The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published a Consultation Paper (CP) on the Money Market Funds Regulation (MMFR). The CP contains proposals on draft technical advice (TA), draft implementing technical standards (ITS), and guidelines under the MMFR. The key proposals relate to asset liquidity and credit quality, the establishment of a reporting template…
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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced charges in an alleged insider trading scheme involving tips of nonpublic information about government plans to cut Medicare reimbursement rates, which affected the stock prices of certain publicly traded medical providers or suppliers. The SEC’s complaint alleges that David Blaszczak, a former government employee turned political intelligence consultant,…
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The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has put out details of the cloned firm First Plus Financial Group. Fraudsters are using the details of firms, authorised by the FCA, to try to convince people that they work for a genuine, authorised firm. Fraudsters are using or giving out the following details as part of their…
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Australia financial regulator ASIC has published a new information sheet to explain the common issues we identify in the content of managed investment scheme (scheme) constitutions during the registration process, and how we address these issues. Since 1 October 2013, ASIC has considered the contents of over 700 constitutions as part of assessing whether to…
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Justice McKerracher of the Federal Court of Australia has lifted an earlier stay on the appointment of David Hodgson and Andrew Hewitt, of Grant Thornton, as provisional liquidators to ASX-listed Diploma Group Limited (Receivers and Managers Appointed) (Administrators Appointed) and its subsidiaries following an application by ASIC, the Australian regulator announced earlier today. The subsidiaries…
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ASIC announced that has suspended the Australian financial services (AFS) licence of NSW-based Divitiarum Audax Pty Limited from 8 May 2017 for failing to lodge financial statements and auditor's reports for a period of four years. This is in breach of both Divitiarum Audax's legal obligations and licence conditions. ASIC Deputy Chair Peter Kell said:…
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After dealing with several cases of companies retaliating against employees who reported wrongdoing, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has announced amendments to the its Whistleblower Rules that will, among other things, strengthen the CFTC’s anti-retaliation protections for whistleblowers and enhance the process for reviewing whistleblower claims. Based on a reinterpretation of the CFTC’s…
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The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has issued today an opinion regarding the implementation of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) and Regulation (MiFIR). The opinion clarifies the concept of “traded on a trading venue” (TOTV), which is relevant for a number of provisions under MIFID II and MiFIR. The concept of…
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The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has prohibited Ms Bernie Wong Ching Man, a former employee of Citibank (Hong Kong) Limited, from re-entering the industry for four months from 19 May 2017 to 18 September 2017 for forging a client’s signature. The SFC found that in July 2015, Wong forged a customer’s signature on a…
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Spanish regulator CNMV just warned that the company Arc Global Trader, S.L. is not authorised to provide the investment services detailed in Article 140 of the Securities Markets Law, which include investment advice, or to provide the auxiliary services detailed in letters a), b), d), f) and g) of Article 141 of the said Law…
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