By: Pablo J. Man, C. Todd Gibson, and Lisa N. Ju
Starting 30 September 2024, the amendments to the Section 13 beneficial ownership rules under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Amendments), as they relate to initial and amended Schedule 13G filings come into effect. The new accelerated deadlines for initial and amendment filings vary by investor type, as follows:
Read MoreBy: Clifford Histed and Cheryl Isaac
If you or your company trades on CME, CBOT, NYMEX or COMEX (CME Group exchanges, collectively referred to herein as “CME”), you will need to take note of CME’s new Market Regulation Advisory Notice (MRAN), which became effective on 16 July. The new MRAN is called “Supervisory Responsibilities for Employees and Agents” and should be reviewed closely to understand CME’s expectations related to diligent supervision, including policies, trainings, monitoring, remediation and sanctions.
Read MoreBy: Clifford C. Histed, Cheryl L. Issac, Matthew J. Rogers, and Wiley F. Cole
On 20 May 2024, the National Futures Association (NFA) announced that its recently finalized Compliance Rule 2-52, related Interpretive Notice 9082 and amended Bylaw 301 will go into effect on 15 October 2024. NFA members will be required to submit their Member Questionnaire (formerly, the Annual Questionnaire) at least annually, and sometimes more frequently, as required by the NFA. If an NFA member’s business operations materially change rendering previously provided information inaccurate or incomplete, the NFA member will be required promptly to update its Member Questionnaire. While NFA members may use their discretion to determine what constitutes a material change, Interpretive Notice 9082 provides illustrative guidance on this point.
Read MoreBy: Stacy L. Fuller, Kevin R. Gustafson, Christine Mikhael and Crystal Liu
On 15 April 2024, Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. (Cboe) filed an application pursuant to Rule 19b-4 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to amend its exchange-traded funds (ETFs) listing standards to permit ETF share classes issued by open-end investment companies that offer mutual fund share classes pursuant to any exemptive relief to be granted by the SEC.
Read MoreBy: Lance C. Dial and Pablo J. Man
On 3 April 2024 the SEC announced the first off-channel communications settlement with a registered investment adviser who was not otherwise affiliated with a broker-dealer. This settlement provides new insight into how the SEC views adviser’s recordkeeping obligations, which are narrower than broker-dealer regulatory requirements.
Read MoreBy: Neil T. Smith, Hayley Trahan-Liptak, and Sophia A. Khan
The traditional understanding of how the government charges insider trading is evolving, as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) pushes to expand the scope of what constitutes misappropriation of material non-public information (MNPI) under Rule 10b-5.
Read MoreBy: Matthew Rogers and Annabelle North
Following up on its previously-issued Investor Alert warning investors on the use of so-called “AI washing” by advisers in their marketing materials, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on 18 March 2024 the settlements of charges against two investment advisers for “making false and misleading statements about their purported use of artificial intelligence (AI).”
Read MoreBy: Richard F. Kerr, Eden L. Rohrer, Jessica D. Cohn, and Raymond F. Jensen
On 18 March 2024, the National Association of Private Fund Managers, Alternative Investment Management Association, Limited and Managed Funds Association (together, Plaintiffs) jointly filed a complaint (Complaint) against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleging that the SEC’s newly adopted final rule (Dealer Rule) vastly overstepped and expanded the SEC’s authority. The Complaint, which was filed in federal court in Texas, details how the Dealer Rule, expanding those industry participants who would be “dealers” under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, is overbroad and was adopted in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act.
Read MoreBy: Jamie L. Jackson and Yuki Sako
The House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (Select Committee) issued a bipartisan report criticizing investments made by US venture capital firms (VC), as well as US institutional investors as limited partners (LP), into companies in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor sectors (Report). In line with the Select Committee’s previously released report strategizing how to reset the United States’ economic and technological competition with China, the Report signals Congress’ intensified interest in curtailing the unintentional flow of US investments into China’s military industrial complex.
Read MoreBy: TJ Bright, Annabelle H. North, and Bradley D. Bostwick
On 5 February 2024, the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and industry groups representing private investment fund sponsors, in the industry groups’ ongoing petition to vacate the new private fund adviser rules (PFAR) adopted by the SEC on 23 August 2023.
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