SEC Director of the Division of Trading and Markets Stephen Luparello testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment. He discussed approaches that could lead to the establishment of venture exchanges. According to Mr. Luparello, the two most significant challenges facing small and emerging companies are attracting the attention of a wide range of investors and achieving a liquid secondary market. He also presented research evaluating how market structure can be improved to facilitate secondary market liquidity for smaller companies and their investors. The

The SEC charged eight officers, directors, or major shareholders for failing to update their stock ownership disclosures to reflect material changes, including steps to take the companies private. See: SEC Orders; SEC Press Release.

Based on the injunctions entered against the former CFO of Bank of the Commonwealth and its publicly-traded holding company by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the SEC entered an order suspending the former CFO from appearing or practicing before the SEC as an accountant. The SEC's complaint alleged the former CFO violated the anti-fraud, reporting, record-keeping, internal controls, deceit of auditors, and Sarbanes-Oxley certification provisions of the federal securities laws by engaging or providing substantial assistance in the understatement of Commonwealth's

New SRO rules and rule proposals were announced by the SEC. Click on the links below to view the SEC's notices of exchange rule changes and proposals for the week of March 9 - March 13. Clearance Settlement: DTC: Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Change to Make Technical Revisions to the DTC Settlement Service Guide (Release No. 34-74485; File No. SR-DTC-2015-02; March 12, 2015); see also Exhibit 5 ICC: Order Approving Proposed Rule Change to Revise the ICC Treasury Operations Policies and Procedures (Release No. 34-74456; File No. SR-ICC-2015-002; March 6, 2015)

The SEC Division of Corporation Finance ("Division") issued a guidance statement clarifying waivers of disqualification under Regulation A and Regulation D Rules 505 and 506. The guidance explains that disqualification provisions of Securities Act Rules 262 and 505 provide for certain exemptions from registration under Regulation A and Rule 505 of Regulation D. These disqualification provisions are unavailable for an offering if an issuer, any of its predecessors, or any affiliated issuer is subject to certain administrative orders, industry bars, an injunction involving certain securities law