All SEC articles – Page 83
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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.
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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.
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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 ...
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Blog
Justice Department Extends Biomet DPA
The Department of Justice will extend for an additional year a deferred-prosecution agreement reached in 2012 with Biomet, after the medical device maker self-reported additional potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The three-year DPA, which would have expired March 26, 2015, will now expire on March 26, 2016. ...
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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” ...
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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 ...
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Blog
SEC Disclosure Crackdown Turns to Beneficial Ownership Reports
With another enforcement sweep made possible by its ongoing data dive into corporate filings, the Securities and Exchange Commission has fined several officers, directors, and major shareholders in companies for failing to update their stock ownership disclosures. The charges relate to the failure to file Schedule 13D, commonly known as ...
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Blog
$1.45B Commerzbank Settlement Hits AML Controls
Germany-based Commerzbank and its U.S. branch, Commerz New York, will pay a total of $1.45 billion in penalties to resolve criminal charges for violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Bank Secrecy Act. The settlement provides a litany of lessons on the importance of implementing proper anti-money ...
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Blog
Credit Suisse CEO Ousted After Tax Plea
Credit Suisse CEO Brady Dougan is stepping down after the bank pleaded guilty to criminal charges and violation of U.S tax laws, which resulted in $2.8 billion in fines by U.S regulators. The Swiss bank named Tidjane Thiam, Prudential’s current CEO, as Dougan’s successor. More inside.
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Blog
SEC Approves XBRL Updates for 2015 GAAP
The SEC has approved FASB’s XBRL taxonomy for 2015 U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, clearing the way for companies to rely on it as early 2015 filers approach their financial statement filing dates and XBRL submissions. According to FASB, the 2015 Taxonomy contains far fewer changes than prior years. More ...
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Article
Consolidation Rule’s Consequences More Than You Expect
Image: A new rule on consolidating entities into a parent company’s financial statements might reach well beyond the original problem it aimed to fix. Financial reporting executives should prepare to take inventory of the entities in your enterprise and see how they may need to roll onto the balance sheet. ...
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Blog
SEC Nixes Proposed Deadline for Extractive Payments Rule
The deadline demanded by Oxfam America for a final rule requiring oil, gas, and mining companies to disclose payments made to foreign governments is “unachievable,” the SEC said in a recent legal brief. The brief is the Commission’s final word in a lawsuit Oxfam America filed in 2014 over delays ...
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Blog
SEC’s Ceresney: Common FCPA Violations in Pharma Industry
Image: From remarks last week at a conference in Washington D.C., SEC Director of Enforcement Andrew Ceresney highlighted three types of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act misconduct that most often arise in the pharmaceutical industry: pay-to-prescribe, formulary drugs, and charitable contributions. More of Ceresney’s observations are inside.
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Article
Internal Controls, Audit Committees Primed for SEC Scrutiny
Every February SEC officials convene at the Practising Law Institute’s “SEC Speaks” conference, where commissioners can break news and staff can detail priorities for the New Year. The focus this year, from rulemaking to enforcement, was on financial reporting internal controls, and ways to improve audit committees. And, of course, ...
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Blog
SEC Pushes Approval of Tick Size Experiment to May
Anxious for the SEC to begin its 12-month experiment in altering tick-size requirements? Prepare to wait a bit longer. The Commission has extended its deadline for approving a proposal, to allow some stocks to trade in five-cent increments, from March 7 to May 6. Meanwhile, there is pressure on the ...
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Blog
General Cable Sets Aside $24 Million for Angola Bribes
General Cable said this week in a regulatory filing that it has set aside an estimated charge of $24 million that it believes the Securities and Exchange Commission likely will disgorge from profits derived from sales tainted by improper payments made in Angola. In September, the maker of copper, aluminum, ...
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Blog
Shareholder Wins Bid to Amend Audit Committee Rules
A recent letter from the Securities and Exchange Commission denies Citigroup’s proposal to bar a person with a history of bankruptcy from joining the audit committee. The Commission said it disagrees with Citi that a shareholder proposal to pursue a bylaw amendment on audit committee service should be excluded from ...
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Blog
New Guidance on SEC Waivers, Exemptions in the Works
Companies seeking waivers that allow them to retain exemptive relief despite an enforcement action may soon get fresh guidance from the Securities and Exchange Commission on how that increasingly contentious process will work in the future. Speaking at a conference in Washington D.C., Elizabeth Murphy, an associate director for ...
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Blog
SEC Commissioners Vent on Administrative Proceedings, Disclosures
Speaking recently at the Practicing Law Foundation’s “SEC Speaks” forum, various SEC commissioners detailed their priorities for 2015. Hot topics included the Commission’s reliance on in-house administrative proceedings, a disclosure regime that hasn’t kept pace with technological advancements, and the challenge of creating a more diverse workforce at the Commission.
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Blog
Eli Lilly: Justice Department Drops FCPA Probe
Eli Lilly announced in a regulatory filing last week that the Department of Justice has closed its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation without bringing any charges. The parallel investigation followed a $29.4 million civil settlement that the drug company reached with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2012 for FCPA ...