Category Archive for: SEC

DOJ and SEC Issue Guide to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

The Department of Justice and the SEC have jointly issued a guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. (USFCPA)  For the uninitiated, there is a nice explanation of both DOJ and SEC resolutions beginning at page 74. Fenwick & West LLP has a good summary, which can be found here.

Finra Incorporates Social Media in New Communications Rules

Finra Notice to Members 12-29, announced the SEC approval of far reaching updates to previous NASD and NYSE communications rules.  (NTM 12-29)  The new rules will be numbered 2210 and 2212-16 and will be collectively referred to as the “Communication Rules”.  These new rules will incorporate and replace the following rules: Finra rules: 2210, 2211,…

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Finra Reflects on the SRO Model

Finra Executive Vice President, Thomas M. Selman, spoke at the Investment Program Association Fall Conference on November 15, 2012 and made some interesting comments.  (IPAFC)  I have extracted some of the better parts below. Here’s another pitch for Finra (and not the SEC) to regulate Investment Advisors: Despite the longstanding faith in the SRO model,…

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SEC Report on Examination of Ratings Agencies

The SEC has issued its 2012 Summary Report of Commission Staff’s Examinations of Each Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization.  (SEC)  This is more of what is coming out of Dodd-Frank.  In particular: In July 2010, Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”), which, among other things, amended Section…

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SEC Joins Finra in Hurricane Sandy Regulatory Relief

The SEC has joined Finra in offering regulatory relief to entities affected by Hurricane Sandy.  (SEC) See our coverage of the Finra relief efforts here and here.

Finra to Facilitate RIA Arbitrations

Bruce Kelly, of InvestmentNews, reports that Finra will soon open its dispute resolution arbitration platform to registered investment advisors.  (IN)  This is good news for RIA investors because those arbitrations have typically been heard in AAA or JAMS forums, which are much more expensive.  RIA firms may also welcome the lower costs. Finra Dispute Resolution…

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Implications of the Dodd-Frank Act on Private Funds

Henry Raschen of HSBC Securities, has a short piece at FTSEGlobalMarkets.com about the Dodd-Frank Act (“DFA”).  (FTSEGM).  Some quick take-aways: The registration requirement applies to US private advisers and non-US private advisers that advise funds with US investors; Many smaller non-US domiciled private advisers may have failed to register correctly; All registered private advisers with…

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Finra Introduces Private Placement Filing Requirement

The SEC recently approved Finra Rule 5123 and will create a private placement filing system under which member firms will be required to file the Private Placement Memorandum, Term Sheet, or other Offering Document for deals they sell.  The new rule will go into effect on December 3, 2012.  See Finra NTM 12-40 for details.…

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SEC Announces Over 1,500 Private Fund Advisors Register as Investment Advisors

As a result of the Dodd-Frank legislation, hedge fund, private equity fund and other fund managers are having to register as Investment Advisors with the SEC.  This is a significant development as trillions of assets are now coming under the aegis (and scrutiny) of the SEC.  We will have more commentary on this later, but…

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Warning! Finra Arbitration Filings Down, S&P 500 Up

Below is a visualization of  annual Finra Arbitration Filings as compared to the S&P 500 annual closing value.  Since 1999, there is a significant negative correlation of -0.594 between the two.  When arbitration filings have peaked it has been a buy signal, and vice versa. On the lower pane of the viz, I have plotted…

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