Sky Blog
On April 3, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) issued a policy statement regarding what constitutes an “abusive” act or practice (the “Policy Statement”).[1] The Policy Statement outlines the CFPB’s approach to analyzing whether an act or practice …
On March 28, 2023, Iowa became the sixth US state to pass a comprehensive privacy law. The Iowa data privacy law (SF 262) (Iowa Privacy Law) was passed unanimously by the state House and Senate, and signed by …
Recent innovations in financial technology, or “FinTech,” are enabling the fractionalization of shares of stock, bonds, and other investment securities into units (“fractionalized securities”) that are small enough for virtually any investor to afford. In a new article, we show …
On March 2, 2023, the White House Office of the National Cyber Director (“ONCD”) released the Biden Administration’s (the “Administration”) long-awaited National Cybersecurity Strategy (the “Strategy”), the first since the Trump Administration’s strategy was issued in September 2018. The Strategy …
Almost everyone seems to be talking about ChatGPT. This new AI-enabled chatbot, which can swiftly produce answers that feel as if a human wrote them, promises to revolutionize how we generate text. Although ChatGPT emerged just a few months ago, …
Non-bank financial intermediation (NFBI) – encompassing a broad range of capital sources, including broker-dealers, private funds, and open-end funds (OEFs) – is vital for the financing of the real economy, serving as a critical complement to the traditional banking sector. …
In a recent case, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) pursued an unconventional form of insider trading involving Medivation Inc., an oncology-focused biopharmaceutical firm and one of its former, senior executives. According to the SEC, the executive profited from trading …
On December 13, 2022, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to consider whether Sections 11 and 12(a) of the Securities Act require a plaintiff who purchased shares through a direct listing to plead and prove that he bought shares registered under …
Content generated by artificial intelligence (“AI”) continues to improve and become more convincing. These realistic images, audio, and videos, where used for purposes of a misrepresentation or to falsely spread information, are commonly dubbed “deepfakes.” Governments around the world are …
The FTC recently announced the first use of its “Penalty Offense Authority” in many years. The agency dusted off this statutory tool as part of its multifaceted effort to continue to obtain monetary relief in its consumer protection enforcement actions …
The U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) recently issued a final rule (the “Final Rule”) that seeks to clarify the circumstances under which a fiduciary subject to ERISA may consider climate change and other environmental, social …
The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation 2016 (the “GDPR”) changed the global privacy landscape, and has been called the “gold standard” for data protection regulation. Recently, a number of U.S. states have introduced privacy laws, which borrow certain GDPR concepts …
On November 10, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a bulletin analyzing consumer complaints submitted to the CFPB over the past four years related to crypto-assets and platforms. According to the CFPB, fraud, scams and transaction issues accounted for …
A new and potentially significant tool in regulatory enforcement is emerging for executives whose companies suffer a cybersecurity incident. The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), in a recently proposed Decision and Order, held James Rellas, the Chief Executive Officer …
Machines are increasingly making important decisions that have traditionally been made by humans, such as who should get a job interview or who should receive a loan. For valid legal, reputational, and technical reasons, many organizations and regulators do not …
On October 11, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced settlements for approximately $24 million and $29 million, respectively, with virtual currency exchange Bittrex, Inc. (Bittrex). …
On October 19, 2022, 19 Republican state attorneys general (the AGs) launched a coordinated investigation by issuing civil investigative demands (CIDs) to six major US banks. The CIDs seek information related to the banks’ membership in the United Nations’ Net-Zero …
On October 4, 2022, the White House released the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights (the “Blueprint”), which provides non-binding “principles” for organizations in both the public and private sectors to use when developing or deploying artificial intelligence (“AI”) …
On October 20, 2022, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS” or “the Committee”) released its first-ever guidelines (the “Guidelines”) pertaining to the enforcement actions that CFIUS may take under applicable statutes and regulations (“CFIUS Rules”). The …
In a new paper, we compare the main models of corporate governance (Schoenmaker, Schramade and Winter, 2022). One is the stakeholder model, which recognizes that companies have responsibilities to society that are broader than just making a profit. A problem …