On April 3rd from 1:00 to 2:30 PM EST, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) will host a webinar covering 2018 GAAP and SEC taxonomy improvements. During the webinar, the FASB staff will demonstrate how to apply the new modeling using example disclosures and discuss the new 2018 SEC Reporting Taxonomy.

On March 14th, the SEC voted to propose new Rule 610T of Regulation NMS to conduct a Transaction Fee Pilot in National Market System (NMS) stocks. This pilot would subject stock exchange fee pricing (such as “maker-taker” fee-and-rebate pricing models) to new temporary restrictions across three test groups. It would also require the exchanges to prepare and publicly post data pertaining to the pilot study. According to SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, the pilot is “...designed to generate data that will provide the Commission, market participants, and the public with information to facilitate an informed, data-driven discussion about transaction fees and rebates and their impact on order routing behavior, execution quality, and market quality in general.” The information gathered from this pilot study may elucidate the effects of transaction-based fees and rebates while allowing for an evaluation of any potential regulatory action, including possible changes to Rule 610(c) of Regulation NMS.

On March 14th, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed amendments to the public liquidity-related disclosure requirements as they apply to certain open-end investment management companies. These amendments would replace a pending requirement that funds publicly provide the aggregate liquidity classification profile of their portfolios quarterly on Form N-PORT.

On March 12, 2018, EDGAR Release 18.1 was released by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This release introduces new form types SF-1MEF and 486BXT and contains various changes and corrections to other forms.