In two related enforcement actions, the SEC charged three former brokers at an Atlanta-based brokerage firm for "churning" the accounts of customers with conservative investment objectives, causing severe investor losses while the brokers collected excessive commissions, fees, and margin interest. The SEC also sanctioned the firm itself and its President for failure to supervise. The turnover ratios at issue were from 8x to 13 times annually. In footnote 2 of the Turner disciplinary action, the SEC indicates that a turnover ratio of 6 times can reflect excessive trading. Lofchie Comment: The

In the wake of the LIBOR troubles, the European Commission has launched a public consultation on new rules for the production and use of indices and benchmarks in contracts. The consultation covers all benchmarks--not just interest rate benchmarks, but also indices for stocks, commodities, prices (such as the consumer price index), real estate, pensions and other indices such as those relating to insurance and measures of business sentiment--and seeks to ensure that benchmarks are not subject to conflicts of interest, reflect economic reality, and are used appropriately. The attached paper

The SEC announced that its market technology roundtable, which was scheduled for September 14, will now be held on October 2. The event will begin with a morning discussion on preventing errors, focusing on current best practices and practical constraints for creating, deploying, and operating mission-critical systems, including those used to automatically generate and route orders, match trades, confirm transactions, and disseminate data. The afternoon session will focus on error response, with experts discussing how the market might employ independent filters, objective tests, and other real

The SEC announced that in fiscal year 2013, the fees that public companies and other issuers pay to register their securities with the SEC will be set at $136.40 per million dollars. Cross-Reference(s): Securities Act Section 6(b) (Registration of securities - Registration fee); Exchange Act Sections 13(e) (Periodical and other reports - Purchase of securities by issuer) and 14(g) (Proxies - Filing fees); Dodd-Frank Section 991 (Securities and Exchange Commission match funding). View rule release here: 77 FR 55240 Additional Materials: SEC Press Release. See next item.

The SEC Division of Investment Management stated that it would not recommend enforcement against an adviser under Advisers Act Section 206(4) (Prohibited Transactions by Investment Advisers) and Rule 206(4)-2 ("Custody Rule") if the adviser treats a state-created 529 plan trust that is a college savings plan for which the adviser is a Program Manager as a "pooled investment vehicle" for purposes of the Custody Rule. In light of the relief granted by the letter, advisers are not required to have a surprise audit on their activities relating to 529 plans. The relief, however, is subject to