News & Events –

Over the past several weeks, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued new guidance on customer due diligence requirements, an advisory on cyber-enabled financial crime and an alert concerning scams involving fraudulent payments denominated in convertible virtual currency. These are significant compliance communications for financial institutions and come on the heels of FinCEN’s recent alerts on imposter fraud and money mule schemes.

Join Bates Expert and IBDC Founder/CEO Lilian Morvay, along with Bates Compliance Director Jill Ehret, Cybersecurity Expert Paul Horn and other panelists, for this complimentary webinar examining new compliance concerns arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic, including Branch Audits, Selling Away and more. Thursday, August 20, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern.

On August 12, 2020 the SEC Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) staff alerted broker-dealers and investment advisers to additional COVID-19 compliance risks. The new considerations are based on the “operational, technological [and] commercial challenges” raised by the public and private sector response to the pandemic. OCIE staff grouped their observations and recommendations into several categories—here’s what you need to know:  

Since our last regulatory update on the adoption of FINRA’s proposal to align its suitability and non-cash compensation rules with Regulation Best Interest (“Reg BI”), the self-regulatory organization issued guidance on private placement communications, recommended that firms provide information to them on digital assets, and proposed a series of new rule changes. Bates examines the details of FINRA’s updated guidance.

Join Bates Group’s next CLE Webinar on Thursday, August 13th, 2020,  “Capital Market Uncertainty in the Time of COVID-19 and the Potential Litigation and Regulatory Impact” when we look at 2020 in the context of past bear markets, compare the 1918 influenza pandemic to today, discuss the sectors and industries hardest hit by the economic disruption, and potential capital market-related litigation and regulatory enforcement matters on the horizon. Featuring (L-R) co-moderators Jack McGuire of Oppenheimer & Co. and Esther Cho of Keesal, Young & Logan, along with Greg Kyle, Bates Group Director and Expert. REGISTER HERE

More than two years after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the Department of Labor’s fiduciary duty rule, the agency proposed new regulations on investment advice for retirement accounts under ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code. Under the heading “Improving Investment Advice for Workers & Retirees,” the DOL proposed a new “prohibited transaction class exemption” for investment adviser fiduciaries, reinstated the 1975 regulation and its five-part test for defining investment advice, and made certain changes to its pre-existing prohibited transaction class exemptions. Bates examines the details of the new DOL proposal.

Bates Group is proud to welcome our newest experts and consultants: 

Amy Bard, Esq.- Sales Practice Litigation, Compliance, Senior Investors

Paula Barnes - Retail Industry Expert, Retail Contracts, Regulatory and Compliance investigations

Linda Houston - Wealth Management, Branch Management, Hiring and Recruiting, Retail Securities Litigation and Arbitration

Donald Mattersdorff, CFA - Investment Advisory, Risk Management, Securities Analysis (Equity and Fixed Income)

As Managing Director for Bates Group's Retail Litigation practice, Julie Johnstone manages and oversees financial litigation and arbitration matters. Her team assists broker-dealer and investment advisers, banks and insurance companies, as well as State and Federal Regulators, throughout the life cycle of their retail litigation matters, from early case assessments, profit and loss reports, damage analyses, and “what if” scenarios, to expert consultation and testimony at hearing, as well as mediation and settlement support. We asked Julie to consider the state of retail litigation in light of the pandemic and to anticipate some of the long-term implications on case management and dispute resolution going forward.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created new compliance and regulatory risks for financial institutions. New avenues for money laundering have sprung up, presenting challenges for financial institutions facing pandemic-related resource constraints. Join Bates Group and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP for this CLE webinar which will examine how financial institutions can adapt their AML programs to the new financial environment and regulatory expectations. Thursday, July 30, 2020 at 12 p.m. Eastern.

In the past week, the SEC Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) warned financial institutions to guard against specific and increasingly prevalent types of fraud against consumers. These activities have been uncovered through examinations, suspicious activity reports (SARs), law enforcement information and public reporting. OCIE and FinCEN’s alerts follow other federal and state reports urging firms to increase vigilance against similar crisis-related misconduct.

The NSCP 2020 Midwest Regulatory Interchange with the SEC, DOL and FINRA is taking place on July 24, 2020. Bates Compliance Managing Director Linda Shirkey will be speaking on the SEC Discussions panel at 9 a.m. (Mountain).

Join this virtual Compliance Roundtable on Wednesday, July 15, 2020, where our industry experts and guests will address Business Continuity Plan (BCP) design and implementation, including the unanticipated issues, gaps, and shortcomings that companies may have endured as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Investment advisers that manage private equity or hedge funds (“private funds advisers”) should review and enhance their compliance procedures to protect investors from (i) improper fees and expenses, (ii) conflicts of interest that may exist between the adviser and the fund, and (iii) the misuse of material non-public information (MNPI). That is the message communicated by an OCIE Risk Alert, published June 23, 2020. The Alert identified compliance deficiencies observed by SEC staff during recent examinations of private fund advisers.

The SEC has approved final FINRA amendments to its rules on suitability and non-cash compensation. The final amendments ensure that FINRA’s rules line up with the SEC’s Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI). Read our review of the final rule changes, which became effective today, June 30th, 2020, the same date as Reg BI.

Bates continues our practice leadership conversations this week with Alex Russell, Managing Director of Bates’ White Collar, Regulatory and Internal Investigations Practice. Alex’s team supports corporations, financial services firms, law firms and regulators by bringing technical, big data analytics and managerial expertise to a variety of disputes and investigations. We asked Alex about investigations, big data and other regulatory issues now and possibly on the horizon. Get the details in today's Bates Practice Leadership Insights.

FINRA issued Special Alert Notice 20-16 to share COVID-19-related off-site transition and supervisory practice information. The information was derived from recent FINRA discussions with small, mid-sized and large firms. Bates has been tracking and reporting on COVID-19-related guidance since the pandemic began. In this article, we take a closer look at FINRA’s observations on firm efforts to transition to remote work environments and to supervise remote work activities.