On August 26, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted amendments to modernize the required disclosures under Regulation S-K regarding a company’s business description (Item 101), legal proceedings (Item 103) and risk factors (Item 105) (the Amendments). In a press release, the SEC staff noted that the Amendments are in line with the SEC’s long-standing commitment to a principles-based, registrant-specific approach to disclosure that, although prescriptive in some respects, focuses on materiality and is designed to provide an understanding of each registrant’s business, financial condition and prospects. The staff also noted that the Amendments are intended to result in disclosure that will be presented in a manner that is more readable because of the reduction of immaterial and/or repetitive disclosure and will also be more in line with the way that a registrant’s management and board of directors manage and assess the registrant’s performance. The Amendments reflect the adoption of rule amendments the SEC originally proposed in August 2019 (the Proposals), which were previously discussed in the August 16, 2019 edition of Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest, with certain modifications. The key changes made by the Amendments:
Continue Reading SEC Adopts Rule Amendments to Modernize Business, Legal Proceedings and Risk Factor Disclosures Required by Regulation S-K

On August 20, the National Futures Association (NFA) issued Notice I-20-31 highlighting recently published FAQs addressing customer due diligence requirements for covered financial institutions. The FAQs clarify the regulatory obligations of covered financial institutions with respect to obtaining customer information, establishing a customer risk profile and performing ongoing monitoring of the customer relationship.

The FAQs

On December 3, the National Futures Association (NFA) proposed amendments to various NFA Compliance Rules and Interpretive Notices related to discretionary customer accounts, customer information, risk disclosures and bunched orders to apply to cleared swaps, in addition to other minor amendments. Most notably, NFA proposal would amend the following:
Continue Reading NFA Proposes Amendments to Several NFA Rules and Interpretative Notices to Apply to Cleared Swaps