By: 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: Eden L. Rohrer, Raymond F. Jensen
On February 15, 2023, the SEC adopted rule amendments and new rules to reduce risk in clearance and settlement of securities transactions. The amendments to Rules 15c6-1(a) and 15c6-1(c) will shorten the standard settlement cycle for most securities transactions from two business days after the trade date (T+2) to one (T+1) and shorten the standard settlement cycle for firm commitment offerings priced after 4:30 p.m. from four business days after trade date (T+4) to T+2.
Read MoreBy: Keri E. Riemer, Michael W. McGrath, Neil T. Smith, Hayley Trahan-Liptak, and Christopher F. Warner
On 15 November 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its enforcement statistics for its 2022 fiscal year (FY 2022), noting that it filed 760 total enforcement actions — a 9% increase over fiscal year 2021. This total was comprised of 462 new actions, 169 “follow-on” actions, and 129 actions for delinquent filings. Money obtained in SEC actions, comprising civil penalties, disgorgement, and pre-judgment interest, totaled a record-breaking $6.439 billion (compared to $3.852 billion in fiscal year 2021). Civil penalties, totaling $4.194 billion, were also the highest on record.
Read MoreBy: Cheryl L. Isaac and Spencer D. Warkentin
On September 26, 2022, amidst a flurry of other enforcement actions, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) announced the settlement of its administrative action against Asset Risk Management, LLC (“ARM”) in the amount of $200,000. The CFTC found that ARM operated an unregistered swap execution facility (“SEF”) for a period of 5 years, from September 2017 to the present.
Read MoreThe Central Securities Depositaries Regulation (CSDR) originally entered into force in the EU on 17 September 2014, aiming to harmonise timing and standards of conduct in the EEA’s securities settlement industry. It introduced measures for the authorisation and regulation of EEA central securities depositaries (CSDs).
While much of the regulation focuses on prudential, organisational and business standards of CSDs, some of its requirements directly affect trading entities that settle trades on EEA CSDs. These include measures to address and prevent settlement fails and improve settlement discipline, which became effective on 1 February 2022.
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