Category Archives: Regulatory

The Show, er, um, Article About Nothing (other than SEC, CFTC, FINRA, and State Securities Enforcement Actions in August 2020)

Everyone knows that Seinfeld, which premiered 31 summers ago, was one of the most popular television sitcoms ever. It was on the airwaves (remember those?) for nine years, nominated for 68 Emmy Awards, winning ten times, including twice for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series, winning twice. It was self-identified as a “show about nothing.” Indeed, co-creator Larry David “admonished the writing staff that there would be ‘no hugging, no learning’ in the scripts, and there wasn’t. Ever.” However, despite this warning, those who watched the show know that it was, in fact, a show about a lot, including the following:

  •  A “puffy” shirt;
  •  A low talker, a close talker, and a high talker;
  •  A short-tempered soup restaurant owner who yells, “No soup for you”;
  •  Waiting for a table at a Chinese restaurant;
  •  Contests among friends;
  •  Re-gifting; and
  •  Of course, yada yada yada.

Those who watched the show carefully also know that despite the “no learning” admonition, Seinfeld provided important lessons about topics related to investing and the securities industry. Indeed, the final episode of the first season was called “The Stock Tip,” and 24% of all televisions in America “tuned in” to watch14 (back when we “changed” channels on a “TV”—not on a “screen” and “streaming” was the route tears took down your face when the TV antenna flew off your roof).

Read more here, to explore themes contained in Seinfeld that help explain securities enforcement actions.

SEC Moves in a Very Different Direction on Finders

In a stark 3-2 vote along political lines, the SEC announced today that it was proposing new rules relating to finders.  Essentially, if the proposed rules are, ultimately, approved, the SEC will sharply change the position it has maintained for over 8 decades, allowing unregistered finders to sell securities to the investing public while receiving transaction based compensation.  See https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2020-248.  

If approved, the proposed rules would permit 2 categories of finders.  Both types of finders would be allowed to solicit accredited investors for investments in various issuers.   There are restrictions on the activities the finders could engage in as well as certain disclosure requirements for one category.  Nonetheless, the breadth of the proposed rules is significant because it represents a sea change from the SEC’s previous position that any transaction based compensation paid to persons who solicit investors would require broker-dealer registration.

Expansion of the pool of accredited investors

On August 26, 2020, the SEC adopted certain amendments that expand the pool of eligible investors in exempt private offerings, which may provide additional sources of capital to business development companies, closed-end funds and other private funds.  The Amendments:

  • expand the definition of “accredited investor” under Regulation D of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act), to add new categories of natural persons and entities that can qualify, irrespective of their wealth.
  • also expand the entities eligible as “qualified institutional buyers” under Rule 144A offerings to be consistent with the amendment to the “accredited investor” definition.
  • adopt revisions to certain related rules, such as testing the waters under Rule 163B of the Securities Act.

Read more here.

Moving forward under the SEC’s new variable product summary prospectus framework

After more than a decade, the SEC finally adopted a new disclosure framework for registered variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies. This sweeping overhaul of the current variable contract prospectus disclosure framework will put variable contract disclosures on a level playing field with mutual funds.

Read more here.

 

Department of Labor’s Fiduciary Proposal 3.0

In an important development, the Labor Department has issued a new proposal to address conflicted investment advice provided by ERISA fiduciaries:
  • Consonant with the vacatur of its 2016 rule, DOL reinstated the longstanding 5-part test of investment advice fiduciary status, but announced new interpretations of that test that will cause rollover advice and possibly other interactions to become fiduciary advice.
  • DOL also proposed a new, principles-based class exemption broadly available for conflicted advice and intended to align with other bodies of law to which financial institutions are subject.

Read more here