The Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released its annual list of 2020 Examination Priorities on Jan. 7, 2020. Many of OCIE’s 2020 examination priorities, including the focus on retail investors, fraud, conflicts (and related disclosures), among others, are perennial risk areas that OCIE routinely prioritizes. While the … Continue Reading
In the summer of 2015, the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) finalized its regulatory framework for virtual currency firms seeking to conduct certain virtual currency (VC) business activities in the state. Since then, it has issued two dozen licenses and charters involving virtual currency transmission (VC licenses). To promote efficiency and reflect … Continue Reading
In October 2019, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) released its “2019 Report on FINRA Examination Findings and Observations.” FINRA publishes a report yearly to highlight its examination “findings” (i.e., findings of violations committed by member firms) detected throughout the year. In addition to findings, the 2019 Report advances further than years past and consists … Continue Reading
On Oct. 22, 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives, in a 249 to 173 vote, passed H.R. 2513, known as the “Corporate Transparency Act of 2019.” The Corporate Transparency Act, if enacted into law, would require each person who creates a corporation or limited liability company in the United States to report, on an ongoing basis, … Continue Reading
On Oct. 11, 2019, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), published a Joint Statement on Activities Involving Digital Assets. The purpose of the Joint Statement was “to remind persons engaged in activities involving digital assets of their anti-money laundering and … Continue Reading
On July 22, 2019, the federal bank regulatory agencies and the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (collectively, the “Agencies”), issued a Joint Statement on Risk-Focused Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) Supervision. The Joint Statement emphasizes their risk-focused approach to examinations of banks’ BSA/AML compliance programs and is the third statement from … Continue Reading
The SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets and the Office of the General Counsel of FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) published on July 8, 2019, a joint staff statement (Custody Release) on broker-dealer custody of digital assets. The statement has been eagerly awaited by market participants, including broker-dealers, given significant uncertainty in the application of … Continue Reading
In connection with the U.S. financial crisis 10 years ago, legislation was adopted to enhance the safety and soundness of the commercial banking system in the United States. Amendments to the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 required five federal financial agencies to adopt joint regulations to (i) limit the authority of commercial banking institutions to … Continue Reading
A bill to amend the Act on Settlement of Funds and the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA) has passed both the upper and lower houses of Japan’s National Diet and was enacted on May 31, 2019. The amendments enhance the regulations on ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) by applying the securities regulations under the FIEA … Continue Reading
In 2018 the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) undertook efforts to have member firms contact FINRA before engaging in activities involving digital assets by issuing Regulatory Notice 18-20. That approach led to many discussions between FINRA staff and member firms, and FINRA found that process useful to help it become aware of developing practices and … Continue Reading
On May 9, 2019, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (FinCEN) issued “interpretive guidance” addressing how FinCEN’s money services business (MSB) regulations apply to a variety of business models that use convertible virtual currency (CVC) (2019 FinCEN Guidance). This is the first significant guidance FinCEN has issued regarding the … Continue Reading
On April 1, 2019, the SEC provided additional guidance relating to its new rules that permit companies to file redacted material contracts without applying for confidential treatment of the redacted information provided the redacted information (i) is not material and (ii) would be competitively harmful if publicly disclosed. The new rules became effective upon their … Continue Reading
Colorado recently passed legislation that will facilitate the sale and transfer of digital tokens in Colorado. Under the Digital Token Act, Colorado businesses will be permitted to effect transactions involving the sale and transfer between certain persons of digital tokens secured through a decentralized ledger or database, with a focus on the production, distribution, and … Continue Reading
Effective Sept. 26, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved amendments to Nasdaq’s shareholder approval rule regarding issuances of 20% or more of an issuer’s outstanding common stock or voting power in a private offering. The amendments are intended to update Nasdaq’s shareholder approval rules from their 1990 adoption and enhance the ability for capital … Continue Reading
FINRA recently sent a sweep letter (or targeted exam letter) to select broker dealers, inquiring about those firms’ sale of non-traded Business Development Companies (BDCs). BDCs are SEC-registered investment companies (usually closed-end funds) that pool investor funds in a debt or equity portfolio (typically of small- or medium-sized companies), with the objective of generating income … Continue Reading
Sarao, Coscia, and now the Berkshire Power Company, each charged with crimes – spoofing, fraud, false information – relating to commodity trading. Commodity traders likely have incorporated into their compliance regimes the general risk that allegations of criminal fraud could arise. These criminal matters no longer appear to be isolated instances and, instead, counsel for … Continue Reading
Earlier this week, the SEC issued a Press Release announcing a Rule Proposal that would require SEC-registered investment advisers to adopt written business continuity and transition plans (BCP) as part of their compliance program. The comment period on the Rule Proposal is expected to close in September. Under the proposed rule, an adviser’s written BCP … Continue Reading
As it previously signaled it would do, on June 14, 2016, the SEC issued an Order (available here) increasing the net worth threshold for qualification as a “qualified client” under Rule 205-3 under the Advisers Act from $2 million to $2.1 million (the SEC did not adjust the assets under management of the adviser threshold, … Continue Reading
On April 25, 2016, the SEC issued a no-action letter to the Investment Advisers Association clarifying its views on the application of Rule 206(4)-2 under the Advisers Act (the Custody Rule) to situations involving a sub-adviser in an investment advisory program for which a related person qualified custodian is the primary adviser and the primary … Continue Reading
Greenberg Traurig Shareholders Michele L. Stocker and Jennifer L. Gray, both co-chairs of the Consumer Financial Services Litigation Practice, as well as Shareholder Murray B. Silverstein, will be speaking at the 2016 Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Legal Issues and Regulatory Compliance (LIRC) Conference. This four-day event will take place May 1-4, 2016, at the Hyatt … Continue Reading
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently presented the President’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget request for the SEC to Congress. Among the notable requests, the SEC seeks significant additional resources for increased examination coverage, primarily of investment advisers and investment companies but also related to broker dealers, crowdfunding portals, and other entities. The SEC also seeks … Continue Reading
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) recently released new guidance on the process it uses when considering enforcement actions against banking institutions and individuals for potential non-compliance with Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) compliance program requirements and anti-money laundering (“AML”) rules. At the same time, the OCC also issued a revised policy for … Continue Reading
The SEC recently brought a settled enforcement action against an SEC-registered investment adviser and its CEO/CCO that represents a continued focus on the calculation of advisory fees. On March 2, 2016, the SEC charged Marco Investment Management, LLC (the Adviser), and its CEO/CCO, Steven Marco (Marco), with charging certain clients advisory fees that were calculated in … Continue Reading
On March 9, the SEC announced that it would be holding a Compliance Outreach Program for investment adviser and investment company senior officers on April 19, 2016, at the SEC’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. (the press release is available here). Registration opened on Tuesday (March 8), and closes on March 29, 2016 (the registration form … Continue Reading
