July 31, 2013
DC Circuit Court Remands Case to SEC for Reconsideration of Factors Mitigating Against Lifetime Ban of Registered Representative from Securities Industry
On June 11, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (“DC Circuit”) ruled that the SEC abused its discretion in upholding a lifetime ban of registered representative John M. E. Saad from associating with any member firm by failing to adequately address all mitigating factors, and remanded the case to the SEC for reconsideration.
July 11, 2013
SEC Lifts Ban on General Solicitation and General Advertising for Certain Private Placements
In its open meeting on July 10, 2013, the SEC lifted the ban on general solicitation and advertising for certain private placements under Rule 506 and Rule 144A. These amendments to the rules become effective 60 days after they are published in the Federal Register. Broker-dealers should note that…
July 10, 2013
FINRA July Rulemaking Meeting
On July 10, 2013, FINRA Board of Governors will meet to consider the following items: ATS Reporting and Transparency—a proposal to require alternative trading systems to report aggregate transaction volume to FINRA and to use unique market participant identifiers; Broker-Check— a proposal to have non-FINRA member firms and their registered…
July 10, 2013
FINRA Issues Proposed Regulations Consolidating Supervision Rules
On June 21, 2013 FINRA filed proposed regulations with the SEC to adopt the consolidated FINRA supervision rules. These rules will integrate and harmonize NASD and NYSE rules on supervision. With this proposed rule change, FINRA continues its development of a FINRA consolidated rulebook. These proposed regulations will…
July 2, 2013
District Court Does Not Require Broker Dealer Registration for Foreign Transactions
On March 28, 2013, in SEC v. Benger, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois held that the registration requirements under Section 15(a) of the Exchange Act do not apply to foreign transactions. As a consequence of this holding, brokers and dealers based in the United States whose activities are limited solely to foreign sales of stock (and whose activities fall under the jurisdiction of the Northern District of Illinois) are not required to be registered with the SEC. There is a possibility that the SEC will appeal this decision in the near future.