SEC voted to adopt a new shareholder and investor communications approach including shareholder reports and revised advertisement fee disclosures by registered open end funds and exchange traded funds. The SEC did not adopt amendments to registration statement disclosures.
SEC announced fraud charges against Equitable Financial Life Insurance Company for providing quarterly account statements to about 1.4 million investors included materially misleading misstatements and omissions over investor fees. The civil penalty was $50 million.
The Securities and Exchange Commission settled with Kim Kardashian for violating the anti-touting provision of the Securities Act. The SEC’s actions signal to celebrities that they must disclose whether they have received payment for promoting or endorsing a security.
The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed 2 amendments to Form PF. One was proposed with the CFTC that would expand the disclosure obligations of private fund advisers subject to Form PF filing requirements. The other expands further on these new disclosure obligations.
The SEC’s focus on personal device usage shows the importance of internal controls on the technology employees use to communicate about work. In an effort to comply with SEC and FINRA recordkeeping requirements, banks frequently ban use of personal devices on trading floors.