The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a settled civil suit against IBM today alleging that its Asian subsidiaries violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act with a wide-ranging scheme to bribe Korean and Chinese officials for most of the 2000s. IBM did not admit wrongdoing, but agreed to pay $10 million in fines and penalties. In […]
Arielle Bikard
Posted inFrom the Archive
Big Players ‘Sink or Swim on Their Own’
The chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation took aim at systematically important banks today—one day after the Financial Stability Oversight Council proposed to designate which financial market utilities (like clearing houses) should be considered systemically important and therefore subject to whole new set of risk management standards under Dodd-Frank. Congress must do away with […]
Posted inUncategorized
SEC Proposes to Preserve Status Quo
The SEC posted a proposal this afternoon to keep its existing rules on beneficial ownership for people who buy or sell security-based swaps (Rules 13d-3 and 16a-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934). The Commission seems to be responding to concerns that if the Dodd-Frank Sections 766 and 13(o) go into effect this summer […]
Posted inData Privacy
Debating Dodd-Frank: What’s in a Name?
Members of the House Financial Services Committee held a legislative hearing this afternoon to review five proposals to revise the Dodd-Frank Act. The hearing was announced on Monday by U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., who chairs the Capital Markets Subcommittee. The bills, proposed by five Republican Congressmen, seek to repeal various parts of Dodd-Frank that […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
SEC Makes Its Case to Congress for Budget Increase
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro testified before Congress yesterday on the agency’s budget request for next year. This comes on the heels of three simultaneous hearings last Thursday, all of which touched on the subject. The SEC is requesting $1.407 billion in funding for 2012, which represents an increase of $264 million over […]
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SEC Approves Nasdaq ‘Volatility Guard’
The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the Nasdaq Stock Market’s request to be able to suspend trading of a company’s stock for one minute if the price of the stock exceeds certain thresholds, measured over the preceding 30 seconds. The new policy is another market circuit-breaker that regulators hope will prevent a repetition of […]
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No Shortage of Opinions on the SEC’s ‘Conflict Minerals’ Proposal
The comment letters continue to pile up over the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposal to require disclosure of a company’s use of “conflict minerals” from Central Africa, as companies beg for clarity and flexibility. The SEC’s proposal, mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act, specifies that companies must determine whether the minerals—several rare compounds commonly used in […]
Posted inBoards & Shareholders
Proxy Exclusions: When Close Isn’t Close Enough
Corporations trying to keep pesky shareholder resolutions off the proxy statement this season might find that one common strategy—the argument of substantial implementation—is getting, well, harder to implement. A flurry of no-action requests rejected by the Securities and Exchange Commission this winter suggests that the agency is taking a more skeptical view of substantial implementation, […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Flashback: The SEC During the Last Government Shutdown
Congress passed a resolution last week to keep the government funded through March 18, by cutting $4 billion in Federal funding. But as the stalemate on a longer-term agreement continues, the budget crisis could still cause a government shutdown after that date. So the question is, what would happen to the rulemaking agenda at the […]
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New Certification Requirement for Foreign Hires
Don’t forget to check if you need a government license for non-U.S. citizen employees who may be handling sensitive technology at your firm—or there could be serious consequences. New rules for employers filling out Form I-129 (Petition for a Non-immigrant Worker) for foreign workers went into effect on February 20. According to Part 6 […]