On February 14, the Bank for International Settlements' Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published Streamlining variation margin in centrally cleared markets - examples of effective practices...
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has proposed new rules requiring SEC-registered investment advisers and exempt reporting advisers to establish anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) programs and report suspicious activity to FinCEN...
On February 6, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or "Commission"), on a 3-2 vote, adopted new rules ("Final Rules") that further define the phrase "as part of a regular business," as used in the definitions of "dealer" and "government securities dealer" under Sections...
On February 15, ICI joined several other industry participants in filing the attached amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief in support of the petition filed by the American Securities Association (ASA) and Citadel Securities in the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to...
On February 20, 2024, ICI submitted the attached comment letter to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in response to Notice 2024-2, the long awaited "grab bag" guidance on various issues related to the SECURE 2.0 Act changes to the Internal Revenue Code (the "Code").
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced that a registered investment adviser to an exchange-traded fund has agreed to pay a $1.75 million civil penalty to settle charges that the adviser failed to properly disclose a licensing arrangement it had with the ETF's index...
On February 15, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an order instituting proceedings (the "Order") to determine whether to approve or disapprove proposed changes to the National Market System (NMS) Plan to Address Extraordinary Market Volatility (the "Plan")...
[35620] February 16, 2024 TO: ICI Members Pension Committee Pension Operations Advisory Committee SUBJECTS: Pension Tax RE: DOL Updates and Expands Prohibited Transaction Exemption Procedure Regulation The US Department of Labor (DOL) recently updated the procedures (Procedures)...
Attached for your review is ICI's draft comment letter to the SEC expressing support for the revised CT Plan. The revised plan, submitted by the SROs, generally conforms to the SEC's September 2023 amended order on NMS equity data governance and carries over several important reforms...
On February 15, 2024, ICI filed a comment letter in response to notices published by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) soliciting comments on proposed rule changes filed, pursuant to Exchange Act Rule 19b-4, by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the...
Each year, ICI conducts a survey of US households to track households' ownership of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in order to gather information on their demographic and financial characteristics. The most recent survey was conducted from May to June 2023 and was...
On February 12, 2024, we submitted the attached response to the UK Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) consultation on Implementing the Overseas Fund Regime (CP:23/26) proposing new rules and guidance to put the Overseas Funds Regime (OFR) into operation. This establishes the...
On Wednesday, February 7, the SEC approved a proposed rule change from FINRA to amend its rules to allow it to disseminate transaction-level data in US Treasury securities that are On-the-Run Nominal Coupons on an end-of-the-day basis.
On Wednesday, February 7, the SEC approved a rule filing from the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) to amend MSRB Rule G-12 to require dealers effecting municipal securities transactions subject to the T+1 settlement cycle to (1) enter into written agreements with "relevant...
The SEC's Division of Enforcement has announced that it has sanctioned sixteen registrants for "widespread and long-standing recordkeeping failures" relating to their failure to maintain "off channel" communications sent via text messages.[1] The respondents in these cases include...
On January 18, 2024, the Department of Labor (DOL) released proposed regulations to implement section 120 of the SECURE 2.0 Act, which provides a statutory exemption for certain automatic portability transactions. The statutory exemption allows for the receipt of fees and compensation...
The IRS recently released updated guidance for amending retirement plan documents to reflect law changes, including various changes made by the SECURE 2.0 Act. For pre-approved plans, the IRS updated the Listings of Required Modifications (LRMs) and the Cumulative List of Changes in...
On January 19, the SEC published a revised SRO proposal for a new Consolidated National Market System (NMS) Equity Data Plan ("Revised CT Plan") for public comment. This proposal is based on the SEC's September 2023 amended order for NMS equity data governance, which conforms to the...
On January 30, 2024, the Chamber of Commerce along with several other business federations and associations, filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Central District of California against the California Air Resources Board ("CARB") and two of its leaders. The...
On January 24, 2024, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) released a circular amending the implementation arrangements for the Cross-boundary Wealth Management Connect Pilot Scheme in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area ("GBA Wealth Management Connect"). Effective from...
IRS and DOL each recently issued guidance related to pension-linked emergency savings accounts (PLESAs). PLESAs, which were created by § 127 of the SECURE 2.0 Act, are optional short-term savings accounts for non-highly compensated individuals which are established and maintained as...
This memorandum catalogues significant ESG related developments that have occurred since August 22, 2023. It references ICI memoranda that provide a more fulsome description of each matter. You can find all of these memoranda on our website in our ESG Resource Center.
On January 16, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), the Bank for International Settlements' Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) jointly published a consultation report on...
ICI has been invited by SIFMA to join an amicus brief with several other groups in support of the American Securities Association's and Citadel Securities's petition against the SEC seeking to vacate the SEC's September 2023 approval of the CAT revised funding model.
The staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Investment Management recently issued a set of frequently asked questions on the Commission's final tailored shareholder reports rulemaking. The FAQs address twelve questions, including several that ICI and its members...
