Columbia Law School
Sky Blog
Today [March 9], the Commission is considering a proposal to mandate cybersecurity disclosures by public companies. I am pleased to support this proposal because, if adopted, it would strengthen investors’ ability to evaluate public companies’ cybersecurity practices and incident reporting.
Securities and Exchange Commission
SEC Commissioner Peirce Dissents on Cybersecurity Proposal
Thank you, Renee, Ian, and Jessica. Cybersecurity risk is top of mind for everyone. The Commission’s consideration of this topic—whether for investment advisers, as we did a month ago,[1] or public companies, as we are doing today [March 9]—is, …
Davis Polk Offers Update on SEC’s New Investment-Management Rules and Lawsuits
Rules and regulations
SEC proposes expanded cyber oversight after Gensler signals more on the way
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed new cybersecurity rules for investment advisers and investment companies that would require policies and procedures, annual reviews, reporting …
Cadwalader Discusses the SEC’s Regulatory Posture on Climate Risk
Climate change-related risks to the U.S. financial system are attracting increasing public attention in recent years and are raising questions about how U.S. financial regulators, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), will address such risks. …
SEC Investment-Management Chief Speaks at Investment-Adviser Conference
Good morning. Thank you, Karen, for your kind introduction and for inviting me to speak today. I am delighted to join you for my first public address as the Director of the Division of Investment Management.
Let me begin, if
Are CEO Political Donations Linked to the Risk of SEC Enforcement Actions?
The potential for corporate campaign contributions to skew government policy has attracted considerable attention. Empirical studies generally support the notion that firms gain regulatory advantages through their involvement in the political process (e.g., Correia, 2014; Naughton, Rogo and Zheng, 2021). …
Cleary Gottlieb Discusses SEC’s BlockFi Settlement and Crypto Lending
On February 14, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced a settled enforcement action charging BlockFi Lending LLC (“BlockFi”) with allegedly failing to register its interest-bearing crypto lending product as a security, failing to register itself as an investment company, …
Gibson Dunn Offers 2021 Year-End Securities Litigation Update
Federal securities filings continued to slow during the second half of 2021. The volume of new securities cases filed in 2021 fell by 36% compared to 2020, and 51% compared to 2019. Nonetheless, federal and state securities laws continue to …
The SEC Acts on Short-and-Distort Petition
On February 25, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed rules to enhance the transparency of short positions in equity securities. One proposal would require confidential, monthly reporting of short sellers’ individual positions, which would then be aggregated by …
Skadden Discusses New Pressure on Companies to Disclose Political Policies and Contributions
Political activities of corporations are increasingly subject to scrutiny on environmental, social and governance (ESG) grounds. Demands that corporations and their political action committees (PACs) justify their contributions based on candidates’ voting records on ESG issues came to the fore …
Do Jobseekers Value Diversity Information?
Recent social movements have generated a renewed emphasis on promoting diverse and inclusive workplaces. For example, institutional investors have increased their investments in firms that demonstrate strong commitments to diversity, and regulators also increasingly require firms to describe the extent …
Wachtell Lipton Discusses the Growing Enforcement Focus on Cryptoassets
Underscoring that misconduct surrounding cryptoassets has become a top U.S. enforcement priority, the Department of Justice announced on February 17 the appointment of Eun Young Choi as head of a dedicated National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team. The NCET’s mandate is to …
An Academic Critique of the SEC’s GameStop Report
On October 18, 2021, SEC staff released a long-awaited report on equity and options trading in connection with the meteoritic rise of GameStop’s share price in January 2021. The staff report addressed several issues surrounding the GameStop episode, but one …
Legal Guardrails for a Unicorn Crackdown
The SEC is undertaking an historic effort to redraw the boundary between public and private companies. After years of watching – and sometimes encouraging – the explosive growth in less tightly regulated private markets and the proliferation of so-called “unicorns,” …
Sullivan & Cromwell Discusses Reopened Comment Period for SEC’s Pay-Versus-Performance Disclosure Rule
On January 27, 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) reopened a 30-day comment period (beginning today) on proposed rules requiring registrants to disclose how executive compensation actually paid by a registrant relates to the financial performance of …
SEC Chair Gensler Speaks on Private Fund Advisers Proposal
Today [February 9], the Commission is considering rules and amendments under the Investment Advisers Act to improve the efficiency, competition, and transparency of the activities of private funds’ advisers. I support this proposal because, if adopted, it would help investors
SEC Commissioner Peirce Speaks on Private Fund Advisers Proposal
Today’s [February 9] proposal represents a sea change. It embodies a belief that many sophisticated institutions and high net worth individuals are not competent or assertive enough to obtain and analyze the information they need to make good investment decisions
SEC Commissioner Crenshaw Speaks on Private Fund Advisers Proposal
Investment advisers are their clients’ fiduciaries. This means that investment advisers are legally obligated to serve their client’s best interest.[1] This standard of conduct is not an aspirational goal. It must be meaningful and offer the real protections investors
What ESG-Related Disclosures Should the SEC Mandate?
The Financial Economist Roundtable (“FER”) met in July 2021 to discuss current efforts to measure and require disclosure of firms’ ESG activities.[1] The views of individual FER members about specific issues often differ, but the consensus was that financial …
SEC Chair Gensler Speaks to FSOC on Money Market Funds, Open-End Bond Funds, and Hedge Funds
Thank you, Secretary Yellen, for focusing the Council’s attention on financial resiliency with regard to three key parts of our capital markets — particularly money market funds, open-end bond funds, and hedge funds.
The fund industry gives retail and institutional