Adam P. Haft

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On October 11, the leaders of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (collectively, the Agencies) issued a joint statement reminding persons engaged in activities involving digital assets of their anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) obligations under the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 (BSA).…
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On October 9, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced the formation of its Asset Management Advisory Committee.

The committee will provide the SEC with diverse perspectives on asset management and related advice and recommendations. Topics the committee may address include trends and developments affecting investors and market participants, the effects of globalization, and changes in the role of technology and service providers. …
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On August 20, the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) approved their version of a set of amendments intended to simplify some of the requirements of the regulations implementing Section 13 of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (the “Volcker Rule”), which was enacted as Section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The Volcker Rule generally prohibits banking entities from engaging in proprietary trading and from owning or controlling hedge funds or private equity funds subject to numerous qualifications and exemptions set forth in the Volcker Rule regulations, which are identical sets of rules adopted by each of the Volcker Rule regulators (the FDIC, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the Securities and Exchange Commission). These final amendments incorporate the responses of the Volcker Rule regulators to the numerous comments they received when they initially proposed a set of amendments in 2018.…
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On August 7, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued Regulatory Notice 19-26, reminding members of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) adoption of a “best interest” standard of conduct for broker-dealers and a relationship summary (Form CRS) delivery obligation.
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On June 21, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted a package of new rules and rule amendments to establish capital, margin and segregation requirements under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act.

The new rules address the following areas:

  • Capital requirements for security-based swap dealers (SBSDs) and major security-based swap participants (MSBSP), for which there is not a prudential regulator (nonbank SBSDs and MSBSPs).
  • Capital requirements for broker-dealers that trade security-based swaps or swaps and are not registered as an SBSD or MSBSP.
  • Minimum net capital requirements for broker-dealers that use internal models to compute net capital.
  • Margin requirements for nonbank SBSDs and MSBSPs with respect to non-cleared security-based swaps.
  • Segregation requirements for SBSDs and stand-alone broker-dealers for cleared and non-cleared security-based swaps.

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On June 20, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed amendments to FINRA Rule 2210 (Communications with the Public) and FINRA Rule 2241 (Research Analysts and Research Reports) required by the Fair Access to Investment Research Act of 2017.

The proposed amendments would eliminate the “quiet period” for…

On June 5, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted to adopt a package of rules and interpretations designed to enhance the quality and transparency of retail investors’ relationships with investment advisers and broker-dealers. Specifically, the SEC approved Regulation Best Interest.…
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