Forum News Feed

December 5, 2023

The Mutual Fund Directors Forum and Cohen & Company plan to host a webinar titled, “Unique Oversight Considerations for ETFs.” Rich Wagner, Cohen & Company assurance partner and Jay Laurila, Cohen & Company tax partner, will discuss the unique complexities of board oversight of ETFs.

December 4, 2023

The House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy held a hearing entitled, “The Tangled Web of Global Governance: How the Biden Administration is Ceding Authority Over American Financial Regulation.” Subcommittee Chairman Andy Barr (R-KY) argued that regulators are using global governance bodies to appear neutral and to push activist policies such as “greening the financial system” and changing capital buffer requirements.

November 30, 2023

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Director of Investment Management, William Birdthistle, delivered remarks titled, “Private Equity: Past & Present, Charters & Code," and noted that as a regulator he is “confined by at least two critical constraints of expertise: the plumbing of our financial system and the legal authorities granted by Congress.” He also addressed the rise of assets in private funds, stating “the total universe is approaching par with the $30 trillion of assets in America’s registered investment companies: mutual funds, closed-end funds, money market funds, and exchange-traded funds.”

November 29, 2023

On Thursday, November 30 at 2:00pm ET, the Mutual Fund Directors Forum plans to host a webinar titled, “Fund Compliance: CCO vs. Trustee Perspectives.” The Forum will be joined by Ira Cohen, Chair of Angel Oak Funds, President & CEO of Vigilant Compliance, Salvatore Faia, and Managing Director of Vigilant Compliance, Bernadette Murphy.

November 28, 2023

On Wednesday, November 29 at 2:00pm ET, the Mutual Fund Directors Forum plans to hold a webinar titled, “Alternative Investments: Their Rise in Popularity, Trends, and Potential Pitfalls.” The webinar, moderated by Forum Board Member and Independent Trustee of the Carlyle Tactical Private Credit Fund Sanjeev Handa, will include a presentation and perspectives from Brian Marcus, Managing Director and Portfolio Manager in Global Credit at Carlyle.

November 27, 2023

The House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Capital Markets held a hearing entitled, “Examining the SEC’s Agenda: Unintended Consequences for U.S. Capital Markets and Investors.” Chairman Ann Wagner (R-MO) argued that regulatory action should only be taken when explicitly authorized by Congress. She said the SEC’s rapid pace of rulemaking raises questions about the ability of the SEC to evaluate the cumulative effects and other implications of the rules.

November 21, 2023

PwC recently released its 15th “Annual Corporate Directors Survey” which surveys over 600 public company directors on a variety of issues including ESG oversight, crisis management, board diversity, board effectiveness, and cyber oversight, among other areas. The survey notes “[r]esistance to evolution continues to plague many boards, particularly when it requires self-reflection about their own composition.”

November 20, 2023

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released its Enforcement results for the fiscal year 2023. Chair Gary Gensler noted “Last fiscal year’s results demonstrate yet again the Division’s effectiveness—working alongside colleagues throughout the agency—in following the facts and the law wherever they lead to hold wrongdoers accountable.”

November 16, 2023

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denied petitions to review the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approval of the Nasdaq diversity disclosure rule. A Simpson Thacher Memorandum notes that the Appeals Court “rejected petitioners’ constitutional and statutory claims, framing Nasdaq’s diversity rule as consistent with the Securities Exchange Act’s ‘fundamental purpose’ of enforcing ‘a philosophy of full disclosure… in the securities industry.’”

November 15, 2023

The Mutual Fund Directors Forum and Management Practice (MPI) plan to host a webinar titled, “Mutual Fund CCO Compensation: The MPI Annual Survey Update.” For the last 18 years, MPI has released its annual CCO Compensation survey highlighting compensation data received through confidential questionnaires from fund CCOs and other industry executives.

November 14, 2023

The Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) voted to overhaul the process to designate nonbank financial companies as systemically important financial institutions (SIFI) which would subject them to supervision by the Federal Reserve and additional regulations. The new process reverses a Trump administration policy stating that regulators should use an “activities-based approach” rather than singling out individual firms.

November 13, 2023

The Mutual Fund Directors Forum and Stradley Ronon will co-host a webinar titled “Looking Back and Forward at the SEC’s Rule for Fair Value.” The webinar examines the valuation of a fund's portfolio securities, requirements surrounding fund valuation procedures, the board's responsibility in overseeing valuation, responsibilities of the valuation designee under Rule 2a-5, and an overview of the legal responsibilities of directors in carrying out these important duties.

November 9, 2023

Authors Alyssa Stankiewicz and Lindsey Stewart examine how two active asset managers on opposite ends of the environmental, social, and governance spectrum, Strive Asset Management and Engine No. 1, voted in the 2023 proxy year.

November 8, 2023

Neesa Patel Sood and Jay Spinola, partners at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, will provide an overview of the amended names rules recently adopted by the SEC and its implications for registered funds and BDCs.

November 7, 2023

A recent podcast from Ropes & Gray interviews business professor Daniel Beunza, author of the book “Taking the Floor: Models, Morals, and Management in a Wall Street Trading Room.” In the podcast, Daniel discusses his findings about ethics, morality, and leadership in these highly intense and competitive settings.

November 6, 2023

President Joseph Biden signed the “Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence.” As part of the Order, companies will be required to notify and share the results of certain safety tests for technology that poses a serious risk to national security, national economic security, or national public health and safety.

November 2, 2023

Gary Gensler delivered remarks on the importance of attorneys, accountants, and compliance professionals serving as “good stewards” of the securities laws. Chair Gensler stated, “to effectuate Congress’s purpose, we don’t enforce the securities laws based on a product’s label. Rather, we look to the underlying economic realities.”

November 1, 2023

Gurbir Grewal the Director of the Division of Enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) delivered remarks at a New York Bar Association Compliance event on the important role of compliance professionals as “the first lines of defense against misconduct.” Director Grewal stated actions against compliance professionals are rare because “we do not second-guess good faith judgments of compliance personnel made after reasonable inquiry and analysis.”

October 31, 2023

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted new Rule 10c-1a which will require covered persons to report information about securities loans to a registered national securities association (RNSA) and require RNSAs to make certain information that they receive regarding those lending transactions publicly available.

October 30, 2023

The EY Center for Board Matters will host a webinar entitled, “How Boards Can Support a More Agile Response to Crises.” This event is part of a wider EY series “Better Questions for Boards.”