On 1 February 2021, FINRA issued its 2021 Report on FINRA’s Examination and Risk Monitoring Program (“FINRA Report”) and a bit more than a month later, the SEC’s recently renamed Division of Examinations issued its own 2021 Examination Priorities (“Exam Priorities”). Each of these documents is quite long, with the FINRA report at 44 pages and the Exam Priorities document at 36 pages, and although there are some differences in focus and scope, we did find some common themes, which we have chosen to highlight in what we hope will be a helpful summary.

Join Baker McKenzie regulatory and enforcement practitioners as we navigate this uncertain time and work together through the challenges ahead. We offer practical advice and real-time analysis of the changing landscape across the United States, Europe and Asia. Inform Global Discussion Series The New Framework for Investment Adviser Marketing June…

Join Baker McKenzie regulatory and enforcement practitioners as we navigate this uncertain time and work together through the challenges ahead. We offer practical advice and real-time analysis of the changing landscape across the United States, Europe and Asia. Webinar Series: The New Framework for Investment Adviser Marketing In this 4-part…

The SEC recently adopted amendments that dramatically reshape the rules governing investment adviser marketing by creating a single rule (“Marketing Rule”) for investment adviser advertising and referral arrangements. The new approach is an elegant solution designed to fulfill the SEC staff’s objective of retaining a principles-based framework while modernizing the rule to remain flexible to accommodate evolving technologies such as social media. The Marketing Rule is effective within 60 days after publication in the Federal Register, but advisers have 18 months to transition to the new requirements. 

Connected Compliance explores the role of technology as a driver of compliance integration and business growth. We conduct research annually with decision-makers to understand the pace and extent to which companies are deploying technology to manage compliance challenges as well as the risks associated with connected compliance among wider business…

A series of briefings that take a “bite-size” look at international trends in different jurisdictions, drawing on Baker McKenzie’s expert financial services practitioners.

COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic in the U.S. on March 13. Yet, even now, as we are over six months into the crisis, employers still continue to face challenges when navigating the sometimes daily changes in health and safety orders, updates from federal agencies, court decisions, and the proliferation of lawsuits.

Financial regulatory and enforcement momentum focusing on environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) issues is building up from recent activities by US, EU and UK financial regulators.  As a result, we anticipate that asset managers and financial intermediaries will increasingly seek to obtain and analyze ESG-related data and information from companies…

Based on public statements, including a recent speech discussing the operation of the Division of Enforcement’s COVID-19 Steering Committee (Enforcement speech), it is clear that the SEC Enforcement Staff (the Staff) is already thinking ahead to the types of enforcement investigations and actions that may follow the COVID-19 Crisis. In doing so, the Staff likely will draw on its experience following the 2008 global financial crisis (2008 Crisis) to identify potential patterns of misconduct that occur during periods of extraordinary market volatility and financial stress. Below we discuss the various areas that the SEC Enforcement Division is currently focused on, as well as our analysis of the enforcement actions arising out of the 2008 Crisis, with a particular focus on the asset management industry.

SEC 2020: Expect SEC Enforcement to Cast Wide Net on Corporate Disclosure This is the second installment in our series of year-end analyses of the year in securities regulation and enforcement. Based on our ongoing analysis of SEC enforcement actions in 2019, we expect the SEC’s Division of Enforcement to…