Registered Funds

On June 12, 2025 the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) formally withdrew fourteen outstanding rule proposals issued by the prior administration. Although most observers doubted that the current Commission would adopt these proposals, the SEC’s action confirms that any future rulemaking on these topics must start anew with a new proposal and a fresh opportunity…

On April 8, 2025, Acting SEC Chairman Mark T. Uyeda gave a speech signaling that the SEC may revisit the current minimum assets under management (“AUM”) threshold for federal registration, potentially reducing the number of investment advisers required to register with the SEC. Though Uyeda’s time as Acting Chair has now ended due to the…

Paul Atkins, who has been nominated by President Trump to serve as Chairperson of the Securities & Exchange Commission, last week completed a short confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee.  Despite its brevity, the hearing provided meaningful clues to Mr. Atkin’s plans if he is confirmed by the Senate to lead the SEC, which appears reasonably assured to occur.  On April 3, 2025, the Senate Banking Committee approved his nomination with a vote 13 to 11. 

Paul Atkins previously served on the staff of SEC Chairman Richard Breeden, as an SEC Commissioner from 2002 to 2008, and as a member of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP following the 2008 financial crisis.  Most recently, he founded and ran a regulatory and compliance consulting company.   

As reported today, Vice President Harris has announced Tim Walz, the sitting governor of Minnesota, as her running mate. This announcement is particularly significant for investment advisers due to the Advisers Act Political Contributions Rule, otherwise known as the “pay-to-play” rule.

Read the full post on The Capital Commitment blog.

On March 1, 2024, Judge Liles C. Burke of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama ruled that the Corporate Transparency Act (the “CTA”) is unconstitutional[1], leaving its future uncertain. The CTA requires reporting companies to report to FinCEN information about their beneficial owners and company applicants and is intended to help prevent and combat money laundering, terrorist financing, tax fraud and other illicit activity.  The ruling enjoined U.S. Department of the Treasury, FinCEN and any other federal agency from enforcing the CTA against the plaintiffs but introduces uncertainty as to the applicability to other reporting companies. 

The staff of the Division of Investment Management (the “Staff”) has issued a FAQ pertaining to the rule and form amendments adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) in October 2022, which require open-end mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”, and together with open-end mutual funds, “funds”) registered on Form N-1A to transmit…

On January 10, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued an order approving the applications of 11 different spot Bitcoin exchange‑traded products (the “Approved ETPs”) to each list and trade their shares on a national securities exchange.[1]  As a result, each Approved ETP is expected to commence trading on either the NYSE Arca…

In 2021, the Corporate Transparency Act (the “CTA”) was enacted into U.S. federal law as part of a multi‑national effort to rein in the use of entities to mask illegal activity. The CTA directs the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) to propose rules requiring certain types of entities to file…

Today, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued a final rule aimed to ease compliance with certain aspects of the regulations promulgated under the Corporate Transparency Act.  The final rule extends the deadline from 30 days to 90 days for entities created or registered during 2024 that do not qualify for an…

Beginning on December 1, 2023, companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) and the Nasdaq Stock Market (“Nasdaq”) will need to adopt and comply with policies providing for the recovery, or “clawback”, of erroneously awarded incentive-based executive compensation, as required by Rule 10D-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Rule 10D-1”).[1]…