On September 25, 2023, the SEC's Division of Enforcement announced charges against a registered investment adviser ("Adviser") for causing mutual funds it advises ("Mutual Funds") to fail to develop and implement a reasonably designed anti-money laundering ("AML") program. The Adviser...
On October 5, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a call for evidence on shortening the settlement cycle (Call for Evidence). ESMA is seeking stakeholder views and quantitative evidence to better understand issues and costs and benefits associated with...
On October 2, 2023, the CFTC published a proposed rule ("Proposal") that would significantly revise CFTC Regulation 4.7, a provision that provides exemptions from certain compliance requirements for commodity pool operators (CPOs) with respect to commodity pool offerings to qualified...
On October 10, ICI filed a comment letter with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or "Commission") on its proposal regarding conflicts of interest associated with the use of predictive data analytics (PDA) and other "covered technologies" by broker-dealers and investment...
ICI has filed the attached comment letter with the CFTC on its proposed amendments to margin requirements for uncleared swaps related to the treatment of seeded funds and eligibility of certain money market funds (MMFs) as eligible collateral.
On October 10, 2023, ICI submitted the attached letter to the Department of Labor (DOL) in response to the request for information (RFI) DOL issued on various provisions of the SECURE 2.0 Act that impact ERISA's reporting and disclosure requirements. The RFI includes 31 questions...
Governor Newsom signed into law the "California Climate Accountability Package" (Climate Package). In a signing message, Newsom noted the need to refine the Climate Package and expressed a willingness to work with the business community to address their concerns through rulemaking and...
The attached draft letter to Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) urges modifications to the existing requirements to report information on foreign financial accounts and FinCen Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR). This letter is in response to...
ICI Global submitted the attached response to the consultation launched by the ESG Data and Ratings Working Group (DRWG),convened by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), on a draft voluntary code of conduct for ESG ratings and data providers. The voluntary code of conduct will be...
Thank you for your comments on our draft letter to the SEC on its proposal regarding conflicts of interest associated with the use of "covered technologies" by investment advisers and broker-dealers ("Proposal").
The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") have released the 2023-2024 Priority Guidance Plan, listing their priorities for tax regulations and other administrative guidance through June 2024.
In early August, President Biden issued an Executive Order on "Addressing United States Investments in Certain National Security Technologies and Products of Countries of Concern." That same day Treasury issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) regarding the...
On August 25, 2023, the SEC's Division of Enforcement announced that it had settled a case brought against two affiliated dually registered broker-dealers and investment advisers ("Respondents") for violating the anti-fraud provisions of the Investment Advisers Act (the "Act") by...
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) today issued guidance requested by the ICI that will exempt from the wash sale rule any loss incurred by a shareholder in a money market fund with a stable net asset value (NAV). We requested this guidance because liquidity fees imposed by such funds...
On September 28, 2023, ICI submitted a letter regarding proposed amendments to the Wyoming Secretary of State's Securities Rules that would "require disclosure of Environmental, Social, and Governance ('ESG') investment strategies by requiring investment advisers [and their...
On September 20, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC" or "Commission") adopted amendments to Rule 35d-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 ("Names Rule"), as well as associated forms and disclosure requirements. The final amendments passed by a vote of four to one, with...
Attached for your review is ICI's draft comment letter to the CFTC's proposed amendments to its margin requirements for uncleared swaps related to seeded funds and certain money market funds (MMFs). The Proposal would implement, with certain modifications, two recommendations in the...
We are pleased to announce that we will hold our next virtual meeting of this committee on Friday, November 17, 2023. The meeting will begin at 12:00 pm ET and should conclude no later than 2:00 pm ET. We will be holding this meeting through Zoom with a dial-in available.
On September 11, the SEC's Division of Enforcement announced that it had charged nine investment advisers with violations of Rule 206(4)-1 under the Investment Advisers Act ("Marketing Rule") for "advertising hypothetical performance on their websites without adopting and/or...
As previously reported, the SEC and the CFTC recently proposed amendments to the rules for covered clearing agencies (CCAs) and derivatives clearing organization (DCOs),1 respectively, related to resiliency, and recovery and wind-down plans (RWPs).2 Yesterday, ICI filed the attached...
The ICI crafted and submitted the attached letter in coordination with the Investment Association to the European Commission re the recently proposed Council Directive (known as "FASTER") for improving tax treaty relief on cross-border investments. The proposed FASTER directive...
On September 21, 2023, a judge for the US District Court in the Northern District of Texas issued its decision in the case filed by attorneys general from 25 states against the Department of Labor (DOL). The judge granted DOL's cross motion for summary judgment, refusing the states'...
The SEC and CFTC (collectively, the "agencies") recently approved proposals by the Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC) and CME Group, respectively, to amend and restate the cross-margining arrangement between FICC and CME Group (the "Restated Arrangement"). The Restated Agreement...
