On September 23rd, the SEC voted to adopt revisions to its congressionally mandated whistleblower program rules. The 2010 addition of Section 21F to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 established the SEC’s whistleblower program, which authorizes the SEC to make monetary awards to eligible individuals who voluntarily provide original information about violations of the securities laws when it leads to successful SEC enforcement actions resulting in monetary sanctions over $1 million.
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On October 1st, FERC released the schedule for its open meetings for calendar year 2021. The open meetings are freely accessible by the public consistent with the Government in the Sunshine Act, and the contents of the meeting are posted on FERC’s website. Continue reading "FERC Releases Commission Open Meeting Schedule..." »

On September 28th, the SEC announced a new proposal to improve the operational transparency, system integrity, and regulatory oversight of alternative trading systems. These systems trade government securities and repurchase and reverse repurchase agreements on government securities. US government securities markets are among the most significant and liquid securities markets in the world. Including US Treasury securities and agency securities, government securities comprise more than half of the outstanding debt issuances in the US bond market. They therefore play a critical role in the US and global economies. During the latter half of 2019, the average daily trading volume in government securities was approximately $835 billion. In addition to seeking public opinion on regulating these markets, the SEC is also requesting comment on the regulatory framework for electronic platforms that trade corporate debt and municipal securities. Continue reading "SEC Proposes to Extend Regulations ATS and SCI..." »

On September 28th, the SEC announced that it will host an event on October 26th from 1:00 to 3:00 pm ET, which will bring together SEC staff and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for a roundtable that was announced in an earlier statement by the Staff Standards of Conduct Implementation Committee. The two groups will discuss initial observations following the June 30, 2020 compliance date for Regulation Best Interest and Form CRS. Continue reading "SEC to Host October 26 Virtual Roundtable on..." »

With the release of the new SEC fee rate table, the SEC changed the location of the table on their website. Because the software uses the location to download the fee rate table for use in calculating filing fees, the current version of the software will not be able to download the new fee rate table. Additionally, it does not detect that the fees are out of date because the old fee rate table is still available at the old location on the SEC’s website.

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In 2019, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) revised its electronic filing format to incorporate structured data in the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) format. As has been the case with other federal regulators, the move to adopt XBRL is being undertaken to modernize the reporting environment and increase efficiency in submitting and consuming data. Broad support across the industry also helped drive the action.
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The SEC announced on September 23th that it has adopted amendments to modernize Exchange Act Rule 14a-8, which is its shareholder proposal rule. Through the years, the SEC has recognized the need to update certain parts of this rule which regulates the process for a shareholder to have its proposal included in a company’s proxy statement for consideration by all of the company’s shareholders.
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On September 16th, the SEC announced a final rule regarding publication or submission of quotations in the absence of specific information. With this, the SEC adopted modifications to Exchange Act Rule 15c2-11, an important element of the over-the-counter (OTC) market regulatory structure. Continue reading "SEC Announces Revisions to Increase Retail..." »

On September 23rd, the SEC’s staff of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA) issued some information concerning Form 8-K and the Document Period End Date. DERA observed that some filers have designated the filing date of Form 8-K in XBRL and Inline XBRL submissions as the Document Period End Date. Other filers, however, have used the filing date from a previously submitted Form 8-K or a date that is unrelated to the reported event. Continue reading "SEC Releases Observations on Form 8-K Document..." »

On September 15th, FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee announced a new joint venture with Virginia Tech to co-host the next annual EnVision Forum. The two organizations hope the conference will provide an opportunity to explore the technology-driven concerns challenging the energy industry. Continue reading "FERC, Virginia Tech Introduce EnVision 2021..." »

On September 11th, 2020, the SEC announced that it has adopted the final rule for its update of statistical disclosures for bank and savings and loan registrants. The rule modifies required disclosures and classifies certain disclosures in a new Subpart 1400 of Regulation S-K. It reduces duplicative or overly similar disclosure items in other SEC rules and requirements in US GAAP and IFRS. It also replaces Industry Guide 3, Statistical Disclosure by Bank Holding Companies. These changes are intended to help investors have access to more meaningful, relevant information about these registrants, which will facilitate their investment and voting decisions. Continue reading "SEC Announces Final Rule for Update of..." »

On September 14th, the SEC presented a report to Congress regarding the 39th Annual Small Business Forum that was hosted by the Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation on June 18th, 2020. This inclusive, special event brought together members of the public and private sectors, including entrepreneurs, investors, and market participants from across the country, to propose suggestions for policy affecting companies on the rise and their investors. These companies range from startups to smaller, publicly traded companies.
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Version 5.5a of all applications in the GoFiler Suite has been released. This release corresponds to EDGAR 20.3 and contains new form types as specified by EDGAR 20.3. Additionally, this release contains support for the new redlining format for inline XBRL documents and other EDGAR 20.3 changes. Improvements and corrections have been made to the HTML to XHTML function, to HTML validation, to XDX for Risk Return, and to various other functions.

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On September 21, 2020, EDGAR Release 20.3 was released by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This release includes new submission types for variable contracts and new exhibits for Forms N-3, N-4, and N-6. EDGAR will now also allow filers to redline changed content in inline XBRL submissions.

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On September 14th, 2020, staff from FERC and the North American Electricity Reliability Corporation (NERC) published a report on cyber planning for response and recovery entitled “Cyber Planning for Response and Recovery Study” (CYPRES), which emphasizes best practices for the electric utility industry. Continue reading "FERC and NERC Outline Cyber Incident Response..." »