On March 2, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission took two important steps to alleviate red tape for investment advisers who provide capital to and work with Rural Business Investment Companies (RBICs). Licenses for RBICs are provided by the Rural … Read More
On March 23, 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) modified its announcement “OCIE Statement on Operations and Exams – Health, Safety, Investor Protection, and Continued Operations are our Priorities.” Within the announcement, the SEC determined that the Office … Read More
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) staff has compiled observations from its thousands of examinations of broker-dealers, investment advisers, clearing agencies, national securities exchange, and other SEC registrants and shared some best practices for … Read More
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) recently awarded two whistleblowers with monetary awards for providing significant information that helped the SEC stop fraudulent schemes. The first individual earned an award of $277,000 for bringing forward information that unveiled a scheme … Read More
UPDATE (03.12.2020): Since the publishing of this blog post the Coronavirus (COVID-19) has infected more than 130,267 confirmed unique cases and has killed over 4,700 of those affected across 125 countries. The recent outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) has spread to … Read More
Every now and then, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) encounters a case that serves as a textbook example of everything that can go awry when a firm deems fraud more important than fiduciary responsibility. On December 19, 2019, … Read More
Senior retail investors and cybersecurity. The only thing they have in common is their presence on the list of examination priorities this year for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE). The priorities are published … Read More
A focus on the retail investor and cyber-related misconduct resulted in a record total of $4.3 billion in disgorgements and penalties ordered by the Securities Exchange Commission in 2019. Among the Commission’s 862 enforcement actions were a $100 million fine … Read More
Eric Clarke, chief executive officer for Orion Advisor Solutions (Orion), was interviewed for Financial Planning’s Lightning Round. In the interview, Clarke describes the greatest threat to independent advisors as changes occur in the regulatory landscape. Clarke describes utilizing technology … Read More
As the first filing deadline for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) new Form CRS is approaching on June 30, 2020, the SEC Division of Investment Management and Division of Trading and Markets have published a frequently asked questions document … Read More