MyComplianceOffice Blog

If you’re in Compliance, you know the crucial role that the Chief Compliance Officer plays in helping to maintain integrity in the securities industry and preventing violations. CCOs’ jobs are challenging enough given the wide range of obstacles they face day to day without having to routinely worry about whether simply carrying out their responsibilities will subject them to personal liability.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler said in a speech to the Practicing Law Institute that during the fiscal year that just ended on September 30, the agency filed over 700 actions and obtained judgments and orders totaling $6.4 billion, including $4 billion in civil penalties.

 The actions, outlined in a recent press release, covered a wide range of misconduct including charges around insider trading, disclosure failures and omissions, market manipulation and fraud, misleading investors, executive accountability, failure to maintain books and records, failure to register crypto as a security and insufficient policies and procedures. 

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently released the staff bulletin Standards of Conduct for Broker-Dealers and Investment Adviser Conflicts of Interest to reiterate the required standards and obligations for broker-dealers under Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) and for investment advisers the fiduciary duty standards under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

The SEC issued the Risk Alert Investment Adviser MNPI Compliance Issues to provide investment advisers, investors, and other market participants with information concerning notable deficiencies that the the Division of Examinations (“EXAMS”) has cited related to material non-public information (MNPI) and Code of Ethics Issues.

It should come as no surprise to compliance teams that the management of Books and Records is in the regulatory spotlight. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently charged several large Wall Street firms with widespread record keeping failures. The firms will be required to pay combined penalties of more than $1.1 billion, and also must make substantive improvements to their compliance policies and procedures around books and records.