The US Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently submitted its final fiduciary rule to the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) for clearance, one of the last steps required to implement the controversial proposal. Under the proposed rule, financial advisers of retirement accounts would owe investors a fiduciary duty and must put their clients’ best interest … Continue Reading
Market participants must be mindful of the robust enforcement environment at the CFTC and U.S. futures exchanges. In 2015, the CFTC brought numerous enforcement actions and continued to impose aggressive civil monetary penalties on market participants, including energy and agricultural companies. Significantly, the CFTC also started to pivot from implementing to enforcing its regulations promulgated … Continue Reading
On January 6, 2016, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) published a Guidance Update (the “Guidance”) concerning payments made by mutual funds to financial intermediaries that provide shareholder and recordkeeping services for investors in such funds. The Guidance is a product of a three-year sweep exam conducted by the SEC that studied these payments, … Continue Reading
