Last week, the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations released a Risk Alert announcing an upcoming examination initiative that focuses on the supervisory practices of SEC-registered investment advisers and how they monitor advisory personnel in disparate branch locations. Read More

Last Friday, SEC Chairwoman Mary Jo White gave a speech at the New York University School of Law Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement, during which she addressed how her agency has transformed the way it enforces federal securities laws. Read More

On October 12, 2016 the SEC announced its enforcement results for the 2016 fiscal year, which touted a recording breaking year. Not only did the SEC increase the number of enforcement actions this past year but it also obtained judgments totaling more than $4 billion in disgorgement and penalties. Read More

To address the financial exploitation of seniors, FINRA has recently submitted a proposal to the SEC that would require firms to make reasonable efforts to obtain the name of and contact information for a trusted contact person for a customer’s account. Read More

According to the SEC’s complaint, BlueLinx added the monetary recovery prohibition to all of its severance agreements in mid-2013, nearly two years after the SEC’s adoption of Rule 21F-17, which strictly prohibits any action to impede someone from communicating with the SEC about possible securities law violations. Read More

The SEC recently approved FINRA’s new Rule 2273 (Educational Communication Related to Recruitment Practices and Account Transfers), which requires delivery of an educational communication prepared by FINRA to customers of a transferring representative. Read More

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority recently released Regulatory Notice 15-50, which discusses the Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of amendments to FINRA Rule 2210 (Communications with the Public). The amendments relate to heightened disclosure standards for references and hyperlinks to the BrokerCheck system on member firm websites and will take effect June 6, 2015. Read More

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a complaint against a Scottish trader who repeatedly tweeted false information about two companies in order to manipulate their stock price and benefit from it. Scotsman James Alan Craig faces criminal charges from the Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California following the market regulator’s complaint. Read More

In a speech at the 2015 National Society of Compliance Professionals (NSCP) conference earlier this month, SEC Director of Enforcement Andrew Ceresney defended his agency’s recent enforcement of compliance personnel in the investment adviser space, explaining that these individuals had “crossed a clear line.” Read More