Sky Blog
Guarantees of confidentiality and anonymity are important considerations for whistleblowers seeking to report information on violations to regulators and other public entities. These guarantees ensure the safety of whistleblowers when filing complaints, often against entities with substantial resources and some …
Innovations such as blockchain, AI, and DeFi promise to disrupt our markets in ways that are exciting to discuss. Equally important, though perhaps less exciting, is discussing how regulatory agencies should align their oversight when new ideas cut across jurisdictional …
Corporate transparency is often assumed to be driven by law, regulation, and public scrutiny. Yet new research shows that private pressure – quiet, anonymous inquiries sent through companies’ grievance channels – can meaningfully shape how firms disclose sensitive information.
In …
On September 23, 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved changes to its highly successful Dodd-Frank Act whistleblower program in a 3-2 vote [1]. The program has resulted in over $2.5 billion in penalties against public companies, $750 million …
Modern finance is fast moving, extremely complex, and contributes to pervasive unknowns. Yet the processes governing how finance is regulated are typically slow, highly deliberative, and often reflect deeply ingrained and incredibly optimistic assumptions about our ability to understand the …
On October 23, the Securities and Exchange Commission is scheduled to vote on whether to adopt proposed amendments to the rules governing its whistleblower bounty program. The most controversial proposed amendments are to Rule 21F-6, which governs the way the …
Early 2018 will likely see the most significant progress on reforming the Dodd-Frank Act (“DFA”) since its passage in 2010 thanks to four key efforts: the Financial CHOICE Act and activity in the House Financial Services Committee, an appropriations effort, …
Financial regulation after the Dodd-Frank Act was enacted in 2010 has produced a blizzard of acronyms, many of which revolve around the basic “too big to fail” problem. OLA, OLF, SPOE, and TLAC are new regulatory tools that seek to …
Many would describe the era we are living in as a “startup bubble.” Not only has the number of startup companies increased dramatically, but many startups have also achieved record-breaking valuations. Alibaba, an e-commerce site, recently went public at a …
Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made major progress in completing its rulemaking mandates under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act) and the Dodd-Frank Act. Additionally, Congress enacted the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act), …
On October 7, 2015, the United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it is “launch[ing] a rulemaking process” that is intended to impede the use of “pre-dispute arbitration agreements for consumer financial products and services.”[1] The proposal currently …
The CFTC recently approved a futures contract on a dividend index as a non-security based index futures contract over the SEC’s objection that the dividend index contract could be a security future; the CFTC’s actions may have implications for market …
The House is continuing Congress’ piecemeal rollback of the Dodd-Frank Act, a theme Alexander Sand and I explore in our recent article, Cutting Back: Revisions to Dodd-Frank Derivatives Rules.[1] Although the House has targeted a number of Dodd-Frank …
If there is one simple lesson from the crisis that we all can embrace, it is that no financial institution in America should be so big or complex that its failure would put the financial system at risk.1 Congress …
It is an honor to speak at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s 20th Financial Markets Conference, and I am grateful to President Lockhart and the organizers for inviting me to do so.[1] This evening I would like to …
The following post is taken from an address by CFTC Commissioner J. Christopher Giancarlo before the ABA Business Law Section, Derivatives & Futures Law Committee Winter Meeting and is dated January 23, 2015. Commissioner Giancarlo’s address may be accessed here…