MyComplianceOffice Blog

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently released it’s report of enforcement actions for their fiscal year 2021 ending on September 30. 697 companies were hit with violations this year.

New actions were included against emerging threats in the crypto and SPAC spaces, but there was still plenty of enforcement in more traditional areas like insider trading, inadequate disclosure and breaching of fiduciary duty.

What types of misconduct landed individuals and firms on the SEC’s radar this year?

A consulting firm partner who was advising a global bank on the acquisition of a FinTech loan processing firm was charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on two counts of securities fraud for illegal trading using material nonpublic information (MNPI). In a parallel action, criminal charges were also filed in the state of New York that bring a maximum sentence of twenty years in prison.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently released its Annual Agenda for 2021. The Agenda provides a list of Rules in the Prerule, Proposed, and Final stages and offers a snapshot of the SEC’s long and short term regulatory priorities.

What are the most significant pressures facing compliance programs in 2021? And where are the largest constraints? An audience of Chief Compliance Officers and General Counsel were asked those questions during the during the webinar Compliance Budgeting: Reducing Risk by Doing More With Less.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) recently released their Statistical Summary of 18-Month Campaign Activity of the 2019-2020 Election Cycle. The data shows that the 2020 election cycle has so far seen record-breaking political donations across the board.

 This unprecedented level of contributions combined with stringent regulations, low donation thresholds, and past history of strict enforcement actions means that Pay-to-Play compliance needs to be a top-of-mind concern for firms of all sizes right now.