Five federal financial regulatory agencies adopted a final rule to exclude community banks from the Volcker Rule, consistent with the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act....more
On March 14, 2018, the Senate passed the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act which has been billed as Dodd-Frank reform. Some refer to it as the “Crapo bill”, which is a reference to its sponsor,...more
The SEC Office of Minority and Women Inclusion, or OMWI, invited entities regulated by the SEC to submit a Diversity Assessment Report....more
In June, Treasury issued a report noting that it believes duties imposed on bank boards are too voluminous, lack appropriate tailoring, and undermine the important distinction between the role of management and that of boards...more
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is seeking comment to assist in determining how the final rule implementing section 13 of the Bank Holding Company Act, which is referred to as the Volcker Rule, could be revised...more
Given the SEC’s investigative report on initial coin offerings, I thought it would be interesting to review a small sample to see what else is really out there. I turned to coinmarketcap.com for information. In many cases the...more
The SEC issued an investigative report cautioning market participants that offers and sales of digital assets by “virtual” organizations are subject to the requirements of the federal securities laws. Such offers and sales,...more
In remarks before the Economic Club of New York, new SEC Chairman Jay Clayton discussed eight guiding principles:
Principle #1: The SEC’s mission is our touchstone. Investors and capital markets will suffer if the SEC...more
7/13/2017
/ Best Interest Contract Exemptions ,
Capital Markets ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Financial Institutions ,
Investment ,
Investment Adviser ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Retirement Plan ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The NYSE has filed a proposed rule with the SEC which will require listed companies to provide notice to the Exchange at least 10 minutes before making any public announcement with respect to a dividend or stock distribution...more
A percolating issue with respect to the SEC’s whistleblower regulations is whether the anti-retaliation protections apply only when suspected misconduct is reported to the SEC, or whether the protections also apply when the...more
The U.S. Department of the Treasury yesterday issued its first in a series of reports to President Donald J. Trump examining the United States’ financial regulatory system. Appendix B to the report includes 16 pages of...more
As we noted here, the SEC temporarily suspended the Tier 2 Regulation A+ offering of Med-X, Inc. The SEC stated it temporarily suspended the offering because Med-X has not filed its annual report on Form 1-K as required by...more
The CFTC voted to seek public input on simplifying and modernizing the Commission’s rules. The action is part of an initiative which has been dubbed “Project KISS.”...more
In a Presidential Memorandum, President Trump directed the Secretary of the Treasury, as a member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, not to cast a nonemergency vote to subject nonbank financial companies to...more
The SEC announced enforcement actions against 27 individuals and entities behind various alleged stock promotion schemes that left investors with the impression they were reading independent, unbiased analyses on investing...more
In remarks at a conference, CFTC Acting Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo announced the CFTC’s intent to comply with an Executive Order which requires each agency to designate a Regulatory Reform Officer and establish a...more
The opinion of the SEC in KCD Financial Inc. upholds a FINRA disciplinary action against a FINRA member broker-dealer that sold securities in a private placement when no exemption from registration was available....more
3/30/2017
/ Accredited Investors ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Press Releases ,
Private Offerings ,
Registration Requirement ,
Regulation D ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations
The SEC has denied a proposed rule change by NYSE Arca to permit the listing and trading of shares of the SolidX Bitcoin Trust. The reasons were substantially similar to the reasons the SEC denied a proposed rule change...more
3/29/2017
/ Bitcoin ,
Digital Currency ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Listing Rules ,
NYSE ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Trading Platforms ,
Virtual Currency
The Trump administration has published its budgetary Blueprint. The Blueprint notes the 2018 Budget is being unveiled sequentially in that the Blueprint provides details only on discretionary funding proposals. The full...more
The Corporate Council of The Corporation Law Section of the Delaware State Bar Association has prepared proposed amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law to facilitate the use of block chain technology for...more
The SEC declined to approve a rule change submitted by Bats BZX Exchange designed to permit the listing and trading the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust. The SEC said it did not approve the proposed rule change because it did not...more
The SEC has issued a notice of a meeting to consider:
Whether to propose amendments to rules and forms to require the use of the Inline XBRL format for the submission of operating company financial statement information...more
Under current law, stockbrokers are only required to recommend suitable investments to their clients. The Department of Labor has issued a so called “fiduciary rule” which requires brokers, advisors and insurance agents, when...more
2/6/2017
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Financial Adviser ,
Financial Institutions ,
Investment Adviser ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Retirement ,
Retirement Plan ,
Trump Administration
President Trump has signed an executive order titled “Presidential Executive Order on Core Principles for Regulating the United States Financial System.“
The “Core Principles” are...more
Grant Thornton LLP became the first registered public accounting firm to file a Form AP with the PCAOB. Form AP currently requires identification of the engagement audit partner associated with certain SEC filings and the...more