Displaying items by tag: disclosure

(Washington)

Well, after a long wait (but perhaps one shorter than most expected), the SEC is ready to announce its framework for a new fiduciary rule this week. The SEC plans to hold a public meeting to discuss the three components of its new rule: “whether to propose new rules and forms for brokers and RIAs to summarize their relationships with clients; whether to establish a standard of conduct for brokers; and whether to provide an “interpretation” of the fiduciary responsibility of RIAs”. Advocates of the current DOL rule don’t like the approach the SEC is taking because it appears to be disclosure-based, something they think is insufficient to fulfil the need for fiduciary duty.

FINSUM: To be honest we did not think the industry would be able to have this much insight into the new SEC rule this quickly. Stay tuned.

(Washington)

A couple of weeks ago we ran a piece quoting the SEC saying that it was trying to get advisors who had violated client disclosure rules to come forward themselves. The promise was that if they voluntarily came forward they would be treated with a much lighter hand. Well, the SEC has showed the other side of that coin this week, saying “Those of you who counsel investment advisors, we hope you will counsel them to participate in the program … If not, we promise that if we find them later we will punish them more severely”.

FINSUM: The SEC is really going to throw its weight around on this issue and it seems like advisors who have broken the rules would be well advised to come forward.

(Washington)

The SEC appears to be following through with the President’s mandate to lower the regulatory burden across all industries. The regulator is in the middle of easing disclosure requirements on companies. According to the Wall Street Journal, the new changes include “expanding the definition of small reporting companies, refurbishing risk-factor disclosure guidelines and streamlining the requirements for registered debt securities and acquired business disclosures”. Companies may now also secretly file IPO documents.

FINSUM: The US, and especially the financial sector, had, in our opinion, become over-regulated in the last decade, so it is good to see an easing of the burden.