On May 9, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed amendments to the accelerated filer and large accelerated filer definitions in Securities Exchange Act of 1934 Rule 12b-2. The proposed amendments would exclude certain lower-revenues companies from being classified as accelerated or large accelerated filers, which would reduce costs for those companies.… Continue Reading
The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved a proposed rule change to amend Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Rule 4512 (Customer Account Information) (the “Amended Rule”). For discretionary accounts, member firms are currently required to maintain a record of the dated, manual signature of each named, natural person authorized to exercise discretion in such accounts.… Continue Reading
On April 3, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporate Finance (the “Division”) responded to TurnKey Jet, Inc.’s (TKJ) letter dated April 2, requesting confirmation that the Division would not recommend enforcement action to the SEC in connection with its offer and sale of tokens without registration under the Securities Act of 1933 and… Continue Reading
On March 19, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA) released Regulatory Notice 19-08 to provide guidance to members for reporting lease assets and liabilities on their FOCUS reports. FINRA’s notice follows an October 2018 No-Action Letter (the No-Action Letter) in which the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Trading and Markets… Continue Reading
On March 20, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA) released Regulatory Notice 19-09, which reminds members of their obligations under Securities Exchange Act Rule 15c2-11 and FINRA Rule 6432 (Compliance with the Information Requirements of Rule 15c2-11). Rule 15c2-11 prohibits a broker-dealer from publishing (or submitting for publication) a quotation in an unlisted security… Continue Reading
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced that it had at last adopted final rules to implement Section 14(j) (Disclosure of Hedging by Employees and Directors) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which was enacted in 2010 by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. New Item 407(i) of Regulation S-K will… Continue Reading
On September 24, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued a Regulatory Notice (Notice) reminding firms of their applicable obligations when publishing a quote in an OTC security, in addition to filing a Form 211. Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (SEA) Rule 15c2-11 prevents a broker-dealer from initiating quotations in an OTC security unless such… Continue Reading
On July 31, the staff of the Division of Corporation Finance (the Staff) of the Securities and Exchange Commission released two new Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (C&DIs), in the Proxy Rules and Schedules 14A/14C section, providing guidance on the use of Notices of Exempt Solicitation.… Continue Reading
On July 26, the Securities and Exchange Commission disapproved a Bats BZX Exchange proposed rule change that would have permitted the listing and trading of shares of the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust (Trust) on BZX. This is the SEC’s second disapproval of the proposed rule change as it has previously disapproved the exchange’s original proposal in… Continue Reading
As previously reported in the Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest edition of June 1, 2018, on May 24, President Trump signed into law the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act (the Act), Section 507 of which directs the Securities and Exchange Commission to adopt an amendment to Rule 701 under the Securities Act… Continue Reading
On July 18, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted new Form ATS-N and amendments to Regulation ATS and Exchange Act Rule 3a1-1. The new requirements are designed to enhance transparency of alternative trading systems (ATSs) that trade stocks listed on a national securities exchange (NMS Stock ATSs) by requiring them to publicly disclose detailed information… Continue Reading
On July 11, the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) of the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a Risk Alert to provide investment advisers and other market participants with information concerning many of the most common deficiencies that OCIE staff has found in recent examinations of investment advisers’ compliance with their best execution obligations… Continue Reading
On May 24, President Trump signed into law the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act. While the Act primarily serves to relieve smaller financial institutions from the burden of complying with certain requirements under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Act also directs the Securities and Exchange Commission to… Continue Reading
On May 11, the staff of the Division of Corporation Finance of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the Staff) issued 45 Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (C&DIs) that relate to the proxy rules and proxy statements, replacing the Staff’s prior interpretations that were published in the Proxy Rules and Schedule 14A Manual of Publicly Available Telephone… Continue Reading
On April 18, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a new rule under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, creating a standard of conduct for registered broker-dealers who make recommendations of securities transactions or investment strategies involving securities to a retail customer. The best interest standard requires broker-dealers to act in the best interest of… Continue Reading
On February 2, the Securities and Exchange Commissions approved a New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) rule change that facilitates the listing of companies on the NYSE without a prior registration statement under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) in connection with an underwritten initial public offering. As previously discussed in the May 5,… Continue Reading
On November 1, the Division of Corporation Finance of the Securities and Exchange Commission (Division) published Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14I (SLB 14I), which provides new, issuer-friendly guidance on shareholder proposals in advance of the 2018 proxy season. Specifically, SLB 14I provides guidance on (1) exclusion of shareholder proposals under the “ordinary business” and “economic… Continue Reading
On September 28, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its issuance of an order and its adoption of interim final temporary rules to provide regulatory relief to companies, including publicly traded companies, investment companies, accountants and transfer agents, affected by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. The order and interim rules conditionally exempt affected persons… Continue Reading
On August 24, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that, effective October 1, the fees that public companies and other issuers pay to register their securities with the SEC will increase from $115.90 per million dollars of securities registered to $124.50 per million dollars of securities, an increase of approximately seven percent. This increase in… Continue Reading
On June 29, the Division of Corporation Finance (Division) of the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that, beginning on July 10, the Division will permit all issuers to confidentially submit to the Division, for nonpublic review, draft registration statements in connection with initial public offerings (IPOs) and in certain other cases. This was previously only… Continue Reading
On June 19, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) filed a notice withdrawing its proposed rule that would have allowed companies to list on the NYSE without an initial public offering. The proposed rule was previously discussed in the May 5, 2017 edition of the Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest. The proposed rule would have… Continue Reading
Several companies have received shareholder letters seeking to recover short-swing profits from insiders under Section 16(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, alleging that such insiders made non-exempt purchases of stock within six months of having shares withheld either for payment of the exercise price of employee stock options or to satisfy tax liabilities… Continue Reading
On March 31, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted technical amendments to rules adopted by the SEC under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act). These technical amendments include, among others, an increase in the revenue cap for determining emerging growth company (EGC) status; an increase of the amount of money companies can raise… Continue Reading
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently proposed amendments to Rule 15c2-12 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Rule 15c2-12 prohibits dealers acting as an underwriter for a primary offering of municipal securities from purchasing or selling those securities after the occurrence of certain events. To comply with the rule, underwriters typically provide event notices… Continue Reading
