Richard Ketchum, chairman and CEO of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, called last week for legal and compliance professionals to have a place at the table when firms are making decisions about how they report financials.
U.K. Financial Services Authority plans to hire a slew of supervisory and enforcement staffers are meeting skepticism from industry professionals who think the regulator will face an expertise deficit for a while.
The new Senate financial reform package has watered down language on ending mandatory pre-dispute arbitration as well as dropped a provision to allow private civil litigation against individuals who knowingly or recklessly aid or abet Exchange Act violations.
Industry officials were divided as to whether the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority will, or should, look to promote one of its existing staffers or hunt outside to fill the shoes of enforcement boss Susan Merrill, who is stepping down to return to private practice. No successor had been announced at press time.
The European Forum of Securities Associations, a coalition of trade groups, has hit out at plans by the European Commission to categorize any client as retail when dealing with complex products.
The Securities and Exchange Commission in January adopted the most extensive revisions to money market funds regulations in over a decade, adding new requirements to Rule 2a-7 for the first time since 1991.
The U.K. Financial Services Authority is taking a tougher line with firms in Advanced Risk Responsive Operating frameWork, or Arrow, exam reports, in some cases surprising firms that thought they had been given a clean bill of health.
Citigroup Global Markets has hired Gary Rosen, a Lehman Brothers veteran, as head of fixed-income compliance for the U.S.
Industry officials fired back at regulators last week over their push to have certain over-the-counter derivatives trades reported to the consolidated tape.
Firms and industry groups have urged the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to abandon a complicated set of planned provisions related to the way retained associates' status is classified.
The Securities and Exchange Commission's statement on global accounting standards has not been a slam dunk in clarifying the potential use of international rules in the U.S.
The Securities and Exchange Commission's assertion of failure-to-supervise claims against legal and compliance personnel will be tested in an administrative proceeding that began last week.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is considering whether to allow registered investment advisers and broker/dealers to continue to be paid for soliciting government business on behalf of other advisers.
The U.K. Financial Services Authority is placing greater scrutiny on structured finance products as the market begins to revive and will veto structures it considers too risky.
The U.K. is set to introduce a tough new anti-corruption law in the next few months.
The Federation of European Securities Exchanges has spoken out against any potential moves by the European Commission to design a regulatory framework covering high-frequency trading.
Salvatore Sodano, the former chairman and CEO of the American Stock Exchange, has settled a long-standing complaint lodged by the Securities and Exchange Commission over his alleged failure to supervise the exchange.
There's been much political skirmishing and boardroom handwringing over the Securities and Exchange Commission's recent guidance on climate change disclosure.
Large firms and industry groups are urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to require alternative trading systems to report aggregate volume at the end of the trading day rather than on a real-time basis.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is pushing financial institutions to pay closer attention to the growing threat posed by trade-based money laundering.
European lawmakers are trying to expand the scope of plans to beef up regulation of hedge funds.
Individuals worried that a potential cooperation agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission could open the door to parallel criminal charges should make their concerns clear when contacting enforcement staff, according to Lorin Reisner, deputy director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement.
The Futures Industry Association has blasted the CME Group for not seeking public comment on an amendment to its plan to allow customer funds used to margin cleared credit default swaps to be commingled with other funds in customer segregated accounts.
Due diligence requests from institutional investors looking at asset management firms are focusing more closely on compliance issues.
The U.K. Financial Services Authority is planning targeted visits to make sure brokerage and investment firms are complying with rules on protecting client money and assets as part of a blitz on poor practices.
General counsel are facing a series of new challenges as regulators ramp up corporate governance rules and raise the stakes on anti-graft compliance.
Sharon Bowles, chair of the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, wants to curb speculative trading of sovereign credit default swaps by enforcing position limits and other ownership restrictions, after seeing spreads gap out on Southern European sovereigns such as Greece.
Firms should consider restricting purchases of reverse convertible notes to investors whose accounts have been approved for options trading because the products are similar to put options, according to recent Financial Industry Regulatory Authority guidance.
The Ontario Securities Commission has found that many local issuers have not been giving investors adequate information about their plans to switch to international accounting standards.
Firms are plotting to ramp up spending on risk management and compliance as pressure from regulators helps reverse two years of cutbacks.
Staffers at the Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Trading and Markets are preparing to send the Commission recommendations for beefing up the rules on broker/dealers' holding of customer assets.
European lawmakers are pushing for planned EU-level regulatory bodies to have more powers than envisaged by the European Commission, including putting cross-border firms under the direct supervision of European, rather than national, agencies.
A coalition of consumer groups and state regulators has urged the Senate Banking Committee to resist industry pressure to eliminate or water down a plan to subject broker/dealers and insurance brokers to a fiduciary duty.
A successor to U.K. Financial Services Authority CEO Hector Sants could be tempted to switch tack from the regulator's recent get-tough approach, according to Andrew Hart, partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
The future interaction between risk teams and compliance is taking center stage in the U.K. as regulators bang the drum for stronger risk controls.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority wants to know how much "handling" actually goes into the postage and handling charges that some firms have been billing clients.
The number of U.S. companies making financial restatements or reporting problems with their accounting controls dropped dramatically last year, according to research from Glass Lewis & Co.
The Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Investment Management is working to resolve technical hurdles to developing a summary prospectus for variable annuities, according to William Kotapish, assistant director of the SEC's Office of Insurance Products.
Herbert Smith has hired Jenny Stainsby, head of group regulatory at Lloyds Banking Group, for its financial services disputes practice in London.
Mutual fund companies should consider tightening their grip on material, non-public information about the funds they operate.
The new European Securities and Markets Authority is coming soon. But few in the industry can agree on its likely impact.
Securities firms reported a sharp spike in suspicious activities related to potential violations such as wire fraud, bribery and wash trades in the first six months of last year.
Erin Mansfield has been appointed managing director of regulatory relations at Barclays Group, a newly created position. Mansfield will split her time between London and New York, and reports to Chris Lucas, finance director for Barclays Group.
U.S. law firms expect to increase their rates by an average of 3.2% in 2010, according to research from consulting firm Altman Weil.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is targeting a slew of enforcement actions across a range of areas, including reverse convertibles and auction-rate securities.
Barclays Capital has appointed Thomas McManus as chief compliance officer for the Americas.
The U.K. Financial Services Authority has told firms they must give written confirmation of their compliance with new liquidity requirements.
London-based attorneys specializing in financial regulatory advice said they are not seeing a slump in work, even as major law firms struggle as a whole.
The Ontario Securities Commission has given hedge funds a largely clean bill of health in terms of compliance with the province's securities laws.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is looking to require firms to file a "detailed and comprehensive summary" of business ties to affiliates as part of applying for new or continuing membership.
The European Court of Justice has released an opinion stating that if an individual is found to have been in possession of insider information when they traded, they can be presumed to have done so based on that information.
RBC Capital Markets has made a series of senior compliance appointments in New York.
Officials from the Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange have called on the Ontario Securities Commission to fall in line with other provincial regulators over accounting rules.
A comprehensive derivatives reform bill should reach U.S. President Barack Obama's desk in late summer, according to Kevin McPartland, senior analyst at independent research firm TABB Group in New York.
The Securities and Exchange Commission's latest look at credit rating agency reforms has prompted a reaction in parts of the industry akin to a group of Jonas Brothers fans being told their tickets may be counterfeit.
Large firms and other industry figures have sketched for Canadian regulators elements of a roadmap to reconfigure market structure in the country, including the future of dark pools.
Industry professionals say the appointment of new boss Carlo di Florio and a number of senior officials has ended months of uncertainty about the future of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations.
The Securities and Exchange Commission should expand its proposed exemption from reporting block trades in dark pools to give institutional investors more cover in executing such orders and avoid driving up costs for mutual fund or pension fund investors, according to Liquidnet.
U.K. representatives on the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee are set to cross-examine Michel Barnier, the presumed successor to European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services Charlie McCreevy, on the impact derivatives regulation will have on the City of London.
A European Commission review of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, which is expected to take place in early 2010, could see the landmark legislation extended into new areas, including bonds.