January 22nd, 2013
January 2013 Credit rating agencies (more formally known as Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations or “NRSROs”) provide ratings which are used for a variety of [...]
October 18th, 2010
October 2010 On October 7, 2010, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) announced it will start to refuse registration for auditors based in jurisdictions [...]
October 18th, 2010
October 2010 A little-known provision within the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 contains a provision that could dramatically impact how [...]
August 18th, 2010
August 2008 In late July, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued proposed regulations that require plan fiduciaries to disclose plan- and investment-related information for [...]
August 18th, 2010
August 2010 Issuers conducting private offerings of securities often rely on Regulation D as the exemption from the registration requirements of the federal Securities Act [...]
August 11th, 2010
August 2011 A surprising call for additional government regulation occurs in a report entitled “The Unfinished Agenda”. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce states that Congress [...]
July 18th, 2010
July 2010 The Department of Labor (DOL) issued “interim final” fee disclosure regulations that apply to ERISA pension plans, including most notably 401(k) plans. The [...]
July 18th, 2010
July 2010 12b-1 fees compensate mutual funds for marketing and selling costs. These fees are primarily a means of paying brokers for selling “no-load” funds [...]
June 18th, 2010
June 2007 Short selling is the practice of borrowing stock (usually from a broker-dealer or institutional investor), then selling it in anticipation that the stock [...]
June 18th, 2010
June 2010 The “flash crash” on May 6, 2010 is the biggest one-day intraday decline in Dow Jones Industrial Average history. The “flash crash” saw [...]
June 18th, 2010
June 2010 Ratings of debt instruments are an integral part of U.S. financial markets. Reliance on these ratings is increasing, but their reliability is pathetic. [...]
March 18th, 2010
March 2010 Last week, the Department of Labor (DOL) proposed requiring 401(k) plan and IRA investment advisers to (i) disclose their fees and (ii) show [...]
January 18th, 2010
January 2007 The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed new rules designed to limit investors who could participate in hedge funds and other [...]
April 18th, 2008
April 2008 If regulators are able reach a “mutual recognition” agreement, it would mark a radical shift in how international markets are overseen. The Securities [...]