Dissent is brewing at the Securities and Exchange Commission over whether to increase tick sizes – the smallest pricing increment a stock, future or other exchange-traded instrument can be bought or sold – as a move to improve access to capital for smaller reporting companies. The Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee, created by the Dodd-Frank Act […]
Joe Mont
Posted inFrom the Archive
SEC’s Microcap Crackdown Targets Dormant Shell Companies
On Monday morning, the Securities and Exchange Commission escalated its efforts to root out microcap fraud and, with a national sweep, suspended trading in 255 dormant shell companies it says were ripe for abuse in the over-the-counter market. According the SEC, pump-and-dump schemes are among the most common types of fraud involving microcap companies. Perpetrators […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
FDA Proposes Rule to Protect Food During Transportation
The Food and Drug Administration has proposed a new rule that would require shippers, receivers, and carriers to take added steps to prevent the contamination of human and animal food supplies during transportation. The proposal is the seventh and final major rule of the FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act, a framework of preventive measures, safety […]
Posted inEurope
European Commission Proposes EU Version of Volcker Rule
Similar to restrictions in the United State’s controversial Volcker rule, which it drew upon, the European Commission on Wednesday proposed new rules to prohibit its biggest banks from engaging in proprietary trading. The rules empower supervisors to require banks to separate risky trading activities from their deposit-taking business if those activities could compromise financial stability. […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Reluctantly, Sweden Agrees to EU Restrictions on Bank Directors
Although banks expected a delay in implementation, the Swedish government will move forward with an EU rule that caps the number of board positions that directors at systemically important financial institutions can hold at four. The requirement goes into effect in July, lacking an extended transition period the country’s largest banks aggressively lobbied for. The […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
SEC Scrutinizing Contingencies, MD&A, Segmentation in Letters
The Securities and Exchange Commission sent out several reminders to companies last year that it is keeping a watchful eye on their disclosures. In several comment letters to issuers as part of its disclosure review process, the SEC alerted companies to concerns about reporting on everything from taxes to unconventional measures. Recent examinations of the […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Piwowar: Bank Regulators Pose an ‘Existential Threat’ to SEC
With a fiery speech before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness, Michael Piwowar, one of the newest members of the Securities and Exchange Commission, elaborated on his priorities for the term ahead and addressed the “existential threat” posed to his commission by bank regulators steadily creeping onto its turf. Speaking on […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
New Fed Guidance Seeks to Strengthen Big Banks’ Living Wills
The Federal Reserve Board has released additional guidance for the nation’s largest banks regarding its expectations for their “living wills,” the worst-case-scenario resolution plans demanded of them under the Dodd-Frank Act. The new supervisory guidance, issued to eight domestic bank holding companies (Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Credit Unions Face New Risk-Based Capital Requirements
During its first open meeting of 2014, the National Credit Union Administration Board issued a proposed rule that strengthens risk-based capital requirements for federally insured credit unions and approved a final rule that allows those institutions to mitigate interest rate risk through the purchase of what were termed as “plain vanilla” derivatives. NCUA—the independent federal […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
CFPB Proposes Rule to Oversee Non-Bank Money Transfers
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed a rule that will allow it, for the first time, to supervise nonbank international money transfer providers, ensuring they adhere to new rules protecting consumers sending money abroad. Prior to passage of the Dodd-Frank Act, international money transfers were generally not covered by federal consumer protection regulations. The […]
