On May 9, 2019, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (FinCEN) issued “interpretive guidance” addressing how FinCEN’s money services business (MSB) regulations apply to a variety of business models that use convertible virtual currency (CVC) (2019 FinCEN Guidance). This is the first significant guidance FinCEN has issued regarding the regulatory treatment of virtual currency under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) of 1970, as amended, and FinCEN’s implementing…

On June 5, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted 3-1 to adopt a series of proposals intended to “substantially enhance” the standards of conduct for financial professionals. First and foremost, the SEC adopted Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI), a new rule establishing an updated standard of conduct for broker-dealers and associated persons of broker-dealers when making a recommendation of any securities transaction or investment strategy involving securities to a retail customer. The standard…

In March 2019 the SEC’s Office of Compliance, Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) announced it would soon commence its annual “Cybersecurity Sweep” of registered investment advisers and broker-dealers. The reality of daily breaches and hacks combined with the watchful eye of the SEC and other regulatory and enforcement bodies means registrants should recommit to dedicating the necessary resources to protect their customers from cyber threats. The SEC has provided some ideas as to the areas of…

On April 16, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance, Inspections and Examinations (SEC OCIE) issued a helpful Risk Alert relating to the privacy Regulation S-P (Reg S-P) and “Safeguards Rule” policies and procedures of registered investment advisers and broker dealers. The Risk Alert gives registered investment advisers and broker-dealers fair notice of various points of emphasis the SEC OCIE considers important from an examination perspective and those points that could…

On May 3, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed amendments to the financial disclosure requirements in Rule 3-05 (Acquired Company Financial Information), Rule 3-14 (Real Estate Operations), and Article 11 (Pro Forma Financial Information) of Regulation S-X for financial statements of businesses acquired or to be acquired and for business dispositions. The SEC also proposed new Rule 6-11 of Regulation S-X and amendments to Form N-14 for financial reporting of acquisitions involving investment…

A bill to amend the Japanese laws regulating cryptocurrency exchange businesses or financial instruments transactions, including the Act on Settlement of Funds (Settlement Act) and the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA), was submitted to the Diet on March 15, 2019. The bill proposes to call cryptocurrencies “Crypto Assets” (CA) rather than “Virtual Currencies” (VC) and intends to introduce additional regulations to ensure user protection, regulate derivatives trades on cryptocurrencies, and establish a more transparent…

On March 21, 2019, in Whitaker v. Wedbush Securities, an Illinois appellate court for the first time addressed the liability of a futures commission merchant (FCM) or broker-dealer (BD) under Section 4A-105 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). By way of background, a customer of an FCM dually registered as a BD ostensibly requested a series of wire transfers from his commodity trading accounts. Unbeknownst to the FCM, in reality a third-party hacker had…