News & Events –

A. Christine Davis, Bates Group's Director of Forensic Accounting and Financial Crimes, is on the faculty of Practising Law Institute's CLE program "Basics of Accounting for Lawyers 2019," taking place July 23-24, 2019 in San Francisco. The two-day program reviews how some common accounting concepts may emerge in legal work, and what lawyers should consider when encountering them. 

Bates Group is alerting counsel that we are seeing an uptick in option-related cases where firms offered their clients strategies to increase the yield in their investment portfolio, often involving options trading in order to earn premium income to enhance a portfolio’s regular returns. Bates staff and experts have provided both consulting and testimony services in matters involving options trading within a client account.

On June 25th, the U.S. House of Representatives weighed in and voted for an amendment to a bill with the intent of prohibiting the SEC from “implementing, administering, enforcing, or publicizing” the final rules and interpretations of Reg BI. The amendment is not likely to pass the Senate, and as this week’s formal publication of Reg BI in the Federal Register makes clear, the dates for implementation and compliance are set, even as the debate over the new rule package continues. In this article, we review SEC Chair Clayton’s endorsement of the regulation, and his point-by-point rebuttal of the criticism that it has received since agency adoption.

The formal publication by the Federal Register on July 12, 2019, of Regulation Best Interest triggers final effective and compliance dates for the rulemaking package. 

Bates Group is a proud sponsor of the SIFMA Regulation Best Interest Seminar on Wednesday, July 10 in Washington, D.C. Speakers will address the final Reg BI rule, form CRS, and the broader regulatory landscape. Look for financial services industry leader and Bates Senior Compliance Consultant Jerry Baker at the seminar!

This month, a bipartisan group of Senate Banking Committee members introduced legislation to address current gaps inhibiting the fight against illicit financing of criminal activity (CFT). This follows the House Financial Services Committee's adoption of an aggressive legislative agenda aimed at modernizing and closing loopholes in the AML/CFT framework. Of key interest to both the Senate and the House is the expansion of the use of “beneficial ownership information” of the type now collected under the Customer Due Diligence rules that went into effect last year. In this article, Bates reviews the developing congressional legislative efforts to detect and deter financial crime.

The SEC's recent adoption of Reg BI has not stopped the states from pursuing their own higher standards. Last week, Massachusetts became the latest state to propose a uniform fiduciary standard for broker-dealers and advisers when dealing with its residents. A group of trade associations have also expressed concerns regarding New Jersey's proposal to apply uniform fiduciary standards to broker-dealers and investment advisers for recommendations and advice they may give to New Jersey investors. Bates Research takes a closer look at the Massachusetts proposal and the broader federal/state power struggle.

On the day the SEC approved a set of regulatory proposals affecting the obligations that broker-dealers and investment advisers owe retail investors, Commissioner Hester Peirce issued a “plea” to critics to “take a fair look at what it says before you proclaim it a success or failure.” In this article, Bates reviews the core elements of the rules and related guidance, and some of the early reactions.

The state of play in cryptocurrency regulation continues to reflect legitimate tensions between promoting innovation and entrepreneurship and maintaining sound markets and investor protection. In this article, we review recent developments including new guidance and a recent advisory issued by FinCEN, anticipated guidelines from the Financial Action Task Force and the latest developments at the SEC.

By a 3-to-1 margin, the SEC voted to approve its long-debated Regulation Best Interest at an open meeting today. Also approved was a new interpretation of the “solely incidental” provision of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

As Bates reported last October, the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) proposed a new model rule for consideration by state regulators that would require state-registered investment advisers to adopt new policies and procedures in order to safeguard client information. NASAA has announced that its members voted to adopt the model rule package “which now is available for individual jurisdictions throughout the United States to implement through regulation.” This significant announcement may have serious enforcement implications. In this article, Bates Research takes a closer look at what you need to know.

The SEC Office of Investor Advocate (OIA) has prepared a valuable overview report on the SEC’s efforts to protect seniors from financial exploitation. The 25-page paper highlights the agency’s examination, enforcement and regulatory policy, in addition to its education and outreach activities. Bates follows regulatory and enforcement developments on senior financial exploitation issues closely. In this article, we review key observations from this latest OIA report which hones in, specifically, on the SEC’s approach to combating senior financial fraud.

Over the last month, FINRA issued guidance on anti-money laundering compliance and customer communications concerning departing registered representatives. FINRA also proposed a rule adding obligations to firms with a significant history of misconduct. In this article we take a closer look at these moves and the stepped-up expectations that flow from them.

In a new Regulatory Notice, FINRA provided guidance on reporting and monitoring suspicious activities under a member firm’s anti-money laundering (“AML”) compliance program.

Continuing in its efforts to prioritize the protection of retail investors, the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examination (OCIE) has issued a new Risk Alert highlighting privacy and information security issues raised during examinations of registered investment advisers and broker-dealers. In this article, Bates Research takes a closer look at the new Alert and the OCIE’s emphasis on improving firms' compliance in safeguarding their clients' personal information.

The SEC's Enforcement Division has now initiated investigations against firms that did not self-report by the deadline of the SEC’s Share Class Selection Disclosure Initiative. Whether you are facing an enforcement or remediation effort, Bates can help.