The SEC on Wednesday afternoon narrowly approved a rule mandating that all U.S. stock exchanges and markets develop a “consolidated audit trail.” Audit trails currently vary among exchanges. Rule 613, approved by a 3-2 vote, requires the nation’s securities exchanges and FINRA to craft a plan for creating, implementing, and operating a unified audit trail […]
Joe Mont
Posted inFrom the Archive
Study: JOBS Act Helps IPOs, but Could Lead to Scandals
A new study by BDO USA, an accounting and consulting firm, finds that executives at leading investment banks, despite their general bullishness over provisions of the recently enacted JOBS Act, have conflicting views when it comes to a potential downside. A narrow majority (55%) said they think the JOBS Act will successfully boost the number […]
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CFTC Votes ‘Swap’ Definitions, Triggers New Dodd-Frank Regs
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, by a 4 to 1 vote, has approved final rules that further define the terms “swap,” “security-based swap,” and “security-based swap agreement” and who they apply to. Tuesday’s vote, which follows a 600-page document prepared and approved by the SEC, will start the clock on compliance deadlines for numerous regulations […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
Did Netflix CEO’s Facebook Post Violate Reg. FD?
When is a Facebook status update from a corporate CEO a dissemination of material non-public information? How about when it pushes the stock price up 13 percent, adding $542 million in market value in one day? Those are questions that Netflix and its CEO, Reed Hastings, are currently grappling with. Last Tuesday after the market […]
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Does Your 8-K Need a Rimshot?
Have you heard the one about commitments and contingencies? You probably haven’t and if you’re a frequent reader of financial filings, the goal is often just to remain awake as you plow through page after page of legalese and never-ending boilerplate. Those who are looking for a chuckle know they are reading the wrong genre. […]
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SEC Approves NYSE Plan for Retail ‘Dark Pools’
On Thursday, NYSE Euronext received approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to establish what is billed as a “first-of-its-kind” retail liquidity program that allows the sub-penny pricing of stocks for individual investors. The program, approved for a one-year pilot, is expected to launch on Aug. 1. It gives retail investors a pricing […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
Dodd-Frank Legal Challenge Contests CFPB’s Authority
The Obama Administration has been defined by two sweeping pieces of legislation. One, the Affordable Care Act, looked potentially doomed up until Thursday’s pundit-defying split decision by the Supreme Court that upheld its constitutionality. Now that other piece of signature legislation, the Dodd-Frank Act, is facing a similar constitutional challenge that threatens, however remotely, to […]
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SEC Sets Independence Criteria for Compensation Consultants
On the surface, there seems to be little that is either new or surprising in the rules on compensation committees and advisers the Securities and Exchange Commission issued in late June. Though much of what the SEC announced merely codifies existing practice, companies would be mistaken to treat them lightly. “A lot of what’s here […]
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SEC May Soon Vote on Delayed Mining and Extraction Disclosures
The SEC may finally be closing in on final rules regarding the use of “conflict minerals” despite missing a deadline demand by House Democrats. Separate Dodd-Frank Act mandates require companies to disclose payments made to any foreign government for the extraction of oil and minerals and demand corporate disclosures relating to the use of so-called […]
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CFTC Pitches Cross-Border Swaps Provisions
Since the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act, U.S. regulators have struggled with how to apply new rules, in particular swaps regulations, in the context of a global marketplace. The debate has been a contentious one among regulators and those they oversee. Even a unanimous vote Friday by the CFTC, on interpretive guidance regarding the cross-border […]
