Good morning and thank you, Jim [Burns], for that introduction. I am pleased to be part of the 2023 conference on SEC Regulation Outside the United States to deliver the Fifth Annual Scott Friestad Memorial Lecture.
I had the privilege
The growth of the private equity industry over the past two decades has been nothing short of extraordinary. Yet research on the formation and governance of these funds – including the rights and obligations of general partners and limited partners …
Regulators have a hard job. Novel financial products are developed and launched all the time. At first, regulators have very little information about these products; it makes sense to let the market develop a bit before taking action. But waiting …
On October 30, 2023, the SEC filed a litigated complaint against SolarWinds, a software development company, and Timothy Brown, its chief information security officer (CISO). The SEC alleges that from October 2018, when SolarWinds went public, to January 2021, SolarWinds …
Good morning and thank you, Jim [Burns], for that introduction. I am pleased to be part of the 2023 conference on SEC Regulation Outside the United States to deliver the Fifth Annual Scott Friestad Memorial Lecture.
I had the privilege
The retirement security of millions of American workers is increasingly tied to an investment vehicle that most have never heard of, and whose dramatic growth over the last 40 years has received almost no regulatory or academic scrutiny.
With nearly …
A number of regulations encourage whistleblowers to provide tips on corporate financial misconduct. For example, as a part of the 2011 Dodd-Frank Act, Congress enacted a whistleblower program to reward eligible individuals with up to 30 percent of the monetary …
On October 31, 2023, the Fifth Circuit, in Chamber of Commerce of the USA vs. SEC,[1] found that the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) violated the Administrative Procedure Act and directed the SEC to “correct the defects” …
In response to extreme weather events, regulators and standard setters are developing climate-related reporting requirements and standards. The thinking behind making disclosure of firms’ climate-related risks mandatory is that it will allow the market to price these risks, thereby using …
Today [November2], the Commission adopted final rules to create a framework for the registration of security-based swap execution facilities (security-based SEFs). I support today’s adoption because, through fulfilling Congress’s mandate, it increases the transparency and integrity of the security-based swap …
In a speech on October 24, 2023, the director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) Enforcement Division, Gurbir Grewal, described the scenarios in which the commission would bring an enforcement action against a compliance officer.
In remarks to the …
On October 18, 2023, the Fifth Circuit, in Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment v. SEC, upheld Nasdaq’s board diversity rule. [1]
The rule, approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission in August 2021, requires Nasdaq-listed companies to disclose board-level …
On October 10, 2023, the Financial Stability Board (the “FSB”) published a report (the “FSB Report”)[1] that examined the international resolution framework as applicable to global systemically important banks (“G-SIBs”). In its examination, the FSB Report stated that the …
On March 30, 2022, the SEC proposed much-anticipated regulations governing Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (“SPACs”), which provide an alternative route for a company to be traded on a national exchange without undertaking the cumbersome process of an initial public offering …
I’d like to start by returning to a theme that I’ve touched on before, and that is how public trust in our institutions is faltering.[1] No sector is immune from this trend. From Congress to law enforcement to the
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal relating to whether there is a private right of action for omissions from the disclosures required by Item 303 of Regulation S-K (i.e., Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and …
On September 25, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a US$19 million settlement with the investment adviser DWS Investment Management Americas Inc. (DIMA) for material misstatements and shortcomings in its policies and procedures related to Environmental, Social and …
Today [October 13], the Commission is voting to adopt rules to broaden the scope of short sale-related data available to regulators as well as the investing public. I am pleased to support this adoption because it will enhance the transparency …
There have been dozens – and probably hundreds – of client alerts, briefs, white papers and other thought leadership pieces on the California bills awaiting signature that will require greenhouse gas emissions (SB 253) and climate risk (SB 261) disclosures. …
Today [October 10], the Commission adopted final rules to shorten the deadlines by which beneficial owners of a company — those who own more than 5 percent of the company — must inform the public of their position. I am