The Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking comments on a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) proposal to adopt a Supplemental Liquidity Schedule (SLS), and instructions thereto, pursuant to FINRA Rule 4524. FINRA Rule 4524 provides in part that each member, as FINRA shall designate, shall file as a supplement to FOCUS Reports such additional financial or operational schedules or reports as FINRA may deem necessary. The proposed SLS, which would be filed as a supplement to the FOCUS Report, would be required to be filed by (1) each carrying member with at least $25 million in free credit balances, as outlined under Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (SEA) Rule 15c3-3(a)(8); and (2) any member with at least $1 billion in aggregate outstanding repurchase agreements, securities loan contracts and bank loans, as reported on their most recent FOCUS Report.
Continue Reading Notice of Filing of a Proposed Rule Change to Adopt a Supplemental Liquidity Schedule

On March 31, the staff of the Division of Corporation Finance (the Staff) of the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a staff statement (the Staff Statement) relating to accounting, financial reporting and governance issues for private companies to consider before engaging in a business combination with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).
Continue Reading SEC Corp Fin Staff Issues Statement on SPAC Transactions

On November 13, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Market Oversight (DMO) issued CFTC Staff Letter No. 20-35, which extends temporary no-action relief to swap execution facilities (SEFs) and other market participants originally provided by CFTC Staff Letter No. 17-60. (For additional information regarding CFTC Staff Letter No. 17-60, please refer to the November 17, 2017 edition of Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest.) Staff Letter No. 17-60 provided that DMO would not recommend enforcement action against a SEF that has rules and/or procedures that use the SEF’s non-order book trading systems or platforms to facilitate the execution of block trades for swaps that are intended-to-be-cleared, and thus are not compliant with CFTC Regulation 43.2, subject to certain conditions being met.
Continue Reading CFTC Extends Relief for SEFs From Certain Block Trade Requirements

On August 13, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a new webpage on conduct rules reporting for FCA solo-regulated firms under the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR).

The annual reporting obligation under the SM&CR, using the FCA’s Form REP0008 (filed online using the FCA’s Gabriel portal), requires FCA solo-regulated firms to inform the FCA if disciplinary action has been taken against individuals who are not Senior Managers (i.e., not just certified staff) for breaches of the FCA Conduct Rules. 
Continue Reading SM&CR: Disciplinary Action and Conduct Rules Reporting for Staff at FCA-Regulated Firms

On June 21, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved amendments to FINRA Rule 6730 (Transaction Reporting), which requires members to report transactions in US Treasury Securities executed to hedge a primary market transaction with an appropriate identifier. The amendments, further discussed in the June 8, 2018 edition of Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest,

On June 10, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued Regulatory Notice 20-17, which addresses changes to the Problem Codes that FINRA members are required to use for self-reporting customer complaints. These changes are designed in part to account for the new Regulation Best Interest and Form CRS requirements that take effect on June 30.
Continue Reading FINRA Revises Problem Codes for Reporting Customer Complaints and for Filing Documents Online

On April 22, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a new webpage that sets out temporary measures for firms submitting regulatory returns (the Webpage).

The FCA has extended the submission deadlines for certain regulatory returns listed on the Webpage, which are due up to and including June 30, 2020. A brief summary of the amendments granted by the FCA is set out below:
Continue Reading FCA Webpage on Extending Submission Deadlines for Regulatory Returns

On March 19, 2020, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a public statement regarding the reporting requirements and registration of EU trade repositories (TR) under the Securities Finance Transactions Regulation (SFTR) in light of the recent adverse developments of the COVID-19 pandemic (the Public Statement).
Continue Reading ESMA Publishes Public Statement on COVID-19 and Reporting Obligations