MFDF News Feed

August 18, 2022

Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Committee Ranking Member John Boozman (R-AR) introduced the “Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act of 2022” which would give the CFTC new authority to regulate digital assets. The legislation would place the CFTC in the lead oversight role for Bitcoin and Ether and require all digital commodity platforms—including trading facilities, brokers, dealers, and custodians—to register with the CFTC.

August 17, 2022

A recent blog post entitled, “Board Effectiveness and the Chair of the Future” highlights the important and necessary role board chairs play in organizational governance and leadership generally.

August 16, 2022

The Financial Stability Oversight Council convened to discuss progress made by the Council and its members to identify and address climate-related financial risk. As part of the meeting, the FSOC released a factsheet highlighting the progress of the Climate-related Financial Risk Committee, which has representation from all fifteen FSOC members.

August 11, 2022

The SEC adopted a final rule that changes amendments previously finalized in July 2020 under Chair Jay Clayton to rules governing proxy solicitations and the filing exemptions for proxy voting advice.

August 10, 2022

CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam delivered remarks discussing the future of crypto regulation and identified risks in the crypto space arising from “macroeconomic factors, leverage built up by the emergence of new financial products, high risk investing, and contagion.”

August 9, 2022

Ernst & Young plans to host two webinars, one event covering ESG and one event touching on the value-add of boards of directors.

August 4, 2022

The SEC's Director for the Division of Enforcement, Gurbir Grewal, testified before a House Financial Services Subcommittee during a hearing that focused mainly on ESG and crypto enforcement actions.

August 3, 2022

The SEC’s Director of the Division of Investment Management, William Birdthistle, delivered prepared remarks on current issues and trends on investment management. Birdthistle’s remarks touched on the SEC’s regulatory map, developments impacting the investment management community over the next few months, money market funds, the LIBOR transition, and MiFID II developments.

August 2, 2022

SEC Chair Gary Gensler delivered remarks before the Center for Audit Quality program “Sarbanes-Oxley at 20: The Work Ahead" covering issues related to accounting standards under the FASB, corporate governance, and foreign issuers in the United States, among others.

August 1, 2022

Ropes & Gray recently released a podcast titled, “Fully Invested: Fund of Funds” that covers the basics of these products which are designed to invest in other privately offered alternative investment vehicles.

July 28, 2022

In a blog post by the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, the authors highlighted a study that identified “Gold Medal Boards."

July 27, 2022

A Democratic Senator recently introduced legislation called the “Savvy Savers Act” (S.4361) that would require the Department of Labor (DOL) to conduct a study and report to Congress (within three years of enactment) on the effectiveness of disclosures and their transparency for self-directed retirement accounts and pension accounts.

July 26, 2022

The SEC recently issued a “Request for Comment on Certain Information Providers Acting as Investment Advisers” which addresses three categories of what the SEC refers to as “information providers” to funds, including: index providers; model portfolio providers; and pricing services.

July 25, 2022

CFTC Director of the Division of Market Oversight, Vincent McGonagle, testified at a House Agriculture Subcommittee hearing on the current state of digital asset regulation covering issues such as: oversight of the derivatives markets, disclosure, initial coin offerings, protection of retail investors, blockchain technology, and futures-based crypto products.

July 21, 2022

In June, the US Senate voted to confirm Jaime Lizárraga and Mark Uyeda to serve as SEC Commissioners.

July 20, 2022

SEC Chair Gary Gensler delivered a speech detailing specific areas where market structure reforms could be beneficial to investors. Gensler did not provide a timeline for publishing any proposals for public comment, but given the recent pace of SEC rulemaking, proposals could be released this year.

July 19, 2022

On Wednesday, July 20 at 2pm EDT Ernst & Young LLP will present their “2022 Alternative and registered funds mid-year update” which will focus on the latest developments impacting alternative funds and registered investment companies.

July 18, 2022

McKinsey & Co. released a cybersecurity report detailing ways companies can segment their preparation into stages and take both short- and long-term actions to increase preparedness in order to be in compliance with new US regulations.

July 14, 2022

The U.S. Department of the Treasury published a request for information to solicit public feedback on additional post-trade data transparency in the Treasury securities market.

July 13, 2022

Ropes & Gray recently released a podcast discussing stablecoins generally, including how they are intended to operate and their importance to the overall digital assets markets.