk Alert highlights observations...more
The Staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Trading and Markets (Staff) issued a no-action letter to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority on September 25, 2020 (Letter), in which the Staff stated...more
The staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (staff) issued a National Exam Program Risk Alert on August 12, 2020 (Risk Alert). The Risk Alert is intended to share...more
8/26/2020
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Business Continuity Plans ,
Compliance ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Data Protection ,
Fees ,
Fraud ,
Investment Adviser ,
OCIE ,
Popular ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Risk Alert ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
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 U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) on June 29, 2020 issued a release (the “Release”) proposing an important new initiative for retirement accounts (“Plans”) that are subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security...more
7/20/2020
/ 1975 Rule ,
Banks ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Brokers ,
Comment Period ,
Covered Transactions ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Exemptions ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Five-Part Test ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Insurance Industry ,
Investment Adviser ,
New Guidance ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Regulation Best Interest ,
Retirement Plan ,
Rollover Equity
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
In an April 2, 2020 statement regarding the SEC’s approach to the allocation of resources, oversight and rulemaking in light of the COVID-19 coronavirus, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton discussed Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI)...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 2020 Examination Priorities of the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission were announced on January 7, 2020, and cover eight broad topics:
- Protection...more
2/1/2020
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Cybersecurity ,
Digital Assets ,
ETFs ,
Examination Priorities ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
FinTech ,
Innovation ,
Investor Protection ,
MSRB ,
Municipal Advisers ,
Mutual Funds ,
OCIE ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Registered Investment Companies (RICs) ,
Retail Investors ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stock Exchange
Massachusetts’ Secretary of the Commonwealth, William F. Galvin, caused the Securities Division to issue, on November 29, 2019, a revised proposed uniform standard of conduct for broker-dealers, investment advisers, and their...more
1/3/2020
/ Blue Sky Laws ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Duty of Loyalty ,
Federal v State Law Application ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Adviser ,
Preemption ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Hearing ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Regulation Best Interest ,
Standard of Conduct ,
State Securities Regulators
Update: FINRA announced this week that its recently approved amendments to Rule 5130 (New Issue Rule) and 5131 (Anti-Spinning Rule) will be effective January 1, 2020. See, FINRA Regulatory Notice 19-37, published December 19,...more
12/21/2019
/ Anti-Dilution Terms ,
Anti-Spinning Rules ,
Beneficial Owner ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Corporate Issuers ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Finders ,
Foreign Investment Entities (FIEs) ,
Foreign Offerings ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
New Amendments ,
Portfolio Managers ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Retirement Plan ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sovereign Wealth Funds ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)
The Securities and Exchange Commission approved amendments to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority New Issue Rule (Rule 5130) and Anti-Spinning Rule (Rule 5131) (collectively, Rules) on November 5, 2019...more
12/3/2019
/ Amended Regulation ,
Anti-Dilution Terms ,
Anti-Spinning Rules ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Corporate Executives ,
Corporate Issuers ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Exemptions ,
Family Businesses ,
Fiduciary ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Foreign Investment Entities (FIEs) ,
Foreign Offerings ,
Fund Managers ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Insider Trading ,
Portfolio Managers ,
Retirement Funds ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Self-Dealing ,
Sovereign Wealth Funds ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)
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. SEC’s Division of Investment Management (Staff) has extended, until July 3, 2023, its 2017 temporary no-action letter (2017 NAL) regarding the “investment adviser” status of certain broker-dealers that accept cash...more