All Rules & Proposals articles – Page 51
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Blog
SEC Details Focus Areas for Next Cyber-Security Exams
The SEC will broaden its focus on cyber-security concerns during forthcoming examinations of registered broker-dealers and investment advisers by its Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations. Among the areas primed for greater scrutiny: governance and risk assessment; access rights and controls; data loss prevention; vendor management; employee training; and incident ...
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Blog
CFTC Makes it Official: Bitcoin is a Commodity
Bitcoin, the controversial virtual currency vexing financial regulators, is now officially a commodity—at least in the eyes of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. On Thursday, with the CFTC’s first ever enforcement action against an unregistered Bitcoin options trading platform, the agency designated the virtual currency, and potentially others like it, ...
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Blog
FINRA Pitches Safe Harbor For Firms Flagging Investor Exploitation
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s Board of Governors has advanced proposed rulemaking that would allow the firms it oversees to place a temporary hold on a disbursement of funds or securities if it has a reasonable belief that financial exploitation is occurring. The rule would provide firms with a safe ...
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Blog
SEC Tells Money Market Funds to Ditch Credit Ratings
The Securities and Exchange Commission has removed credit rating references from its rules governing money market funds, substituting a new risk-based asessmet of the securities they hold. The Dodd-Frank Act required all federal agencies to remove references to, or requirements involving, credit ratings issued by nationally recognized statistical rating organizations. ...
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Article
As Startups Grow, Many Start Needing Compliance Sooner
Once upon a time, start-up companies—whether toiling away in a garage somewhere or moving their way up in the world—rarely even considered a compliance program; that was something they would only need in the future. Now many find that the future comes mighty fast these days. Inside, a closer look ...
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Blog
Labor Dept. Rule Bans Pay Talk Discipline by Gov. Contractors
The Department of Labor has issued a final rule prohibiting federal contractors from disciplining, firing, or discriminating against employees and job applicants who inquire about, discuss, or disclose their compensation or the pay of their coworkers. The rule applies to all federal contractors, sub-contractors, and contracts that exceed $10,000 in ...
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Blog
Big Banks Agree to Preserve Records on Symphony Chat Program
New York State has reached agreements with Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, and Bank of New York Mellon regarding recordkeeping requirements for the Symphony chat and messaging platform, a service aimed at banks. The agreements require Symphony to retain all communications sent to or from the banks through its ...
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Article
Human Trafficking Lawsuits Expose Companies to Greater Supply Chain Risk
Image: While you were worrying about conflict minerals, class-action lawsuits over cat food and shrimp cocktail have emerged as the new compliance risk. Suits against Nestlé and Costco both claim the companies used shrimp produced using slave labor in Thailand. What’s more, plaintiffs are using required supply chain disclosures from ...
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Article
Investment Advisers Next to Feel AML Scrutiny
Investment advisers have never had to face formal anti-money laundering requirements. That is about to change. A proposed rule by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network adds them to the definition of “financial institutions” and demands comprehensive anti-money laundering programs. That has raised concerns of cost and redundancy and ...
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Article
New NLRB Standard Causes Compliance Joint Pains
Image: The National Labor Relations Board has startled Corporate America with its recent ruling that drastically expands the definition of a “joint employer.” Compliance officers should scramble for all those contracts your company has with staffing agencies, franchisees, and similar parties; review them closely to shed any right of control ...
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Blog
SEC’s Gallagher Plans Oct. 2 Departure
Image: Title: GallagherDaniel Gallagher will step down from the SEC on Oct. 2, putting renewed pressure on the Obama Administration to send a nominee to the Senate for confirmation. Still undecided as well is who the White House will nominate to replace Commissioner Luis Aguilar. Early trial balloons for a ...
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Blog
The Week That Was: Problems With Disclosure-Based Activism
Image: The SEC this week was ordered by a court ruling to expedite delayed rulemaking that forces oil and gas companies to disclose payments to governments. But is a rule of this sort worthwhile if, as a separate lawsuit demanded, public disclosure isn’t required? And, what’s the point of demanding ...
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Blog
Court Gives SEC Deadline to Act on Extractive Payments Rule
A federal district court has ordered the SEC to get moving with its long-delayed requirement to adopt a rule for oil, gas, and mining companies to disclose payments made to foreign governments. Ruling on a lawsuit brought against the SEC by Oxfam America, the judge concluded that the SEC “unlawfully ...
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Article
How Bad Is SEC Politicking? Pretty Bad
Image: That the SEC endures its share of politics is not exactly news—but the amount of politics, and the sheer partisan in-fighting at the agency? That’s rising. Split votes are more common, published dissents from commissioners more frequent. “Sometimes when I see what’s going on now, I’m sorry I ever ...
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Blog
Candidates Hit SEC Over Revolving Door, Political Spending
The SEC found itself in the crosshairs of two 2016 presidential candidates this week. On Monday, Hillary Clinton co-authored a Huffington Post article supporting a bill intended to curb the “revolving door,” a career path where financial industry personnel join regulatory agencies and later return to the industry. Clinton’s ...
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Article
FTC Speaks on Antitrust; Leaves Many Confused
Image: The Federal Trade Commission has finally spoken (for the first time in 100 years) about how it defines the scope of its enforcement authority for anti-competitive business practices. The bad news: Its guidance is short reading and slim on specifics. The lack of detail “may have opened the floodgates ...
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Blog
Blockbuster Mergers Prompt 'Tweet' Disclosures
“Safe, not sorry” is the approach companies currently involved in multi-billion dollar mergers are taking to their disclosures of social media communications to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Insurance giants Aetna and Humana, in the midst of a $37 billion deal, and Charter Communications(merging with Time Warner Cable), have disclosed ...
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Blog
Aguilar: SEC Should Consider Conditional Waivers, Online Database
Image: SEC Commissioner Luis Aguilar wants the agency to bring more clarity to its process for issuing waivers to companies sanctioned for misconduct, including a new “conditional waiver” process and an online database to shed more light on who asks for waivers and how often they are granted or declined. ...
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Blog
For Third Consecutive Year, SEC Reduces Filing Fees
For the third year in a row, the Securities and Exchange Commission will reduce the filing fees public companies and other issuers pay to register their securities. In fiscal year 2016 fees will be set at $100.70 per million dollars, a drop from the current filing fee for registration statements ...
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Blog
FinCEN Proposes AML Regulations for Investment Advisers
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is proposing a rule that would require investment advisers to establish anti-money laundering programs, file Currency Transaction Reports, and report suspicious activity. While the Bank Secrecy Act does not expressly include “investment adviser” among its list of entities defined as a financial institution, ...