All articles by Joe Mont – Page 72
-
Blog
Pension Funds Ask SEC for Board Diversity Rule
A coalition of state treasurers and pension funds has petitioned the SEC for new disclosure requirements on board diversity. They want a new rule that adds gender, racial, and ethnic diversity data to current disclosures dictated by Regulation S-K, which only requires companies to identify the minimum skills, experiences, and ...
-
Blog
CFTC Gives CCOs Extra 30 Days to File Annual Reports
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission will give compliance officers an additional 30 days to file the annual reports required of swap dealers and major swap participants. The reports—which include an assessment of compliance resources and challenges—were initially due within 60 days of the fiscal year’s end. More inside.
-
Article
Managing the Risky Business of Loyalty Programs
As the regulatory focus on data security expands, companies that offer customer loyalty programs should review them for red flags. How the data is stored, protected, and segmented is ripe for scrutiny, experts warn. Poorly designed loyalty programs could run afoul of antitrust laws, torpedo a merger, violate HIPAA, or ...
-
Article
Conflict Minerals, Year 2: The Auditing Challenge
Few companies so far have addressed the audit requirement in the SEC’s Conflict Minerals Rule, although that will likely change as the June deadline for your second year’s filings approaches.
-
Blog
SEC Punts Extraction Payments Rule to 2016
Image: The SEC says it will not issue a proposal requiring oil gas, and mining companies to disclose payments made to governments until spring of 2016. “We’re surprised and disappointed that the SEC would push back its timeline yet again,” said Ian Gary, senior policy manager, extractive industries for Oxfam ...
-
Blog
House Committee Digs Into New Dodd-Frank, CFPB Legislation
The House of Representative’s Committee on Financial Services is moving forward with the latest round of legislative efforts to amend the Dodd-Frank Act, impose new requirements on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and offer regulatory relief to smaller banks and lenders. The first step was a day-long markup of newly ...
-
Blog
SEC Adopts Regulation A+, Including State Preemption
Image: The SEC has adopted new rules that expand the Regulation A registration exemption. It enables smaller companies to offer and sell up to $50 million of securities in a 12-month period without registering with state-level securities regulators in certain situations. Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin expressed dismay for ...
-
Blog
SEC May Bring High-Frequency Traders Under FINRA Oversight
Image: Broker-dealers who trade off-exchange, including high-frequency traders, will be required to register with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority once a rule change proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission is finalized. Commissioner Daniel Gallagher, however, wasn’t keen on the idea of treating FINRA as “the SEC’s deputy federal regulator.” ...
-
Blog
Congress Grills SEC on Budget Request
Image: SEC Chair Mary Jo White was in the hot seat Tuesday during during a hearing before the House Committee on Financial Services. Republicans scrutinized her $1.7 billion budget request, while Democrats blasted the Commission’s “bad actor” waiver process and a decision not to require political spending disclosures.
-
Article
High Court Ruling Is Boon for Regulators, Snare for Business
Image: Compliance officers worried about regulatory change, prepare yourself: The Supreme Court’s ruling to give agencies more leeway in re-interpreting rules does you no favors. Today’s estranged Washington politics means regulators are bound to try re-interpretation for the sake of expedient rulemaking, and CCOs will need to be vigilant. “This ...
-
Article
Putting All of That Talent to Work Smartly
Amid a tough climate of regulatory enforcement and an explosion of new rules after the financial crisis, many large companies—especially financial institutions—have beefed up their staffing on risk and compliance. But is more always better? While the investment sends a message, more boots on the ground may just step on ...
-
Blog
Aguilar: SEC Must Extend Its Global Reach
SEC Commissioner Luis Aguilar, an outspoken proponent of stronger agency oversight, says the regulator must do more to extend its global reach. In a recent speech, Aguilar framed the SEC’s imperative simply: “As companies increasingly have foreign operations, the SEC will need to address how best to extend its supervisory ...
-
Blog
BNY Mellon Settles FX Charges, Will Pay $714 Million
Bank of New York Mellon has agreed to pay $714 million in a series of settlements related to accusations it fraudulently overcharged clients on foreign exchange currency transactions. The settlements stem from long-running lawsuits by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and New York’s Attorney General.
-
Blog
CFPB Goes Public With Complaint Database Narratives
If you were already alarmed by the reputational headaches and compliance challenges inherent in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s complaint database, there is now even more to worry about. The Bureau is making the narratives behind those complaints public.
-
Blog
White: When Activist Shareholders Strike, SEC Will Scrutinize Disclosures
Image: In a speech last week, SEC Chairman Mary Jo White addressed the Commission’s role when companies and shareholder activists do battle, foremost to ensure both parties meet relevant disclosure requirements. She also discussed how the SEC views bylaws that shift shareholder litigation costs to losing plaintiffs. More inside.
-
Blog
Oxfam to SEC: Cough Up Extractive Payments Rule
Oxfam America has fired its latest legal broadside against the SEC, filing a brief in court saying the agency cannot re-arrange deadlines on Dodd-Frank Act rulemaking no matter how busy it might be. The two sides are in a legal tussle over when the SEC will issue a rule on ...
-
Article
Momentum Grows for Small Companies & Capital Markets
The SEC is exploring new ways to fulfill its mission to facilitate capital formation for small- and medium-sized companies. While uncertainty still surrounds capital formation efforts included in the JOBS Act, momentum is growing to revisit the SEC’s traditional definition of an accredited investor, and to create new “venture exchanges” ...
-
Article
Blurred Lines: How to Handle Informal SEC Communications
When the SEC sends a formal inquiry into your company’s operations, you know you have a problem to be handled in strict ways. So what about when the SEC delivers an “informal” request—and all those speeches and opinions, for that matter, that can sound an awful lot like formal guidance ...
-
Blog
AML Efforts Face Renewed Focus on SARs, Beneficial Ownership Data
Financial institutions should prepare for even greater scrutiny on their anti-money laundering efforts. Pending legislation and rulemaking will smooth the way for regulatory probes to use beneficial ownership information, and to expand the use of Suspicious Activity Reports, regulators said this week.
-
Blog
Retailers Decry Prospect of Bank-Like Data Security Rules
The National Retail Federation is asking Congress to reject any legislation that would impose data security rules designed for the banking industry upon non-bank businesses. An overly broad expansion of data security standards similar to Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act guidelines would “be a serious error,” it says.