Columbia Law School
Sky Blog
Thank you for the kind introduction. As is customary, I’d like to note that my views are my own, and I’m not speaking on behalf of the Commission or SEC staff.
I’d like to share with you all that we
Securities Regulation
It’s Time to Regulate Stablecoins as Deposits and Require Their Issuers to Be FDIC-Insured Banks
In November 2021, the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets (PWG) issued a report analyzing the rapid expansion and growing risks of the stablecoin market.[1] Stablecoins are digital assets that claim to maintain a “stable” value with reference to …
Informed Options Trading Before FDA Approves Drugs May Be Growing Problem
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) appoints drug experts to drug advisory committees (ACs) that make approval or rejection recommendations for about half of all new drugs (usually the unique ones, such as Covid vaccines). The experts receive nonpublic technical …
Mandatory Corporate Climate Disclosures: Now, but How?
Climate change is one of today’s most salient policy challenges. Under the Paris Agreement, 195 governments agreed to limit temperature increases to well below 2, preferably 1.5, degrees centigrade relative to pre-industrial levels. Since the magnitude of global warming is …
How Does Better Access to Public Firm Disclosures Affect IPO Firm Financing?
Financial markets affect the economy in a fundamental way by facilitating the creation of capital. The market for initial public offerings (IPO) – also known as the “primary market” – is especially important because it allows fast-growing and innovative companies …
Does SEC Scrutiny Improve Mutual Fund Disclosures?
Millions of investors rely on the disclosures of U.S. registered mutual funds in making their investment decisions, but some of the most influential industry opinion leaders and legal scholars have criticized the quality of those disclosures. Like public companies, mutual …
Corporate Disclosure: Facts or Opinions?
When it comes to financial disclosure, headline numbers are not all that matters. Equally important are what company executives talk about – and even how they talk about it. A large and growing body of literature in finance and accounting …
ISS Discusses Shareholder Class Action Settlements in 2021
As the world will soon reflect on two full years of living through the COVID pandemic, the pace of shareholder-related class action settlements continue to bring significant recoveries back to harmed investors.
In fact, according to ISS Securities Class Action
Heightened Eligibility Thresholds for Shareholder Proposals: Modernization or Voter Suppression?
In September 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission amended Rule 14a-8 of the Securities Exchange Act to increase the eligibility requirements for a shareholder to submit proposals.[1] Rule 14a-8, also called the shareholder proposal rule, governs when a company …
SEC Considers Amendments to Rule 10b5-1
It was a very busy day at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday, with the commission weighing in on several proposed rule changes. For starters, the commission considered proposed amendments to Rule 10b5-1 and new disclosure requirements designed to …
SEC Considers Proposed Money Market Fund Reforms
On December 15, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission considered amendments to rules that govern money market funds. Commission Chairman Gary Gensler’s statement in support is available here. The statements of commissioners Caroline A. Crenshaw and Allison Herren Lee, also …
SEC Considers Proposals to Enhance Buybacks Disclosure
On December 15, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission considered proposals to enhance disclosure about stock buybacks. Commission Chairman Gary Gensler’s statement supporting the proposals is available here. The statements of commissioners Caroline A. Crenshaw and Allison Herren Lee in …
SEC Considers Proposed Rules About Security-Based Swaps
On December 15, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission considered three proposed rules about the security-based swaps market. Commission Chairman Gary Gensler’s statement in support of the rules is available here. The statements of commissioners Caroline A. Crenshaw and Allison …
Skadden Discusses SEC’s Final Amendments Under Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act
On December 2, 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted final amendments implementing the disclosure and submission requirements of the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCA Act). In addition, the adopting release establishes the SEC’s procedures for (i) …
How Sarbanes-Oxley Changed Firms’ Responses to Announcements of Earnings Restatements
Among the many goals of the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation was to increase CEOs’ accountability for the veracity of financial statements by requiring that they personally certify financial disclosures. Although that provision has not led to successful prosecutions of offending executives, our …
The SPACtacular Rise of the Special Purpose Acquisition Company: A Retail Investor’s Worst Nightmare
The special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, is a company with no commercial or operating history that has listed on a stock exchange with the sole objective of raising financing to identify and acquire another company. SPACs developed after the …
SEC Chair Gensler Speaks on the Risks of SPACs
Thank you for the kind introduction, Ty [Gellasch]. It’s great to be with the Healthy Markets Association.
As is customary, I’d like to note that my views are my own, and I am not speaking on behalf of my fellow
Mandatory vs. Voluntary ESG Disclosure, Efficiency, and Real Effects
In recent years, several countries have imposed disclosure requirements on public firms for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. These mandates have also been accompanied by the European Union’s wide-reaching Non-Financial Reporting Directive, effective in 2018 (Directive 2014/95/EU). Similar legislative …
SEC Staff Discusses Key Considerations on LIBOR Transition
SEC’s Accounting Chief on Financial Reporting and the Priorities of His Office
The events of the past year bring to mind the old saying that “change is the only constant in life.”[1] Our capital markets continue to evolve and adapt in response to changes in the economic environment, investors’ needs for